A conventional marathon as is known around the world in London, New York etc is a 42 kilometers race. Hard is the name of the game as a marathon will test your tenacity, endurance, staying power, determination and courage. If stories are anything to go by, many have passed out and never returned to the land of the living while in a marathon. Many of such people are accomplished runners who thought they had the trained legs and experienced guile to go the entire distance. Indeed, only the truly great concludes a marathon. However, as daunting and daring a normal marathon is, it is child’s play to Izokuthoba. In South Africa, Izokuthoba means ‘It will humble you.’ It was the theme for the May 29th 2016 special kind of marathon; known as ‘Comrade Marathon’ (It was the 91st edition). As opposed to the conventional marathon which is 42 kilometers, this is an 89.2 kilometers race. More than double a normal marathon distance! It will test your soul, stretch your will, dare your tenacity, harass your resolve, meddle with your guts and gauge your lasting power. In many ways, the Izokuthoba is less about running and more about reaffirming the human spirit. It will define you, and it will humble you. The largest ultra-marathon has humbled elite runners. Johnny Halberstadt, arguably South Africa’s most versatile runner who was a world class marathoner met his match in the 1979 up run, where while leading the race, fatigue and depletion saw him drop to the tarmac outside Camperdown, and that was it for him.

Such is life; it is Izokuthoba – It will humble you. Life will throw curve balls at you when you thought you had it together. It will push you so hard you will contemplate the thought ‘Is it really worth it or should I just end it now.’ If you live very long enough, you will discover that every man is fighting his own devils, which you know absolutely nothing about. Some are simply skilled in doing it privately while putting up a cheerful outlook to the rest of the world. Make no mistakes about it, life is a Pandora box, you never quite know what to expect irrespective of how prepared you are for it. Like in Izokuthoba, just when you thought you are adequately prepared for the race of life, it will shock you with the curves and mountainous paths and even for the fearless, it might break them. Life indeed is humbling. It will shut you up, make you mind your business, bring you to your knees and make you pray. One definition of “humbled” I have seen, reads ‘Feeling the positive effects of humility.’ At times, life has to be humbling for the message to sink in.

As you run your own race in life, always remember that no man has it all figured out. Sometimes, it is okay to be tired, to need rest, to seek support systems, to reach out. In Izokuthoba, runners pat themselves on the back and encourage one another. They surge on even when it doesn’t feel like it anymore. Trust me; there are moments in your life when you simply won’t feel like it anymore. It is in those moments that you trudge on, with pain in your heart and your body souring. However, remember that there are times in life, when you will have no support to fall back on and the only one that can cheer you on is yourself. As it is in Izokuthoba, so it is in life; you must learn to encourage and cheer yourself on sometimes.

There is a cliché among the comrade marathoners that goes thus ‘A smooth race never made a skillful racer.’ In life, you will go through paths you never envisaged and when you think the finish line is in sight, you will discover it was only a temporary reprieve, as there is a bend at the end of that road that shocks you and keeps demanding the last of your resolve. However, to conclude an Izokuthoba, is to have won. Same with life; your victory is not dependent on whether you out-ran the next man. Rather, it hinges on whether you met your own goals, finished your own race and cut your own ribbon. The hair rising moment in Izokuthoba is to have crossed the line and this is same with life. ‘Finishing’ your course is what it means to have won in life.
http://samuelokonkwok..com.ng/2016/06/life-is-izokuthoba-it-will-humble-you.html

I have been a follower of the owner of this write up for sometime. He has been an inspiration even though he does not know me at all. I bumped on this post somewhere, Had a good read and have decided to share. Life is indeed a lesson teacher but just as we were taught when young, It is always good to do your assignments and prepare for your teacher, so when he comes, he wont have to flog you or get angry at you. I am having my share of the lesson. After landing a job in the oil and gas industry and thought yes, I have arrived, No shaking.... In a very "weird" scenario, I was made redundant. I wasn't made redundant because I wasn't smart enough, I was my made redundant because the field I worked on couldn't cope with the operation cost when compared to the price of crude..... No excuse btw. My point is, sometimes, somethings happen not because we are not good enough, they are simply things beyond our control. Like the posts says, It will break you and stretch you to your limit. I was privileged to attend interviews after I was dropped but it never got better. Already, I had a brilliant Idea I was working on before I was droppedbut I tell you, building a business is much much much much more difficult than looking for a job.
This is only an inspiration to the youths out there, be optimistic, be hopeful because it is all part of the izokuthoba race... Peace!
Seun, lalasticala, davide470.. you can move this to FP.

Life is tough because humans made it so. We should live not survive. Man has filled this world with lies and deceptions. The secret of life is knowledge and wisdom as early as possible not when it is late.

Martinez19:
Life is tough because humans made it so. We should live not survive. Man has filled this world with lies and deceptions. The secret of life is knowledge and wisdom as early as possible not when it is late.

what is life without humans. Humans are the most difficult being to live with. while Humans have got a major role to play in one's life, life itself is a mystery. what has humans got to do with a child whose mother and father dies in an accident, leaving him to survive alone. @ bolded, sadly, you cannot know all. Each phase and steps only make you wiser. You can do you assignments and prepare ahead for the next lesson or course to be taught but you cannot know it all or perhaps you will need some parts to be explained to you. such is life. I bumped into someone's status that says "pray life treats you fair"

anonymousreport:
what is life without humans. Humans are the most difficult being to live with. while Humans have got a major role to play in one's life, life itself is a mystery. what has humans got to do with a child whose mother and father dies in an accident, leaving him to survive alone. @ bolded, sadly, you cannot know all. Each phase and steps only make you wiser. You can do you assignments and prepare ahead for the next lesson or course to be taught but you cannot know it all or perhaps you will need some parts to be explained to you. such is life. I bumped into someone's status that says "pray life treats you fair"

We can't know all my brother. But you will agree with me that there are certain knowledge and wisdom that will prevent one from making crucial mistakes in life. There are certain mistakes that could upset the outcome of one's life.

In a world of love, an orphan should be adopted. There are people that have money of ten generations yet they don't help anyone.