“…let us run with patience the race that is set before us, Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith…” (Hebrews 12:1-2)
The Starting Line
I took up running a few years ago. I started casually, hoping to find a way to just burn some extra calories. Soon, I found that I could run for longer than I needed to do recovery walks. Not long after that, I signed up for my town’s first Turkey Trot.
Then I thought I’d go to the next level and sign up to do a 10k. It’s coming up soon, and I’m not ready. I never am. I would be if I were doing just the 5K, but I wanted to challenge myself again, so I signed up for the 10K. That’s 6.2 miles, for any of you keeping score at home. The 5K is a no-brainer for me – I do that on a regular basis in the mornings. Six miles just downright scares me.
The Training Plan
A few weeks ago I started doing my own interval training on my runs. I have a great little app on my phone I use to not only track my distance and time, but it also does some “coaching” based on goals I input. I customized a workout on it with the goal of getting to a 10-minute mile for three miles. I have it set so that I’ll run two minutes fast, with a one or two-minute recovery thrown in, along with some walking rests and steady paces. I had my three-mile route in mind when I did it, and tried to gauge where I wanted to be on the route as I was programming each minute of my workout.
The first time I did it I thought I was crazy. “Who programmed this thing?” I huffed angrily to myself, despairing that I would finish my run in one piece, let alone at my goal pace.The next time I did it, I actually was able to make it through the running distances for the amount of time I had set the goal for, and needed less walking recoveries.
As time went on, I kept a steady pace through the walking recoveries, and only needed to do one walking recovery for one minute during the entire three miles.
It got to the point that on Wednesdays and Fridays when I went with my sometimes-training buddy, I wondered if she was feeling okay. It finally occurred to me that she was feeling just fine, but I was the one improving to the point where I didn’t need to keep such a slow pace anymore.
Last week I hit my goal of 10 minutes per mile for three+ miles. And I did it twice! Either something was wrong with the app or I hit my goal. I don’t know if I’ll be able to sustain that pace for the full six miles, but it doesn’t matter. I did it for three, and that’s what I had been aiming for.
Just keep going
Here’s a little life/running analogy I’ve been pondering. Just as I didn’t like the plan that had been laid out for me ahead of time – a plan designed to help me grow and improve – we don’t always like what we’ve been given in life. We’ve all had a plan laid out for us. We were probably even involved in that planning a little bit – but of course we don’t remember that now. At the time, it probably seemed like that plan and those goals were a good idea. “I can do that,” we thought confidently. “Yeah, it’ll be a challenge, but it’s totally doable. And I can only learn through challenges, right?” Then you get here to your life and start wondering who the heck made up this crazy plan for you? “Growth?” you think, sometimes disgustedly, sometimes ironically. “I don’t want anymore. STOP!”
But just as my running app didn’t stop encouraging me along my route, and it didn’t stop mapping my progress just because I hurt and was uncomfortable, we don’t get to stop our life’s route. And also, just as I wasn’t completely successful my first time out on the route, that’s okay. You just … keep going. As trite and simple as that sounds, you just go on.
The Finish Line
The finish line may not appear as soon as we like, and it may look different than we thought, and the route to get there may change along the way. But get there you will.
“So whatever challenges you wake up to each morning, remember—with the spiritual strength you develop, coupled with the Lord’s help, at the end of the race you will be able to enjoy the confidence that the Apostle Paul expressed when he said: ‘For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.’ (2 Timothy 4:6-7).” (Richard J. Maynes, “The Strength to Endure,” October 2013.)
