absolute limit. Just like the runners around me. It may be hard to imagine the last 10K of a marathon as being fun but it was. The joy that eluded me at the start of the race overwhelmed me at the finish. Rounding the track for the final 400 metres, I
– of running. I thought that being a penguin meant looking past others’ expectations and getting to the truth of myself. I thought that being a penguin was about being slow.But then, not long ago, a 32-minute 10K runner introduced himself to me as a penguin. I
want to slow down and talk to every volunteer, I do. The first 20 miles I run for the sport. The last 10K I run for myself.I’ve seen the 20-mile mark 21 times so far. Every time, I shake my head in amazement. Every time, I ask myself what I want from
. The more I limped around on battered joints, the more I felt like an athlete. In those days, we joked that if I were in any better shape, I wouldnt be able to walk at all. Im not alone in this. Walk through the field lined up at any local 10-K, and you
about those magic days. For me, one of those magic days was when I ran a PB in the 10K. That day may be the most magic day I’ll ever have as a runner. It was the day on which everything came together at the same time. If I run for 50 years and never have
