Kindness is, reciprocated here, and winning or losing, didn’t even matter anymore, from the Newspapers, translated…
“We were educated in Taiwan, since we were younger, to just win, but they’d never taught us how to lose.”, the super marathon runner, Yen-Bo Chen arrived back in Taiwan, to share his experiences, of how he’d given up the chances to earn the top two placements at the Gobi stop, in the middle of the race, he’d, run backwards, back to the man who’d once, saved his life, other than winning and losing, he’d, learned a lot.
Yen-Bo Chen’s goals for this year had put the Asians onto the roster for running four extreme super marathons a year, the second stop, running six days through the Gobi Desert, he’d managed to maintain the lead for the first four days, but, by day five, the heat of the weather caused his body to have problems, he’d lost his first place placement.
Yen-Bo Chen said, “the fifth day at the check stations, I’d already, lost consciousness, I was about seventeen kilometers from the finish, but, I’d run out of my supplements, even my urine had, all turned red, it was about 127˚F, maybe my kidneys are acting up. I’d hidden underneath a rock to rest, back then, I felt I was in life-threatening danger, I thought I would win first, but after my body started showing the signs, I’d, started to, cry.
And, back then, a runner from Switzerland, Philip, found Yen-Bo Chen as he passed the rock Chen was resting by, he’d not only shared with him his supplies, and had told Chen, to not give up, pulled him onward. Chen asked Philip, that if there’s a purpose, in running a race you know you’re destined to lose? But, when there was the chance, for Chen, to surpass the second place Romanian runner, Philip had, pushed him forward.
Chen said, “I ran forward, as I was about to become the second place winner, all of a sudden, I felt so selfish, that I’d left the one who’d saved my life behind, and only cared about my own performance, I’d decided, and turned back around, I’d heard Philip cursing at me, “Why the hell did you turn back, run!” I ran back toward him, with my tears, said I’m sorry, back then, there was, a dust storm on the way, I shouldn’t have, left him, I’d felt him, shaking his shoulders.”
At the end of Chen’s race, he’d placed fifth, but what he’d gained, was more important, more than the placement. He said, “the famous runner, Chia-Je Chang once said, ‘our education always taught us to win, but didn’t teach us to lose.’ This time, I’d really understand, that the most important thing in life is NOT the results, but the process of working hard toward one’s goals.”
So, this, is the lesson you learned, with the kindness shown to you from a fellow runner, and, this man had, given up the chance of placing in the race, to go back to the man who’d offered him a helping hand when he’d needed, and this showed that there’s kindness in people’s mind in the world still…
Here’s Chen, with the man who’d saved his life, photo courtesy of the UDN papers…
