I am not a runner. I like to run, I’ve run quite a few races, but I don’t call myself a runner. Partly because I’m slow, and partly because I don’t think I’m consistent enough to identify myself as a runner. Running has become one of my favorite things to do (along with puzzles, eating ice cream, and hanging out with my bffs.) Something else I love is trying to find the Lord in everyday things, and I think there is so much to learn about him when we look at the Christian walk through a runner’s lens.
I really got into running when my friend Gracen convinced me to run a half marathon with her about 4 years ago. Through that first round of training and the community and affirmation that came from running a half marathon, I fell in love with it! I kept up running, pretty inconsistently, but I think this past school year is the hardest I’ve ever pushed myself to train for a race. I ran a 5k, 10k, 15k, and half marathon within 5 months, which was a lot…but it was pretty dang fun! As I’ve learned more about running, the similarity between running a legit race and running the Christian race has become so so clear to me.
As I think about the half marathon that my friend Haley and I did back in March, I don’t just think about the 2ish hours we spent running the race, I think about the whole process that went into running that race. Here’s a little break down of my favorite parts of the process and how, after some reflection, I’ve seen the Lord in them:
TRAINING
When I think about training, I think about the 8 mile runs on the weekends, The Chimes Fettuccini Alfredo the night before a long run, and the pain that came when I stood up a couple of hours after the run was finished. All of those things are memories before the “big moment” of actually running the race. Haley and I had an interesting running relationship. We both knew we weren’t going to run the whole race together or really even train together (because Haley is a superstar and a million times faster than me.) After we finished a run, we would send a sweaty selfie and our mileage (see an example below). When Haley would send me a sweaty selfie, I knew I needed to go run so that I could send one back. To me, that is a perfect example of what accountability and discipleship look like in our lives. Discipleship and accountability are NOT one sided, they’re not just someone asking you for a sweaty selfie every day but sending one as encouragement and example for your partner to replicate.
PACKET PICK-UP
I don’t know about y’all, but I LOVE packet pick-up the day before the race! Walking in there and seeing everyone else that is about to run with you in the morning is like the best thing ever to me. Sadly, Haley had to work, and we couldn’t go pick up our packets together, but when I went to get my packet, I was able to pick up Haley’s for her. I think this is also a parallel to what discipleship and accountability look like in our lives. A lot of us have “our people.” Shoutout to my girls Anna Claire, Haley, Maddy, Emily, LB, Gracen, Blair;) Whether you meet with them every week or you live miles away and never see each other, when one of your people is struggling, you’re there to help them pick it all back up. Don’t get me wrong, Haley didn’t ask me to pick up her packet and carry it with me for the entire 13.1 miles. In the same way, discipleship isn’t carrying their struggles FOR them, but it’s HELPING to start the process of picking it up in a way that will eventually get it back to her. I’ve heard before that sharing struggles is like dumping all of your struggles in a bucket that’s sitting on the ground. No one is in charge of carrying that bucket for everyone, but it is a place to relieve you of the struggles you’re carrying.
RACE DAY
Here it is!! The big moment!! We get to downtown Baton Rouge around 6:30am and see a ton of people stretching, eating granola bars, and running a warmup mile (not my thing but to each his own.) Haley was sucking on her jolly rancher and I take a gu—open to sponsorships just sayin—and we get all lined up. We wanted to start the race together, so we ran about half a mile together after the race started. This is important. We started something that we knew would be difficult alongside each other. It makes things in our Christian walk so much easier when someone is beside you to remind you why you want to start the hard things. When I hit my pace, Haley kept going faster and then it was just me and my music. My parents and a few of our friends were along the race route to support us, so throughout the race, I saw familiar faces cheering for me and taking pictures! At about mile 7, I knew I was about to hit the hard part. I took my second gu, passed Jessie and Peyton for the last time until the finish line, and got my mind ready for the daunting 6 miles left. In our lives, I believe the hardest parts are the things we have to do internally, between us and the Lord. Much like I knew these last 6 miles would be hard, I also knew this wasn’t a time that I could rely on anyone else. It was time to fight the internal battle of if this race is worth finishing or not. The cool part about this particular race route was that there were a few loops where you saw other participants running the opposite way. About Mile 10, Haley and I saw each other on opposite sides of the road. We gave a smile and a wave, but that’s about all we had left in us. At that point, Haley and I were not running together. We couldn’t really lean on each other, but we knew we were both there struggling right across the street. I knew that I had Haley a couple miles ahead of me, understanding exactly what I was going through, and that made a huge difference.
THE FINISH
We’ll fast forward through the last 3.1 miles because let me just say…that the last part of that race killed me. One of my goals for the race was to run the entire thing and I didn’t do it. I walked and was so disappointed in myself. I’m a huge goal person (enneagram 3s wassup) and it’s easy for me to get wrapped up in the goals that I don’t meet. So, you can imagine falling short of a goal that I trained for months to meet wasn’t exactly the easiest thing to swallow.
BUT, when I crossed that finish line, my parents and my friends didn’t care that I had walked. They cheered for me, gave me hugs, and took pictures with me. They loved me regardless.
That is a picture of the Gospel!!! We fall short countless times; we say we won’t and then we do. BUT the Lord still loves us. He forgives us and he loves us regardless of our failures.
I’m not a runner, but I like to run. And LOVE the way that things as simple as running can reveal so many things about the character of our savior.
