Walt Disney world, Orlando, Florida. The happiest place on Earth? Maybe. The happiest marathon ever? Not exactly.

I have to admit that I didn’t train properly for this marathon, but the worst part was that I under-estimated how cruel the sun of the Sunshine State could be. Not as advertised or hoped we would have an average 40-50 degrees temperature in January, in fact, on Sunday January 7th, the marathon race day, runners had to run under almost 80 degrees and extreme humidity.

I stopped at every water stop and replenished myself with as much liquid as I could acquire; I ate some banana; I greeted to Mickey Mouse and seven dwarfs. I tried my best, but the weather defeated me and my legs almost failed me. I was happy at least when the race started with amazing fireworks; I was happy at least for the first half of the marathon when the sun wasn’t able to force my eyes shut and I managed to maintain my training pace. Then, my respiratory and perspiration rate skyrocketed along with the temperature. I believed that I saw steam coming out of the pavement. I was even convinced that the smile of the evil step-mother of Snow White was sincere. No wonder desperate desert travelers see mirages.

At least I reached the finish line with four hours, forty-six minutes, and thirty-eight seconds of struggle – all because of Mickey Mouse. The cute, golden, Mickey Mouse finish medal allured me more than the first apple did to Adam and Eve.

Here is the whole story:

For almost eight years, I’ve been living in the States, but not until this spring did I develop symptoms of allergies. It was a running nose in March and last week a clogged nose joined. I have problems breathing freely and my mouth hates to multi-task.

The whole situation becomes more absurd when I go climbing, “Are you breathing?” says the climbing instructor, and when I try to cross an eddy line in my kayak, “Don’t hold your breath!” say my experienced boating friends. I so much want to perform unobstructed inhales and exhales, yet I still hold my breath when I undergo abrupt movements or when I experience tough transitions.

Isn’t breathing the most natural thing? Not necessarily. Chinese Kung-fu masters ask their pupils to learn how to breathe before they learn any strokes, and the same thing happens in Yoga philosophy. In many aerobic sports – running, swimming, etc – people ask how they should breathe all the time, because breathing helps to develop rhythm and rhythm brings out endurance.

However, I had never imagined that one day I would have to constantly remind myself to breathe. It is almost as difficult as telling myself to relax when I just jump in a new sport. Both climbing and kayaking require balance, smoothness and elegance. I have heard so many climbers and kayakers use “grace” to refer to their beloved sports, and I will not hesitate to use that word if I know I can breathe better than naturally.

I always believe that a sport looks beautiful if you do it right. While my symptoms trigger my desire to breathe, I’ll just have to step further to keep working on that. I’ll keep monitoring myself as long as it needs to: If I hold my breath, I interrupt the continuity of a sport and disturb its momentum. And the end result? The beauty of the sport will be suffocated.

I enjoyed this marathon. It was like a festival which attracted almost two thousand marathon participants. We ran under the sunshine, towards the wind, with the seagulls, and along the beaches.

Most importantly, I finished it. I thought that I would have dropped out at some point, because one of my tendons or ligaments between my right hamstring and calf was over-stretched, and I had to cut down my training. But, I kept running; so many people were there running with me, I never had to feel lonely. So many spectators were lining up, waiting for me to pass them in order to give me an encouraging clap. So many volunteers were cheering me on, asking me to stay motivated. Therefore, I kept running and because I knew, at the finish line, somebody was waiting for me.

I learned how to in-line skate pretty much on my own: I bought a pair of in-line skates and I took them to the riverfront and skated. I was quite nervous the first two runs and almost ripped somebody’s top off when I followed him going downhill. Shortly after that I started to feel quite good on skates since I had no ambition on those 4-wheel things other than driving forward.

As a thunderstorm always comes in when you least expect it, God likes to pick a rough time to show you life is in fact cruel. I participated in one of the Landskaters’ Tuesday-night city skates and that was when my confidence faced one of the most severe challenges. I had a hard time following the skate and many times I was so close to being swept away by the sweeper.

A lot of projects are carried out everyday, ranging from neglectable teeth brushing in the morning to a large-scale business takeover. In order to achieve success, we plan our projects carefully step-be-step, and implement them cautiously and consistently. In other words, we want to make sure we are always in control.

When we exercise, we want to be in control too. Not only does it maximize the effect of a workout, but also it minimizes the probability of sport-related injuries.

從來不知道什麼叫累，我總認為「不為也，非不能也」。

週末連續兩天的滑雪課程，每天在雪上練習約六個小時。除了初學乍練以外，這滑雪通常讓人維持著，懸空坐著國王的新椅子的姿勢，大大考驗股四頭肌。

週一醒來，全身酸痛，除了大腿肌肉僵硬以外，屁股邊、腿上摔著的地方，也此起彼落的哀聲大作。我想，這正常，每次新學種運動，總是這樣的，等肌肉習慣了之後就好了。很自然地取消當天應做的訓練項目，跑步以及游泳。也把和攀岩繩伴的約會順延到第二天。

〈訓練腹部的肌肉〉

忘記從哪一本書讀到過，所謂fitness包括三部分：endurance、strength、和flexibility。一般來說，設計自己的訓練課程的時候，最好三者兼顧，有事半功倍、減少運動傷害的好處；換句話說，基本上也就是兼顧有氧運動、重訓和伸展運動。

在重訓方面，個人覺得又以腹部和下背部的肌肉訓練最為重要，以我從事的運動來舉例：譬如說划獨木舟，划槳的時候，就是靠腹部和下背部，旋轉帶動肩膀和手臂划槳的。而跑步避免運動傷害很重要的一點，就是抬頭挺胸，身體打直，也因此腹部和下背部肌肉的支撐效果不容忽視。

我訓練這兩部分肌肉所做的運動，以腹部來說，我會平躺在地上，雙腿伸直併攏，一起抬高約二十到三十度，感覺到腹部有在使力支撐，等到累了再放下，休息約三十秒，再重複一次，總共做三次。

至於下背部，我會將做重訓的adjustable bench調成將近九十度，人站在bench上，雙足固定在bench底部和背部交接的地方，下腹部大約抵在bench背部的頂端附近，雙手交叉抱在胸前，彎下身子，以下背部的力量將上半身舉起直到全身打直，慢慢地，做十次，休息30到40秒，再做十次，總共做三個十次。如果強度不夠，雙手可以加持啞鈴。

在雜誌上看到一些訓練腹部肌肉的運動，感覺上像是仰臥起坐的變形，可供參考：
（建議訓練量是每個單項做兩個十次）

一、
平躺，膝蓋彎曲。雙足固定卡在重物之下（或請人幫忙按住雙足）。雙手交叉抱在胸前，下巴內縮。以腹部的力量將上半身撐起，直到上半身和地面成九十度，維持約一秒，躺下。

二、
和一的不同，這個運動加入旋轉的動作。十指交叉放在頭後面，以手肘尖端的方向作引導，撐起上半身時，以右手手肘瞄準左膝的方向帶動身�