My blissful experience with pain:

I am sure, all and sundry must have heard about people savoring their pain in achieving their dreams. I endured the same when I ran a full marathon a week ago. I rejoiced from start to end of 26.2 miles long run.

The marathon kicked-off about 7 am on a cold winter morning. There were about twenty thousand people, from all over United States, took off from Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia. I was in penultimate coral to begin the run as I opted the estimated finishing time about 4:30 to 5 hours. I was wearing black under-armour and a white T-shirt with a caption ‘SMILE’ on it. I chose this T-shirt especially to bring out the smile in my fellow runners; for we all know how much of an effect smile has. I really felt invigorated listening to the cheering from spectators. I must say true act of altruism was shown up there. May be most of the spectators have had someone running in the marathon, but the way they were cheering all the runners was truly amazing. Several people were holding placards saying keep running, run strong, looking strong, keep-up the good work, you’re kicking ass! , personal messages for their beloved, and so on. While I was running I felt as though I was watching some sort of parade. There were several old men and women running at a good speed, looking at them running I felt even more enthused and ran faster (although I felt bad passing them). Some of the runners cheered for the fellow runners, as I heard from one of them saying “he cheers himself by cheering the fellow runners”. People made fun, said things, and laughed out loud. I heard several anecdotes as I ran along. Small kids were giving high fives to the runners. Several people ran for their Mothers to show much they love her. Volunteers were saying encouraging words to the runners. The total event was like traveling a long journey in train with enthusiastic fellow passengers and spectacular scenery outside the window.

Even though I was in pain in the last quarter of the marathon, the cheering from spectators kept me running. Having seen the kick-off, I decided myself that this is only the beginning of my marathon series, and the decision had not changed at the end of the marathon. I reached my destination in 4 hours 15 minutes although I could have done little better. My next target will be less than 4 hours. One thing I learned from this experience is “Running can also be an addiction”.