Yibin Kang

Last weekend, I completed the shortest triathlon race I have ever done—a sprint event at the NJ State Triathlon. It was a race that only took one and a half hours to complete, covering the distance of a 500-meter swim, a 20km bike ride, and a 5km run, which is less than 1/8 of an Ironman. Despite its brevity, this race holds the proudest moment of all the races I have ever done because I completed it side-by-side with my 17-year-old son, Evan. Many teenagers participated in the race, as such a distance could be easily traversed by an energetic boy with a bit of training. However, for Evan, this was his very first athletic race in his life. In fact, it was the race of a lifetime for him, a celebration of the miracle of life itself. Seventeen years ago, a mere one and a half hours could have separated him from this world and all the people who love him. Evan was born with severe birth trauma at Princeton Medical Center in July 2006, two years after I started my faculty position as a mole...