Run to the Peak

To Be a Better Man than Yesterday

PROFILE

Majd Hamdan, an excellent runner, football player, mandarin speaker, strong man, 25 years old, and from Jordan, won the CSC scholarship five years ago before coming to CCNU. He majors in Chinese and is going to finish his undergraduate-life this year. On March 22nd, we have a chance to meet him and have a better understanding of him.

INTERVIEW

For Majd, CCNU is so beautiful and he makes many Chinese friends here. They are very nice to him, helping him a lot, which makes him feel like home. If he leaves CCNU, he will miss the place terribly.

Every day of each week is different and full of challenges, and he has distinct schedules. Crudely put, for Majd, watching TV, reading books, and meeting friends are regular. If the weather is pleasant, he will have races. Sometimes sports training can be arranged 2 or 3 times a day, or 4 or 5 times a week, depending on whether he has races.

About running training, he has some coaches. Actually, he would like to use the Internet, where the professional and famous sportsmen’s training programs are put on, and follow them. He does amazing trail running a lot and has gone almost everywhere in China, especially the countryside. Certainly, he has won many laurels such as the Changjiang River Shichang Cup (50 km-cyclocross), Hard Mountain (20 km-cyclocross), etc.

For him the marathon is fun. As a pacer runner that he has participated in Wuhan Marathon, Wuhan Women’s Marathon, and Jingzhou Marathon. Each time he finishes the exercise, he feels so glad that he tells himself mutely “I did it! I’m proud of myself!”

Although there are many obstacles in the process of making achievements, he firmly believes that there are no differences between successful people and him. They did it, so can he. So he works on training extremely hard. In the inner heart, he always tells himself, “My model is me, so to be better than myself because my biggest enemy in this world is myself.” During the interview, he holds the strong belief that everyone should be confident and believe in himself/herself. He argued that if someone wants to do something new in life, s/he cannot copy other people and has to do things special for himself/herself. We got that he hopes to beat Mo Farah from England one day.

After graduation, he may go to Africa to run with professionals to realize his dream. With stoicism, he told us he wanted to stay here because it was a safe place to live. Though there may be a little difficult, still he will try it. Perhaps many years later, he will come back to China, Dali. The reasons cover the nice weather and a comfortable environment.

Recently, he is doing running exercise on the East Lake Greenway because Wuhan Marathon will be held on April 14th. He doesn’t have enough time to prepare. Furthermore, the diet must be regular and healthy. In the morning, some eggs, oatmeal, and some black bread are suitable. He’d like to eat some broccoli and chicken at noon. To keep fit, we got that Majd just eats some fruits for dinner. There are many friends, people he has never known, cheering for him, and they work like the same team.

LIFE VIEW

Majd likes the famous crosstalk comedian Yue Yunpeng and Chinese movies, especially comedies which can bring laughter to him. In terms of monetary view, he puts health rather than fortune and money in the first place. He agrees that people can have many solutions to make money, but for him, money isn’t a symbol of happiness. Happiness can easily approach him even with little money. One gets something while one loses a lot, like health, pursuit, and dreams. Majd told us “The most important thing is to do what you want to do and to be what you love to be. So life isn’t just about money. It is about a lot of places you can go to, things you can try, and do things making you happy. The two sides have no close association.”

“I will continue to run, despite yesterday, today, or tomorrow. When you work for your purpose, your purpose will work for you.” We believe Majd Hamdan will have a bright future. Good luck!

Enjoy English

A student, who is studying English as a foreign language, was confused when he saw the words "open here" on a box of laundry soap, so he asked the sales woman :"Can't I wait until I get home to open it?"

Previous Messages

Interviewer: Penny ＆ Tom

Writing: Penny ＆ Tom

Editing and Proofreading: Areen ＆ Chrissie