The English translation is below
⭐︎このストーリーは連続したシリーズになっていますので
EPISODE 1からお読みください♪
前々回のブログで書きましたが、私はフルマラソンを走る友人がいます
まぁ、彼女は私と対照的にスポーツ万能なんですが〜
近くの大会に出る時は応援に行ってました。
離れて住んでるので、その後の「お疲れさん会」で
飲みながらおしゃべりをするのがいつもの楽しみでした
マラソン大会もコロナで中止になったりして
久しぶりに応援に行った、時を同じくして2022年の秋
今までとは景色が違って見えました
柵をはさんで、向こう側を走っているランナーは
誰もが舞台の上の主役でした。こっち側の私はただの観客。。。
なんだか取り残されたような気分になりました
私もあっち側に行きたい！！って思いが込み上げてきたんですよ
そしてゴールで待っている時も、ランナーが続々と入ってくるのですが
フィニッシュした後、みんないい顔してんですよ〜
きっと大きな達成感があるんだろうなって、すごく羨ましかった
今まで何度か応援に行ったけど、こんなふうに思ったのは初めてです
なぜなんでしょう？
もちろん大前提として、運動は体に良いし
やった方がいいってことは頭では分かっています
しかも年齢的に、このままだと急速に衰えていくこともわかっている
↓
フルマラソンを走る、尊敬する友人がいる
↓
家には、最近買ったランニングマシンがある
↓
大会に出てみたい！フルマラソンは無理だけど
5キロなら何とかなるかも？！
。。。という流れかな？と自己分析しています
スティーブ ジョブズの伝説的なスピーチにもありましたけど
これが 〝将来を見据えて点と点を繋ぐことなどできません
過去を振り返った時に初めて点と点が繋がるわけです〟
ってヤツなんだと思います
大会に出たい！という思いがトリガーになった時
すでに走る条件が整っていたというか。
「伏線回収」と言った方がしっくりくるかなぁ
そして次の休みには早速シューズを買いに行きました！
あと「はじめてのランニング」みたいな本も読んで
基礎的な知識も入れて〜ここで中野陽子さんのことも知りました
私のような普段の運動ゼロのような人はまず
時速5キロくらいから走り始めた方かよいと。
そんな歩けるような速度じゃん、とナメてかかったんですけど
。。。3分でバテました
次回は、マシンで練習を積んで約4ヶ月後、初めて5キロの
大会に出るまでです！マシンの魅力も合わせてご紹介！
→EPISODE 3へ続く
This story is told as a series, so I recommend starting with Episode 1.
As I wrote in a previous blog post, I have a friend who runs full marathons.
Unlike me, she’s naturally good at sports.
Whenever she took part in a race nearby, I went to cheer her on.
Since we live far apart, getting together afterward for a “well-done” drink and a long chat was always something I looked forward to.
Many marathon races were canceled because of COVID, and in the fall of 2022, I went to cheer her on again for the first time in a while.
This time, the scenery looked different from before.
With a fence between us, the runners on the other side were all the stars of the stage.
On this side, I was just a spectator.
I felt as if I had been left behind.
A strong thought suddenly welled up inside me: “I want to be over there too.”
Even while I was waiting at the finish line, runners kept coming in one after another.
After finishing, everyone had such great expressions on their faces.
They must have felt an incredible sense of accomplishment — and I couldn’t help feeling envious.
I had gone to cheer her on many times before, but this was the first time I had ever felt this way.
Why was that?
Of course, on a basic level, I knew that exercise is good for your health and that it’s something you should do.
I also knew that, at my age, if I did nothing, my physical abilities would decline rapidly.
And then, when I thought about it —
I have a close friend I truly admire who runs full marathons.
I have a running machine at home that I bought not long ago.
All of that led me to one thought:
“I want to try entering a race.”
A full marathon would be impossible for me — but maybe 5 kilometers? That might be doable.
That’s the flow I see when I look back and analyze it myself.
It reminds me of a famous line from Steve Jobs’s legendary speech:
“You can’t connect the dots looking forward; you can only connect them looking backward.”
When the thought “I want to enter a race” became a trigger, the conditions for running were already in place.
In a way, it felt like everything had been quietly set up beforehand.
In Japanese, we might call this fukusen kaishū — when all the foreshadowing finally comes together.
So on my very next day off, I went out and bought a pair of running shoes right away!
I also read a beginner’s guide to running and picked up some basic knowledge.
That’s when I learned about Yoko Nakano as well.
She recommends that people like me — those who usually get almost no exercise — start running at around 5 kilometers per hour.
I thought, “That’s basically walking speed. Easy.”
…I was exhausted after three minutes.
Next time, I’ll talk about how I trained on the machine and, about four months later, entered my first 5K race.
I’ll also share what I’ve come to love about running machines.
→ To be continued in EPISODE 3
