The image is from BBC NEWS.
(Achieving Your Dream in Stages: The Story of a Marathon Champion)
In 1984, at the Tokyo Marathon, the little-known Japanese runner Yamada Honichi surprised everyone by winning the world championship. When reporters asked him how he had achieved such an astonishing result, he said, “I won by outsmarting my opponents.”
Many people thought that this short and unremarkable runner was just being pretentious. After all, the marathon is a test of physical strength and endurance, not logic. As long as one is physically fit and has the patience to proceed, there is a chance that he or she will win. Swiftness and explosive bursts of speed are secondary considerations. To say that one can win by using wisdom is rather far-fetched.
Two years later, the Italian Marathon was held in Milan, Italy. Yamada Honichi represented Japan in the competition. This time, he once again won the world championship. Reporters once again flocked to interview him.
Yamada Honichi was taciturn. His answer was still the same as last time: “I won by outsmarting my opponents.” This time, the reporters did not ridicule him in the newspapers, but they were still puzzled by his so-called wisdom.
Ten years later, the mystery was finally solved. In his autobiography, he said: “Before each race, I would take a car to carefully look at the race route and mark down the more prominent landmarks along the way, to use as milestones during the race. I would mentally list landmarks in the following order: The first one might be a bank; the second landmark would be a big tree; the third landmark, a red house… and so on up until the finish line. After the race started, I would run towards the first milestone at a 100-meter speed. When I reached the first target, I would run towards the second landmark at the same speed.
I actually ran at the same speed the entire time; tricking myself into thinking that the race was actually much shorter by creating goals that were nearer at hand helped me keep up my stamina. The 40-plus-kilometer race course was thus broken down into several smaller targets, allowing me to run it more easily. I learned my lesson from the time when I set my goal on the flag at the finish line 40-plus kilometers away. This method left me exhausted after running for just a dozen kilometers. I was intimidated by the long distance ahead.”
Author’s note: When I discovered this passage in Yamada Honichi’s autobiography, I was also reading Marcel Proust’s “In Search of Lost Time”, a seven-volume masterpiece that took the author 16 years to complete. Having to read so much material seemed too daunting at first, before I was inspired by Yamada Honichi to view it in sections, rather than as a mountain of literature. I finished the volumes.
Sometimes, the reason why we give up halfway is not because the task is too difficult, but because we feel that success is too far away, and will take up too much of our energy. If we follow Yamada Honichi’s advice, we might have fewer failures in life.
The original Chinese text is from https://www.wenxuecity.com/blog/200510/2682/5886.html.
分段实现自己的梦想-一个跑马拉松冠军的故事
103、1984年，在东京国际马拉松邀请赛中，名不见经传的日本选手山田本一出人意外地夺得了世界冠军。当记者问他凭什么取得如此惊人的成绩时，他说了这么一句话：凭智慧战胜对手。
当时许多人都认为这个偶然跑到前面的矮个子选手是在故弄玄虚。马拉松赛是体力和耐力的运动，只要身体素质好又有耐性就有望夺冠，爆发力和速度都还在其次，说用智慧取胜确实有点勉强。
两年后，意大利国际马拉松邀请赛在意大利北部城市米兰举行，山田本一代表日本参加比赛。这一次，他又获得了世界冠军。记者又请他谈经验。
山田本一性情木讷，不善言谈，回答的仍是上次那句话：用智慧战胜对手。这回记者在报纸上没再挖苦他，但对他所谓的智慧迷惑不解。
10年后，这个谜终于被解开了，他在他的自传中是这么说的：每次比赛之前，我都要乘车把比赛的线路仔细地看一遍，并把沿途比较醒目的标志画下来，比如第一个标志是银行；第二个标志是一棵大树；第三个标志是一座红房子……这样一直画到赛程的终点。比赛开始后，我就以百米的速度奋力地向第一个目标冲去，等到达第一个目标后，我又以同样的速度向第二个目标冲去。40多公里的赛程，就被我分解成这么几个小目标轻松地跑完了。起初，我并不懂这样的道理，我把我的目标定在40多公里外终点线上的那面旗帜上，结果我跑到十几公里时就疲惫不堪了，我被前面那段遥远的路程给吓倒了。
在山田本一的自传中，发现这段话的时候，我正在读法国作家普鲁斯特的《追忆似水流年》，这部作者花了16年写成的7卷本巨著，有很多次让我望而却步，要不是山田本一给我的启示，这部书可能还会像一座山一样横在我的眼前，现在它已被我踏平了。
我曾想，在现实中，我们做事之所以会半途而废，这其中的原因，往往不是因为难度较大，而是觉得成功离我们较远，确切地说，我们不是因为失败而放弃，而是因为倦怠而失败。在人生的旅途中，我们稍微具有一点山田本一的智慧，一生中也许会少许多懊悔和惋惜。
中文原文來自 https://www.wenxuecity.com/blog/200510/2682/5886. html
