Lessons for the Race

“Let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.” Hebrews 12:1b

It seemed like a good idea at the time. My step-daughter and her husband suggested we run the Kiawah Island half marathon, and I said yes without thinking. Although I’ve run marathons before, full and half, it had been a while, and I wasn’t sure my 64-year-old body was up to the challenge. That was several months ago, and now the race is less than a week away. Through it all, I learned some important truths about more than running that I will carry with me long after this half marathon is over.

The first is, I need to put in the work. With December 9th months away, it was tempting to put off training. Instead, I started with small distances and let my legs remember what it was like to run. Slowly, the distances increased, but I was as intentional about resting my body as pushing it. What mattered was that I showed up when I wanted to and when I didn’t, when it was sunny and warm and rainy and cold.

After the initial efforts, the distances made me pay attention, and I seriously thought about quitting. “If this is hard, how can you do the whole race?” I asked myself. Now that I’ve reached the age when people add, “at your age,” to every complement, I knew I was pushing things by trying to run 13.1 miles. Rather than quit, though, I lowered my eyes from the overall distance and focused on putting one foot in front of another. If I can just do that for a few hours, I kept telling myself, eventually I’ll reach the finish line.

At some point during one of my longer training runs, I got an idea that has made all the difference. I thought about running for a purpose. It was an ambitious goal to run such a distance at my age, but to do so for a reason transformed my perspective. I thought about my 19th anniversary of getting sober, which is next month, and I thought about the many people who were not as fortunate as I to have insurance to pay for rehab. I wondered if I could run to raise enough money to fund one person’s 28-day rehab experience. It was a big number, but I thought raising any money would be appreciated. As of writing this, my generous friends have joined me and almost donated the complete amount.

Through this experience, I’ve learned three important truths about running races, particularly the important one called “life”: put in the work, take it one step at a time, and do it for a meaningful purpose. Looking back and forward, I can see how important these three truths could have been for what I’ve tried and can still be for what lies ahead.

I wanted to pass them along in case they can help you in your “races,” too.

If you would like to join in the effort to change someone’s life, please send a gift to: Fellowship Hall, 5140 Dunstan Rd, Greensboro, NC 27405, marked “Bristol Challenge.”