It was almost 10 p.m. on a windy Saturday evening when I decided to go through with the run I had postponed since 5 p.m. The night sky was pink, with clouds threatening rainfall. I put on my running shoes, Shokz headset, and headed out, hoping this run would clear my head from all the worrying and overthinking about the upcoming Jiu-Jitsu competition tomorrow. Besides, I’d been sitting at the coffee shop working on my laptop all day, chasing a deadline for an urgent client project, and doing this run would also help me lose the extra weight for the weigh-in early tomorrow (I signed up to be 80 kg but weighed around 81.2 kg yesterday).
Scrolling through the Nike Run Club app, I chose the 30-minute recovery run since it was already late, and 30 minutes was enough for me to cover one full lap of my usual run route. The guided run tonight was “Run with Lopez”—part 1 of a 3-part story where Mr. Lopez Lomong (born in 1985) shared his experiences of being kidnapped by soldiers at age 6, along with other boys, separated from his family. He described how he learned to survive the camp where other boys couldn’t make it, how he was rescued by friends he proudly called his “angels” and “brothers,” and how they ran away from the prison camp in the dead of night all the way to the country’s border, where they encountered other soldiers who took them to a UN refuge.
What an unbelievable and incredible story, and how it’s connected to running! I’m really grateful that I didn’t have to endure all that pain and suffering. I couldn’t even imagine how all the pain and hurt from that trauma affected a 6-year-old child’s psyche. The story really made me look at my life and how lucky I am—worrying about my work and the local Jiu-Jitsu competition tomorrow, which is a hobby I love. I was hoping for peace before I started this run but ended up with something even greater.
I can’t wait to run again and continue learning about Lopez’s story. I covered around 5.8 km, weighed in at around 79 kg after the run, and might run again tomorrow before the competition if I feel up to it. I have a feeling I’ll keep thinking of Lopez during my future runs and races.
