The First Marathon
After one minute of running for the bus, Hamid is out of breath, so his daughter has a big idea: the city marathon in October.
- A2 level
- 274 words
- about 3 min
- 5 questions
Hamid was forty-five, and he never did any . One cold morning in January, he ran for the bus and missed it. After only one minute of running, he was .
That evening, he told his daughter, Shirin, about the bus. She laughed. "Dad, you need to ," she said. "There's a in our city in October. Why don't you run it?"
"A marathon is forty-two kilometers!" said Hamid. But the next morning, he put on his old running shoes. "OK," he told Shirin. "I'm going to do it."
The first weeks were hard. On his first run, Hamid stopped after ten minutes. He felt older and slower than everybody in the park. But he went running again the next day, and the day after that.
Slowly, it got easier. In March, he could run five kilometers. By August, he could run thirty. He felt stronger and happier than before, and he slept better too.
On the day of the , it was cold and rainy, and Hamid was . The first twenty kilometers went well. But after thirty kilometers, his legs felt , and every step was harder than the last.
Then he saw Shirin at the side of the road. She was holding a big . It said, "Go, Dad! You're faster than the bus now!" Hamid laughed, and his legs felt .
He finished in five hours and twelve minutes, much slower than the winner. But Hamid . "So, what are you going to do next?" asked Shirin. "Next year, I'm going to run it again," he said. "And you're going to run with me!"
Key words in this text
These words are highlighted in the text; tap one there to see its meaning in context.
- exercisenoun
things you do to keep your body strong and healthy, like running or swimming
- out of breathphrase
breathing very fast and hard because you ran or worked hard
- get fitphrase
become strong and healthy, usually by doing sports
- marathonnoun
a running race of about 42 kilometers
- racenoun
an event where people run (or swim, ride...) to see who is the fastest
- nervousadjective
a little afraid and worried before something important
- heavieradjective
more heavy; here, his legs were harder to move
- signnoun
a big piece of paper or card with words on it
- suddenlyadverb
very quickly, when you don't expect it
- lighteradjective
less heavy; here, his legs were easier to move
- didn't carephrase
it was not important to him
Check your understanding
5 questions about "The First Marathon". Each answer is explained with the part of the text that shows it.
Grammar you can see in this text
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