Shanghai Running Magazine Shanghai Running Q2 2014. Volume 2 | Page 26

For All the Dreams I Think Are Possible
By Jinghuan Liu Tervalon
ning was my rescue: squeezing
time for myself, enjoying the
solitude, and getting over my
heartbreak. I ran near the ocean,
on mountain trails, in races
where I competed with thousands
of others, feeling the collective
adrenaline rush. But now I run
because it sets me free and makes
me realize that if I dream enough
and work hard, everything is possible. Running is about perseverance
and clinging onto the faith that no
matter how gruesome the process
is, you will make it to the end.

the sun was out. At 8km I arrived
at the 1st water stop with no cup
and they have the large vats with
nozzles– so I have to bend down
put my mouth under to try and get
some water. Was a bit of a pain in
the butt and took me some time
as had to wait for others filling up
their collapsible cups (and made
me look quite foolish).
The run was mostly through nice
woods with wide trails and rolling hills. I seemed to be passing
people on way down and would
get passed on way up. I wasn’t
pushing it very hard as I had run a
few 20km training runs by my last
long run was Jan 4th, a 50KM run
in USA in deep snow. At the next
water stop about 16km I again
had to look foolish and bend down
to get water. They did have some
snacks, candy bars and some fruit
so was quite happy to get some
chocolate and vitamin C (orang26

es) in my stomach. We then had
some road running for a few kms
through some neighbor hoods, and
3rd water stop – yes embarrassed
myself again trying to get water.
The last 5km i could see the ski
mountain so knew wasn’t too far
away. We had to do a river crossing – some rocks so you didn’t get
wet but I did hear some people fell
in. We had one place which had a
rope where we had to scale a small
hill – maybe 30meters, and after
the river crossing we had another
very steep slope with some mud
where I had to use my handing
to keep from falling to get to the
top. The last 1km was quite flat as
the start/finish was near a track at
what was a local school. I came
in at 3:15:07 so a bit slower then I
expected but happy to finish. My
friend BtC who also joined the
running group with DDM and had
been training quite a bit was not
© Shanghai Running 2014

far behind he came in at 3:17:38.
I was quite impressed as we ran a
55km in Iceland (his only Ultra)
a year earlier and he was nearly
1.5 hours behind me so awesome
to see his improvement (or was it
my degradation – probably a bit of
both). The winning time for men
was 2:02. The girls had already
finished; the Canadian finishing at
2:09 and DDM at 2:25 – she was
ecstatic as the trail ended up being
18KM and she felt great, no pain
and a better time with that distance then she expected (winning
time was 1:20).
So I really enjoyed the running
but probably most interesting was
to see DDM really enjoy running
without pain. I have now started
to train in my Vibrams and will see
how it goes you might even hear
about it in a future story.

When my husband walked into the
bedroom, I was still half asleep. I
had just ran a 15k race with nagging shin splints the previous day
and thought I could have a restful
morning. He excitedly briefed me
the news of the day: an American
teenage runner, who has won state
titles and is heading to nationals in
New York. She suffers from multiple scle rosis. Her name is Kayla
Montgomery. I jumped out of bed
and found the story myself, read it
again, and marveled at her resolve
and resilience.
Runners like Kayla Montgomery
inspire me: people who overcome
seemingly insurmountable obstacles and enjoy running for its own
sake. She runs to defy her physical challenges. Isn’t this what we
all need? Discard all our fear, do
the hard work, and just see what
happens?
I used to be a single mom. Run-

One well-established running
coach famously said, endurance
sport is not about who goes the
fastest. It’s all about who doesn’t
slow down. So to train all his
runners, he first asks them to slow
down and run at a comfortable
pace (heart rate around 80% max).
This approach gradually enhances heart and lung efficiency, and
overall fitness level. So you could
keep a very steady pace in a marathon. It is a very straightforward
method, and it’s proven to work,
but I still struggle to adhere to the
principle. Even after so many races, I still make the rookie mistake
of starting off too fast and see my
energy dip in the third quarter
of the distance. It is frustrating
to see other runners pass me at a
seemingly easy pace, while I lagged
further behind and end up not
making it to the top 3 or achieve
the time I had set for myself. Starting steadily and keeping a stable
pace is the way of getting ahead in
a long race.
© Shanghai Running 2014

So is the way of life, as I have
heard, seen and experienced. Perseverance is success’ best friend.
People who are amazingly gifted
or have a good start in life, whether it’s through family connection,
good education or access, might
not finish the race and beat their
competitions. In the States, we no
longer make the SAT a mandatory
part of the college admissions process, partly because it is no longer
indicative of a student’s success at
his/her university. The academic trajectory does not so much
depend on the ability to crunch on
a test. After all, it is easier to crack
the code of a standard test than to
navigate the system of higher education and reap its benefits. I have
seen many people who start off
things constantly with great enthusiasm: a new job, business, or even
relationship, but then they quit for
lack of faith or simply because it is
too much work, or “I don’t feel like
doing it any more.” It’s a great luxury to be able to quit and move on
quickly, but life isn’t always forgiving and full of second chances.
Running is about doing - I know
it sounds repetitive, but in the
business of consulting and marketing, I have seen way too many
people who spend most of their
time talking about others’ doings:
a successful campaign, a blockbuster book, some new trends they
put together from observing the
industry. They make a living out
of talking, get to fly around the
world to deliver their inspirational
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