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An Important Lesson
—次重要教訓
It was an early September day, cool and bright and just right for running, and I was in the first few miles of a 10 1/2 mile race over a course through steep, exhausting hills. Still, I felt rested and springy; despite the hills it was going to be a fine run.
那是9月初的一天，天氣涼爽而又晴朗，正是賽跑的好日子。我參加了一項10.5英里越野賽跑，才跑了最初幾英里；整個賽程要穿越若干陡峭、耗人體力的山坡。不過，我覺得自己步履輕快有力；盡管坡陡山峭，這次賽跑會跑得很順利的。
Just ahead of me was Peggy Mimno, a teacher from Mount Kisco, New York. She too was running easily, moving along efficiently at my speed. The pace felt comfortable, so I decided to stay where I was; why bother concentrating on pace when she was such a nice pacesetter for me? I would overtake her later on when she tired.
稍稍領先于我的，是一位來自紐約州基斯科山城的教師佩吉·米姆諾。她跨著和我同樣的步速穩穩地向前推進。這種步速我跑起來覺得很輕松，所以我決定保持在原有的位置上。既然她在前面領跑對我很合適，我又何必費心考慮步速呢?等她什么時候累了再超過她不遲。
So I was running closely behind her. The course headed north for five miles, wandered west for a hilly mile, then turned south again along a winding road. The race was getting tougher. We had four miles left and already it was beginning to be real work. I was breathing hard, and my legs were beginning to stiffen.
于是我就緊跟在她身后跑著。賽跑的路線先是北上5英里，然后向西折上1英里的山道，最后再重新往南轉入一段蜿蜒曲折的路程。賽跑漸趨緊張，越來越不好對付。我們還剩下4英里的賽程，我已在急促喘氣，雙腿也開始有點僵硬。
Peggy overtook a young male runner. Apparently she knew him, for they exchanged a few cheerful words as she passed him. Their exchange worried me. You don't chat during a race unless you are feeling good, and Peggy plainly was. There was still a noticeable bounce in her stride （大步）, but whatever springiness I had once possessed had long since （早已） left me.
佩吉越過了一位年輕的男運動員。他們顯然相互認識，因為她超過他時兩人還頗有興致地寒暄了幾句。他們的這番寒暄不免令我犯愁。賽跑時，要不是自我感覺不錯，是顧不上跟人搭理的，很顯然，佩吉自我感覺不錯。她步幅很大，腳下的彈性仍顯而易見，而我曾一度有過的那么一點彈性，早已離開了我腳下。
Still, I was close enough to overtake her if she tired, so I didn't give up hope completely. We were approaching a long, punishing hill now and it would be the test. We were a mile from the finish line, so whatever happened on the hill would almost certainly determine who crossed it first.
即便如此，我還是離她很近，如果她累了，仍能超過她，因此我并沒有完全放棄希望。我們來到了一條漫長、累人的山道，是接受真正考驗的時刻了。我們離終點線只有1英里了，因此在這一斜坡上無論發生什么情況，幾乎可以肯定都會決定誰率先沖過終點線。
As I moved up the hill, working hard, my attention wandered for a few minutes. When I looked up Peggy was moving away — first five yards, then ten, then more. Finally it was clear that there was no hope of catching her. She beat me decisively.
我費勁地沿山坡往上跑，有幾分鐘胡思亂想走了神。等我抬頭一看，佩吉竟然將我逐漸甩下——先是5碼，隨后10碼，距離越拉越開了。最后，顯然再沒有希望追上她了。她無可置疑地將我挫敗了。
There is an important lesson in that race. Much of what you read about running makes a sharp distinction between the sexes. Women are assumed to be weaker, slower and not nearly as skilled athletically. Yet as Peggy Mimno so clearly demonstrated, the similarities between male and female runners are more important than the differences.
這次賽跑給了我一個重要教訓。不少有關賽跑的讀物都對兩性作了明確劃分。認為女性較為柔弱，速度較慢，在體育競技方面終遜一籌。然而，正如佩吉·米姆諾所清楚表明的，男女賽跑選手之間的相同之處要比他們之間的不同之處更重要。
