In Training...

Six months ago I started training for my first half marathon. Well, actually, six months ago i decided that I was going to run in a half marathon and because I had never really done any running in my life, I felt I should give myself one year to first, learn how to run and to train for a half marathon. I am not that nonathletic, really, more of a late bloomer because as it turns out, I really can run. For some, running is second nature, but I had to learn to run like a toddler learns to walk. At first, and still, I have to totally concentrate on my heel striking the ground and where exactly I toe off. I had to build muscles that I didn't even know I had and on top of that I had to deal with many neglected old injuries and adjust to moving parts that had never really had the chance to fully heal. I stalk other runners, studying their form. I dream about running , I talk about running to anyone who will listen, trying to convince myself that I can do this thing that I have challenged myself to. One other thing I have found that gives me that extra boost in my daily run out on the road and this marathon called life is a passage from 1 Corinthians:

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

I run everyday with this passage in my head and I get something different out of it every time. Today the last sentence speaks the loudest to me because I do not want to be disqualified! I talked about this with my girls early yesterday and asked them what they thought this meant, we talked about how when we make mistakes and others see us continue to make poor choices we lose credibility. We talked about how it is human to make mistakes and to want to wipe the slate clean, and sometimes we think a clean slate means new friends, or a new school or a new spouse or a new house will make us up and change our ways and start new. But that is really impractical, for the most part, and when we move on with our clean slate what happens to the people we leave behind? If I am running in my half marathon and I fall down, I don't start over from the start line, no, I pick myself up brush myself off, make needed adjustments, and then I finish the race. So I found a great little passage that I like to add to my morning run that goes a little something like this:

Not that I have already obtained this or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 3:12-14

I so deserve to be disqualified, I can't go back to the start line from here. I will get up today, make needed adjustments and press on toward the Goal. Life really is like a marathon.  

BTW, I run my first half marathon on December 5. Shout out to my great support system, you know who you are.