1 . Worth the pain in the end

I used to hate running. It seemed too hard and pushing outside my comfort zone was not something I was raised to do.

In fact, I wouldn’t have become a _______ if it weren’t for my husband Charles. He had been a serious competitive runner for many years. After our marriage, he wouldn’t stop talking about how much he missed it.

“So start running again, why don’t you?” I was getting _______ of hearing about it.

So he picked it up again, and after about a year, I started to join him at the track (跑道). Just a few weeks later, Charles signed us both up for a five-kilometer race. I _______about doing it. It was too soon.

But on _______ day, there I was.

The gun went   _______.Thousands of runners pushed forward.

The first kilometer was _______.

“I don’t think I’m going to make it.” I was already breathing heavily and painfully aware of the group of runners   pounding past me.

“No, you’re doing _______”, said Charles. He was trying to encourage me, to get me focused on something other than my   _______.

“I can’t,” I said, barely audibly (听得见地).

He tried a different way to _______ me. “Just make it to that house and let’s see how you feel.”

After another minute I saw the three-kilometer   ________. All I could think of was that I was dying and that my husband was torturing (折磨) me.

Miserable doesn’t even begin to describe   ________ I felt. And there was so much pain.

“You’ll be fine. You’ve got less than a kilometer to go.”

I rounded a corner and saw both sides of the street thick with people watching the race, all cheering the runners on. I willed my legs to keep going.

Then I looked up and saw the clock. The seconds ticking away (一分一秒地过去) gave me an incentive (助力). I knew that if I finished this race, I would have achieved something. So, I straightened up, and kicked it.

I had my arms held higher when I passed ________the finish line. A volunteer put a   ________ around my neck.

“You did great! I’m so proud of you!” Charles was thrilled that I’d ________ it.

“That was AMAZING! I want to do another race. This running stuff is amazing!” I proudly hugged my medal as we started to walk to the post-race festivities.

My lungs and my comfort zone both ________.