The Philadelphia Man

Then, at the airport in Athens, a tall, fat gentleman came up to me and caught me by the shoulder. He said, "Friend, are you going to run the marathon?" I smiled at him. Then he said, "I am going to run. I come from Philadelphia."
 
I said, "Philadelphia gave me a very sad experience. I went to Philadelphia to run the marathon."
 
He said he was also there and gave up after thirteen miles. I said, "At twenty-one miles gave up."
 
So in the same marathon where I gave up after twenty-one miles, he gave up after thirteen miles. He had run one other marathon somewhere else, he told me; his timing was five and a half hours. So my ego came forward. I said, "I am not so bad." O God, in two more days what would happen!
 
Then we talked for a long time. Since my timing is a little better than his, I felt quite at ease talking to him.
 
Then the Cleveland man came up and joined our conversation. He was very sincere; he was not bragging, only advising us what to do.
 
-7 October 1979 
 

 
[Source: "The Philadelphia Man" in Sri Chinmoy,  Run and Become, Become and Run, Part 2, Agni Press/Aum Publications, Jamaica, New York, 1979.]