Running for Happiness

by Jahzeel Dionne V. Ybasco

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4:02 AM

For the nth time you asked yourself why you had chosen to run.

It was a twenty-one kilometer marathon that started at 4 am. With that distance and God knows how much time you needed to cover it, you couldn’t help but think of seemingly mundane things. As you breathed in that sharp cold morning air, thoughts kept pouring in—or out with your sweat, mingled with the carbon dioxide you exhaled.

4:45 AM

Your feet kept with the beat of the many instruments pounding in your ears. Surely nobody could contest, music was the best companion in a long run. Even the ones in foreign languages—which by the way dominated your playlist—motivated you to run faster and harder. After all, you once had dreamed to be a performer yourself so you could imagine yourself singing or dancing to the tunes instead of running that boring distance. There was satisfaction in being able to exert more effort every time you heard the bridge of your favorite song, and blood continued to pump in your ears.

5:15 AM

The first light of day hit your eyes. How the darkest of blues changed into the lightest one in a blink of an eye, you could not fathom.

An amazing sight.

So many are things that we cannot control. Should we invest our time worrying about them? Say for example, when we rely our happiness and satisfaction on what people say, we depend on them to exist. Once they stop showing appreciation, you cease to.

That was why you had chosen to run. You had not let anyone dictate what could make you happy because it was your own race to take, you had your own number. Everyone was given a chance to take that path, but you set your own pace, and you had your own strategy because you had been aware that what had worked for others might not work for you. That was the variable you could control and that made you happy.

6:00 AM

It was tiring and your legs started to cramp. You began to labor on your breathing and each inhale stabbed that already painful stitch in your stomach.

But you kept running.

Should you start believing in Miracles? It was a matter of choice and you chose to believe in that 21-kilometer run. You were not looking for a religion because you knew you would not find your salvation there. Neither was it to prove anything but to conquer who you had been the previous year. You realized you became better. You were running towards that Being that gave you strength.

7:08 AM

Tears fell in streams.

Your eyes found the finish line. The marathon was not as difficult as before. That was the most overwhelming part. It was not hard because it was not about anybody, nor for anyone. You finished the run you had chosen to take part of.

And you found Happiness.