On November 18, a very cold winterday, Sang Lae Kim, President of Sahmyook University in Korea, ran the whole course of the “2012 Son GiJeong Peace Marathon.”
Although the windchill outside was below freezing, President Kim crossed the finish line at a record of 5 hours and 19 minutes.
It is extremely rare that a university president takes the challenge of running a whole marathon, and finishes it. He wore a uniform with “Love Sahmyook” written across his chest.
What was the reason that he took this challenge? He is an amateur runner and has no previous experiencerunning in a marathon, and yet he still took on this challenge and completed it!
He answered this question by saying that,“I wanted to show you the passion I have for the spirit of Sahmyook University, as well as advertise our school. I wanted to communicate with our students through this great opportunity.”
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He has also declared he will run a marathon at the inauguration ceremony in March, 2013, and is now training every Wednesday with some of his professors. He promised himself and the students that he would run this marathon as well. Although sometimes it has been very tough, he has won the victory over himself, wishing that the Sahmyook students would also challenge themselves in life.
After finishing his race, he was interviewed by YTN. He said,“Ideeply understand the predicament of our students, and I wanted to show them through the running of this Marathon,the vision that we can do anything.”
The media shed light on Mr. Kim’s completion of the Marathon by reporting that,“He has a profound love for his school. He is from Sahmyook University.”Through this event, the image of a “hands-on” president is imprinted on people’s minds. He ran the Marathon to let all the people know that Sahmyook University is making strong endeavors for their students!
This Marathon was held to celebrate the 100thanniversary of the birth of Son GiJeong, a famous marathoner in Korea. About 2,000 people participated in the event. There were three courses: 10km, half course, and full course.