奔跑者

肖麗麗

The first time I ran， like really ran， was during middle school gym class. It took me 11 minutes and 47 seconds to finish a mile. Ive been running ever since.

Running is the kind of thing where you put in the time and expect to see results， and let me be the first to tell you： It is supremely discouraging when you dont. Its discouraging when you run a five-mile race with your entire family and come in a solid 15 minutes behind everyone else， and its discouraging when that time is no faster or slower than your five-mile

我第一次跑步，那種真正的跑步，是在中學體育課的時候。我花了11分47秒跑完了1 英里。自那以后，我一直在跑步。

跑步是一種你會投入時間并期待成效的運動。讓我做第一個告訴你這個的人：你沒有做到的時候，你會感到非常沮喪。當你和所有家人一起來一場5英里賽跑卻落后了每個人15分鐘的時候，是十分讓人沮喪的；當你跑完 5 英里的時間并沒有比 5 年前更快或更慢的時候，也是十分讓人沮喪的。

time five years ago.

And yet， my alarm is already set for 6 a.m. tomorrow， even though it s probably going to berainyanddefinitelygoingtobecoldand even though most of the time， I really hate run- ning.

Don t ask me why. All I know is this： As much as I hate running， I love being a runner.

There ssomekindof camaraderie be- tween people who spend more money each year on runningshoes than on all their other shoes combined， and there s some fundamental simi- larity between people who rancross 10 miles without pausing.

OndaysthatIrun，I exert myself purely for exertion s sake. If you run too， you get why.

When you re a runner， your people are the girls with hairelasticson their wristsand the boys with shorts shorter than yours. They might be better， faster or stronger than you， but you be- long with them.

Ittookmealmost10 yearsof plod- ding along at an 11-minutemile before I real- ized that I could call myself a runner， no matter how slow I go or how many races I lose.

I velacedupmyshoesatleastoncea weeksincethefirstdayIsteppedfootona track in middle school. Some weeks it s every day， some weeks it s not. Some days， I ll bare- lygomorethanamile，andsomedays，I ll walk more than I jog. I may not have medals， butIhavefreshair，timealone，andcreaky knees and tight quads.

For me， that s enough. I run， so I am a run-ner.

但是，我已經把明天的鬧鐘設置為早晨6點鐘了，哪怕可能會下雨且一定會變冷；哪怕大多數時間，我真的討厭跑步。

不要問我原因。我所知道的一切就是：我喜歡成為一名奔跑者和我討厭跑步的程度相同。

比起購買其他所有的鞋子，每年花更多的錢買跑鞋的人們之間有著某種友誼；那些不用暫停就能跑完10英里的人們之間也有著根本的相似性。

在我跑步的日子里，我只不過為了努力而努力。如果你也跑步，你會懂的。

當你做奔跑者的時候，你的同伴會是那些手腕上有用來扎頭發的橡皮筋的女孩子們以及那些穿著比你褲子還短的短褲的男孩子們。他們也許比你更好、更快或者更強壯，但你和他們是一起的。

我花了將近10年時間才做到在11分鐘內跑完1英里，后來我才意識到，我可以稱自己為一名奔跑者，無論我跑得多慢、無論我輸掉了幾場比賽。

自從我在中學踏上跑道的第一天起，我至少每周會束緊鞋帶跑一次步。有些時候我那周的每天都綁緊鞋帶去跑步，有些時候不是。有些日子里，我很少跑超過1英里的距離；有些日子里，我散步的次數會比慢跑多。我可能沒有獎章，但是我能呼吸新鮮空氣、擁有獨處的時間并有吱吱作響的膝蓋和結實的股四頭肌。

對我來說，那就足夠了。我跑步，所以我是一名奔跑者。