高三英语培优·名著阅读之心灵鸡汤精选 A Silver Braid 班级：_____学号：_____姓名：_____ 心灵鸡汤精选A Silver Braid 话题归类 阅读难度 词数 难忘的经历（挑战自我） 五星 949 【文章梗概】作者参加了一场大型竞走和慢跑比赛。我以往的半程马拉松成绩都超过了两小时，但这一年的目标是在两小时内。但由于最初跑在后面，且遇到了长达一英里的堵塞，我开始怀疑能否实现目标。但当我遇到一个有一条银色辫子的女选手后，情况改变了。最终我刷新了我的个人记录，并比我的预定目标快了8分钟。 You have a choice. You can throw in the towel, or you can use it to wipe the sweat off your face. ~Gatorade ad What a mistake. Starting in the back of a large race with the walkers and joggers left me in a mile-long human traffic jam. Running through a wide green valley in the Ogden Half Marathon in Utah, I already felt a sense of loss. And it was still only mile 1. I started at the back of the pack to keep my nieces company. I thought I could work my way up to the two-hour pacer who was holding a bright orange sign. But at the end of the first mile, I was still stuck between joggers and walkers, trying to work my way through the crowd. The pacer had left me far behind. The two-hour half marathon had been a goal I’d chased for years. Between giving birth to five children, I’d done lots of half marathons and gotten decent times: 2:05, 2:08, 2:02. But the elusive sub-two-hour evaded me. This was my year to blow away that goal. I’d been training hard for that distance and that time. I’d done the speed work and gone overboard on long distance by training for the full marathon. My goal time was within my grasp. This was my race. But in the back of my mind, I knew my time in the first few miles was critical. And that first mile wasn’t nearly fast enough. To make up for the lost time, I would need to go faster than I had trained for the remaining 12 miles of the race — a rookie mistake I had learned not to repeat long ago. It’s a recipe for burnout and failure. Today, of all days, I did not want to fail. During the second mile, I finally worked my way out of the joggers in the back. I found a clear lane and plodded forward, determined to finish strong. Self-doubt gnawed at me as I saw the two-hour pacer dip over a distant snow-capped hill. I wondered if I would ever see the pace group again. That’s when a silvery braid bounced by me. Going a little faster than my current pace, a woman about my height and build strode away. Her tanned skin showed the flaws and wrinkles that years of endurance training bring. She was probably 20 years my senior. And there she was, stepping away from me in my race. I wondered how long she had prepared for this event. Months Years This was clearly not her first half marathon. I felt it also wouldn’t be her last. I found myself accelerating to match her even strides. I imagined reaching out to hold that braid like a guide rope. If I could hang on with her, I would finish strong. Near the fourth mile, what felt like a miracle occurred. My silver-braided companion and I ... ...
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