I am a Methodist but for some reason, on New Year's Eve, I thought of Confucius to help me finish a race.

You see, my husband had signed us up for a 4 mile run in Central Park on New Year's Eve, much against my will. It's not that I detest running, it's just that being the warm-blooded, sane mammal that I am, usually associate running with post sunrise hours or the gym.

I had done this race once before, in 2007, and enjoyed the cherry-on-top experience. A midnight run is exhilarating. It rings in the New Year with a positive charge. It liberates and energizes. All these attributes were extremely compelling reasons. Oh, and you get some swag (tee shirt and bragging rights), courtesy of Emerald Nuts.

So you can wear the tee shirt outside and friends will look at it and think you're a hero for braving the cold to do a run reserved only for the very brave, the Army, or some Greek God. All very compelling points to do the race.

Fireworks in Central Park on New Year's Eve 2011

Oh, there's more….there's the firework display! Over 5,000 runners (and some in elaborate costumes) count down to midnight and watch in amazement as a Fourth of July-worthy fireworks display erupts like gunpowder chrysanthemum over the crowd. It's truly something.

Two Costume-Clad Eager Beavers at the Start of the Race

This year, we were lucky enough to run into some displaced tourists from Taiwan and Kansas, carrying expensive cameras and looking for something really "fun to do on New Year's Eve." Well, come to the race, we said. There's plenty to photograph: runners in cheesy but elaborate costumes, cheerleaders and fireworks. So, we ended up making a few friends. AWESOME.

By 11:00pm, I began to warm up. I loved the energy around me, and the band at the 72nd Street Shell was drumming up some serious music to get everyone into the party mood. Some marathon veterans had already begun to do laps around the Park….too ambitious for me.

Some Folks Light Sparklers as They Watch the Race

I pinned my race number to my non-aerodynamic down winter coat (yes, I ran with my coat on), knowing full well that I'd be as hot as lobster-colored coal during mile two. But it's a lot better having the coat on than coming into the city with full-sleeved tees and freezing to death.

The midnight countdown happened, the fireworks display was one better than I had thought it would be, and deafening shrieks enveloped my years. It was the New Year! Time for the race to start…

As I crossed the start line, I began to feel panicked. In one sense, I was extremely energized with the paparazzi-style euphoria and flash photography surrounding the runners; in another sense, this race represented my first ATTITUDE towards the New Year. It was a set of auspicious feelings and those could not really be negatively charged; otherwise, what kind of tone would I really set for 2011?

The Shell in Central Park hosts a Concert before the Run

Mile One was painless and effortless. It involved the same amount of effort you'd put into walking a few Manhattan blocks. Plus, the initial euphoria which resembled the half-sober, half-hysterical shrieking you'd find at a Z100 concert, fueled the passion.

Mile Two was also not terrible, plus the sparkling cider (cheekily labeled "Champagne") helped. But after Mile Two, and being passed by several women clad in tutus and one hefty reindeer with some serious bells attached to his waist and wrists, I began to question my ability to run the entire race.

"Come on, it's only four miles," my inner psyched urged. But Screwtape was at work here, and he kept saying, "Oh, fugghedaboutit…you did two miles…just ditch the rest and go drinking."

At this point, I was hot and sweaty and all this New Year's thrill had vaporized like thin, untraceable air into the fog of cheering bystanders. At this point, I remembered a quote by Confucius, quite randomly.

"It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop."

Well, how apropos and quite direct. But that saying was just the motivation I needed to just keep going because I knew it was a much larger than life metaphor. How often do we give up doing ANYTHING because things don't quite work according to plan, because we become mentally and emotionally fatigued and because we quite don't see the forest from the trees? For me, to "keep going" signifies wheels turning, ideas and action becoming realized.

Well, Confucius had a few other gems in his quotations repository too, including one of my all-time favorites:

"To see what is right and not to do it is want of courage."

At Mile Two, I became like the lion in The Wizard of Oz who was finally given his heart. I took one sip of sparkling cider, inhaled, and ran past that reindeer with the heavy bells. Proud to say that I did the race in 40 minutes (10 minute mile pace), which is not fast by any long shot, but I bettered my own expectations.

Myself and Hubby at the Finish

So, in the end I was really happy with the tone I set for 2011. Whatever it is you want to do, I hope you end up accomplishing it in 2011 . Happy New Year!

- Charu Suri

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