1 . You might say I found marathoning, step by step. Or perhaps it found me. I was _____________ an athlete growing up. In fact, I have a hard time _____________ that term to myself even today.

It started when I joined a group of women in my neighborhood for a daily three-mile walk. At first it was _____________. But soon, my body adjusted and I wanted _____________. Before long, I was running 5 miles. Then I set a goal to run a half marathon. And I did complete the Covered Bridges Half Marathon. I thought, “Now what?” I started to _____________ a marathon.

It so happened that I _____________ a meeting one night and listened to the speaker and coach, Rick Muhr, and was so _____________ by his words. I told him that I had signed up for the Ocean State Marathon, just a week away, and that I really didn’t believe I could _____________. Rick locked eyes with me and said, “Trish, you’ve done enough training. You’ll finish!”

I never had someone _____________ me like that, let alone a real, live coach. He gave me the ________________ I needed. I set out to run my ________________ marathon and completed it in 4:25:00. Little did I know that this would be the beginning of nearly a decade of marathon and distance running.

Running a marathon isn’t for everybody. But it is for anybody, anybody who wants to ________________ the unreachable and to take that ________________ into the rest of their life. When you cross the finish line you may never have a ________________ picture of what you are made of and capable of accomplishing. Your ________________ of the world and, more importantly, of yourself will forever be changed!

2 . I love the idea of a marathon race with just simply having a beginning point and an end goal. But what I love more about it is all about the_________to my marathon.

Before I found my appreciation of running, _________ speaking, I was never a fan of it. As I got older, I had the _________to do things that I had never thought of doing-that was when I _________ myself.

It was during late summer that I_________ to join a run. In every training session, I got the _________to learn something new about myself and everything else that surrounded me. I found my connection to nature _________ and it made me much more _________of everything-the wind, the rays of the sun and every step I take. During training, I passed by _________people-some eventually ran faster than I, and some others I __________them. This reminded me everyone has different battles.

If I hadn’t decided to get ready and just go for it, I would have never known what running __________for me. But of course with all these amazing feelings, there came __________days when I felt terrible with aching muscles and hurting laps. Every aspect of life always comes__________ those two, doesn’t it? Good and bad, right and wrong. It all__________ perspective-which side will you let shine even more?

I hope you find your own marathon and__________ it!

3 . American runner Isaiah Jewett took a deep breath. Entering the final stage of the men’s 800-meter semifinal race. Jewett _________ to finish in the top two and make it to the finals. And he was in the best possible position to achieve his aim.

“I was like ‘Okay, there’s a _________ to do this. Let’s do this,’” Jewett said.

That is when something unexpected _________. When Jewett got to the turn, Botswana runner Nijel Amos tripped (绊倒) him from behind.

“It was _________. I didn’t even believe it was me even though I was on the ground,” Jewett said. “I felt so _________.”

For Jewett though, showing good sportsmanship was more _________ than winning a medal. Growing up, he was exposed (使接触) to the world of anime (动画), which taught him valuable _________ such as never giving up and always finishing a race.

That is exactly what Jewett did with Amos.

“I just _________ that he was sad, and I shut off how I was feeling. I knew I couldn’t help him in any way but I _________ to do the best I could.” Jewett said.

After the __________, Jewett got up and helped Amos to his feet. Amos apologized for his __________, and Jewett put his arm around his competitor.

“Hey man, let’s __________ this race together; we’re not done yet,” Jewett told Amos. __________ , they crossed the finish line.

“It’s okay to compete but it’s also important to show that you’re a __________. That’s the way you show your heroism by __________ each other along the way and finishing the race together,” Jewett said.

6 . Cliff Young was a 61-year-old farmer. He had no_________experience as an athlete and was laughed at when first participating in an Australian ultramarathon (超马拉松赛) in 1983.

He had no professional equipment to complete the race,_________win it, and was quickly left behind. He even wasn’t _________that the race included scheduled stops for participants to_________, and while others took breaks, Cliff moved on into the right.

Things went on just as what happened in The Tortoise and the Hare (龟兔赛跑).

Cliff_________took over the athletes and won. He entered the race as a_________and finished it a national hero. Actually, he had been used to the lengthy running the ultramarathon_________, as he had to stay out for days fetching sheep at his farm. He just took the race as another day running after_________before the storm, which enabled him to complete the race without any_________.

Australia was so impressed by the achievement that a race was__________for him, the Cliff Young Australian Six-Day Race. In the race in 2000, he even set the world__________record. No player was older. Now he still__________athletes.

The tortoise and hare story aims to tell children the importance of steadiness over__________, though growing up makes one realize that speed does make a__________in the competitive world. Cliff__________that steadiness might actually win in some grown-up cases as well.

August 16, 2016 runners Abbey D' Agostino (USA) and Nikki Hamblin (New Zealand) touched the world while they _________ in the women's 5,000-metre event in Rio. During the race, somewhere around 3,200 metres, Abbey and Nikki _________ each other. Nikki was running when she suddenly had to _________   to avoid contact with another runner. Then Abbey bumped into her from the back, bringing them _________to the ground. As Abbey was getting up, she noticed Nikki was hurt and needed help. While their competitors carried on with the race, Abbey _________   to help up Nikki, who had taken a hard fall and was lying on the track.

In an interview later, Nikki recalled how the suddenness of the crash and fall influenced her. "When I went down it was like, 'What's happening? Why am I on the ground?' And suddenly there's this hand on my shoulder, like '   _________.We have to finish this! ' I'm so _________and touched that she did that." Nikki said.

_________, Abbey had hurt her knee in the fall and had difficulty walking. Instead of _________ in the race, Nikki helped to __________ her injured opponent (对手) along the way. Abbey then tried to __________ Nikki to go on without her. However, Nikki provided her with __________ to walk slowly towards the finish line. Both girls finally made it to the finish line.

__________ Nikki came in second to last and Abbey came in last with her twisted ankle, they still got moved to the finals. What a __________ race!

"I'm so thankful for Abbey for doing that for me. That girl is the Olympic spirit right there." Nikki said. The simple act has become a   __________of the Olympic spirit. Their good sportsmanship got them into the finals.