持て余していた vs 持て余している


**持て余していた** 力を、陽菜さんにもらった勇気を、僕のなかで叫び続けている気持ちを、今こそ全部使い切るために僕は走る。

Hi. Why is 持て余す used in ていた form instead of ている form? If either 持て余していた or
持て余している can be used there, what is the difference between them? I know the
former is 過去完了 and the latter is 現在完了.

Thank you.




I assume you understand Japanese [relative
tense](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/25378/5010). This 持て余していた is in
the past-progressive form simply because 持て余す is something that was happening
before the action of 走る happened. In other words, the sentence is saying he
had a lot of energy and he has not known how to unleash it _for some time_.




I assume you understand Japanese [relative
tense](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/a/25378/5010). This 持て余していた is in
the past-progressive form simply because 持て余す is something that was happening
before the action of 走る happened. In other words, the sentence is saying he
had a lot of energy and he has not known how to unleash it _for some time_.

