They say that the real marathon begins at 35 kilometers — the rest is just a warm up. And sure enough, in 2009, at around the 36 kilometer point of the Beijing Marathon I experienced what runners call “hitting the wall”. I had been doing well until that point, but suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my leg. My pace slowed down dramatically and every brain cell in my head seemed to be screaming “stop!!!”
The last 5 kilometers were not fun; in fact, they were really hard work. Keeping motivated to run those last few kilometers was one of the hardest things I had ever done. But that is what makes running a marathon such a rewarding experience — if it were easy everyone would do it.
I have to admit it is sometimes not even easy to find the motivation to get out of bed, pull on your running shoes and head out into the morning to go for another run. These last two weeks of training for the Muztagata climb have been a little tough. I have been following my training plan for about three months but now I find that my original enthusiasm (热情) has all been used up. Day after day of going to the gym is beginning to wear me down and there still seems so much longer to keep this up. I have begun to doubt that I am actually making any progress or getting any fitter and even thought that I might be going backwards!
These are all very common experiences for people who are working towards challenging, longer term goals and I have learned to recognize these “highs” and “lows” in my energy and enthusiasm. Over the years I have learned a number of tricks that help me to deal with the days when my early motivation seems to have abandoned me for good.
小题1:Many runners say that the real marathon begins at 35 kilometers because it is at this point that __________.
A．runners begin to enjoy running the marathon race
B．runners are worn out as if they are breaking down
C．the rest part is just the preparation for the race
D．the race is a rewarding experience for runners小题2:When people are working extremely hard towards challenging, _________.
A．they can keep themselves motivated all the time
B．they will never hesitate to continue carrying out their plan
C．they sometimes feel as if they stop making progress
D．they will fail to keep their spirits up小题3:What is the author going to talk about in the following passage?
A．How to get trained.
B．Tips for becoming a marathon runner.
C．How to meet challenges.
D．Tips for keeping motivation high.
