How Running the Mile Taught Me a Jesus Lesson
Back in high school, I always dreaded a certain day in PE.
"The Mile" day.
Ugh.
Even to this day, I hear it put that way and I get the shudders. So, what was "The Mile" Day, you might ask? Well, it was the day we ran the mile. Each time always started out the same for me. I would bolt at the sound of the gun and be at the front. So excited to be third in line and thinking, "wow, I guess I can run!" But, about 10 seconds later, I would begin to feel that sting in the chest. The spaghetti legs and heavy breathing. By the half mile mark, I was close to being last. And, when there was a quarter mile left, I'd be limping in. I think my best time was around the 11 minute mark. I got excited when I hit 10 minutes. That was very short lived and I jumped back to a 13 minute mile.
The thing is, I wasn't entirely out of shape in high school. I wasn't super skinny nor was I super sporty but, I like to think that I wasn't un-athletic. I mean, I was on the volleyball team for goodness sake and could run around on the soccer field pretty good. My stamina would hold out for a long time. Yes, I battled mild asthma and was overweight but, I usually didn't feel the effects of it during those sports or games.
As the years have gone by, I learned a valuable lesson with running. You have to pace yourself. You see, my problem wasn't that I was out of shape, it was that I wasn't managing my energy very well. Instead of bolting as fast as I could at the start, I should have started at a medium pace - slow and steady. Keeping a good rhythm. That way, my energy would have been evenly dispersed during the entire mile and I would have been able to run the whole time. My minutes would have dropped significantly. Unfortunately, I didn't learn about that (or maybe I was taught this and just didn't pay attention) until adulthood.
Fast forward to present day, something interesting has happened. Well, let me back up a bit because I do have to say that over the years I never had an interest in running. In fact, when researching different ways to get in shape, I would purposefully look for all the negatives that running can do to your body. So, naturally, running would be out of the question because of how bad it is for your knees and shins, etc., etc. This past year, however, I have been on a health revolution. It started when I walked up the stairs to my second story apartment and was out of breath by the time I got to my door. That should not be happening! So, I began researching again and started eating whole foods. I cut out dairy, gluten, legumes, sugar and other things that have the potential to wreck havoc on the body. The pounds, and inches, dropped and my energy sky rocketed. I felt amazing and I wanted to start doing something physical to strengthen my body. Guess what came up?
Running.
Nooooooooo. Seriously? No. No. No. No! I will not run! So, I did some HIIT workouts, weight lifting, yoga and various other, somewhat low impact, workouts. I felt great! And I knew they were enough and were working. But here that word came again.... running! Doing a 5K intrigued me so, I decided to try one out and walk it. I had a blast! And, I finally gave in. I wanted to run. Since I'm a researching type person, I wanted to train my body to run. I wanted to make sure I did this in a safe manner that would be beneficial and wouldn't wreck my body because, well, that's kind of defeating the purpose.
Okay, now we can come to present day... yesterday, I got up early and decided to put all the research I had into practice. I ran. Actually, I jogged. No, wait... I wogged. (Walk/Jog... yes, you can use that term!) I jogged and walked in intervals and I noticed something. My asthma did not kick in. My body felt amazing. My mind was clear and I had energy until the very end.
One of the things with training is, you have to warm your body up and make sure each area is strong. The intervals allowed my body to feel the pressure of running but, not to the point of hurting it. The walking kept my heart rate up and blood pumping. Slow and steady. Keeping an even pace. And, I finished with the best feeling ever.
So, now I'm on a journey with running. My goal is to run half of a 5K I'll take part in, in March. Notice that I'm not making it a goal to run the whole thing. Nope, I'm still training my body and it takes time. Maybe I will run the whole thing but, I want to take care of my body. I want to make sure that what I'm doing is benefiting it and not hurting it.
As I thought about this whole journey with running, it had me thinking about our journey with Christ. There is a verse in scripture that is used so heavily when it comes to running or sports and winning. You may know which one I'm talking about:
When I think about the context of this verse, I don't see it as us needing to bolt at the start line, as fast as we can, to win. I think, and please this is my interpretation and it is completely open to debate, is that this is not so much in relation to racing and seeing who can get to Jesus first. It's more about keeping our eyes focused on our amazing creator and doing what He has called us to do, according to His word and will. We can't slow down or speed up so fast we become exhausted. Slow and steady, keeping our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. The one who holds our tomorrows and has redeemed every inch of our lives. Training our souls by reading His word and living our life in a Christ-like manner so that our spiritual muscles will become strong and nourished. And when this "race" is over, we can say we did so with care and wisdom.
Have you ever felt like you had to memorize scripture in a rush or keep up with those around you who, you felt were so much more knowledgeable of the Bible than you? I sure have and it. is. exhausting. Have you ever taken on so many tasks that left with barely enough energy to fry an egg for dinner? I have. And, what has ended up being the result is a very dry and weak relationship with Jesus because my focus has been so much on the race and getting as much accomplished as possible and, not so much on nourishing, training and strengthening my soul. When I take the time to hear the whisper of Jesus and truly pause to take it all in, I do not feel tired or overwhelmed. When I read what I can and work out all the different areas of my spiritual soul, I feel stronger. I feel more confident in my faith and who Christ is.
Can you see how similar this is with running? Instead of hurting and exhausting ourselves with rushing, adding more and more to our plates or cramming in more bible knowledge, we need to pace our lives. I have learned to pause before saying yes to a commitment. I've decided to do one Bible study at a time and I don't worry about having to have an answer to everything. It's so freeing.
I love these verses out of Proverbs:
While I don't think exhausting our bodies is evil, it is definitely not helpful. And, it can lead us to do evil things like be judgmental, slander, speak badly of someone and be disrespectful, hurt others, and the list goes on. Fearing the Lord includes growing in our relationship with him and... the best part of that scripture, it will be healing and refreshing.
I'm experiencing this with my running training and with my relationship with God. Once I learned to slow down and make wise boundaries, my spiritual soul began to feel refreshed, healed and whole.
"The Mile" day.
Ugh.
Even to this day, I hear it put that way and I get the shudders. So, what was "The Mile" Day, you might ask? Well, it was the day we ran the mile. Each time always started out the same for me. I would bolt at the sound of the gun and be at the front. So excited to be third in line and thinking, "wow, I guess I can run!" But, about 10 seconds later, I would begin to feel that sting in the chest. The spaghetti legs and heavy breathing. By the half mile mark, I was close to being last. And, when there was a quarter mile left, I'd be limping in. I think my best time was around the 11 minute mark. I got excited when I hit 10 minutes. That was very short lived and I jumped back to a 13 minute mile.
The thing is, I wasn't entirely out of shape in high school. I wasn't super skinny nor was I super sporty but, I like to think that I wasn't un-athletic. I mean, I was on the volleyball team for goodness sake and could run around on the soccer field pretty good. My stamina would hold out for a long time. Yes, I battled mild asthma and was overweight but, I usually didn't feel the effects of it during those sports or games.
As the years have gone by, I learned a valuable lesson with running. You have to pace yourself. You see, my problem wasn't that I was out of shape, it was that I wasn't managing my energy very well. Instead of bolting as fast as I could at the start, I should have started at a medium pace - slow and steady. Keeping a good rhythm. That way, my energy would have been evenly dispersed during the entire mile and I would have been able to run the whole time. My minutes would have dropped significantly. Unfortunately, I didn't learn about that (or maybe I was taught this and just didn't pay attention) until adulthood.
Fast forward to present day, something interesting has happened. Well, let me back up a bit because I do have to say that over the years I never had an interest in running. In fact, when researching different ways to get in shape, I would purposefully look for all the negatives that running can do to your body. So, naturally, running would be out of the question because of how bad it is for your knees and shins, etc., etc. This past year, however, I have been on a health revolution. It started when I walked up the stairs to my second story apartment and was out of breath by the time I got to my door. That should not be happening! So, I began researching again and started eating whole foods. I cut out dairy, gluten, legumes, sugar and other things that have the potential to wreck havoc on the body. The pounds, and inches, dropped and my energy sky rocketed. I felt amazing and I wanted to start doing something physical to strengthen my body. Guess what came up?
Running.
Nooooooooo. Seriously? No. No. No. No! I will not run! So, I did some HIIT workouts, weight lifting, yoga and various other, somewhat low impact, workouts. I felt great! And I knew they were enough and were working. But here that word came again.... running! Doing a 5K intrigued me so, I decided to try one out and walk it. I had a blast! And, I finally gave in. I wanted to run. Since I'm a researching type person, I wanted to train my body to run. I wanted to make sure I did this in a safe manner that would be beneficial and wouldn't wreck my body because, well, that's kind of defeating the purpose.
Okay, now we can come to present day... yesterday, I got up early and decided to put all the research I had into practice. I ran. Actually, I jogged. No, wait... I wogged. (Walk/Jog... yes, you can use that term!) I jogged and walked in intervals and I noticed something. My asthma did not kick in. My body felt amazing. My mind was clear and I had energy until the very end.
One of the things with training is, you have to warm your body up and make sure each area is strong. The intervals allowed my body to feel the pressure of running but, not to the point of hurting it. The walking kept my heart rate up and blood pumping. Slow and steady. Keeping an even pace. And, I finished with the best feeling ever.
So, now I'm on a journey with running. My goal is to run half of a 5K I'll take part in, in March. Notice that I'm not making it a goal to run the whole thing. Nope, I'm still training my body and it takes time. Maybe I will run the whole thing but, I want to take care of my body. I want to make sure that what I'm doing is benefiting it and not hurting it.
As I thought about this whole journey with running, it had me thinking about our journey with Christ. There is a verse in scripture that is used so heavily when it comes to running or sports and winning. You may know which one I'm talking about:
I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:14
Have you ever felt like you had to memorize scripture in a rush or keep up with those around you who, you felt were so much more knowledgeable of the Bible than you? I sure have and it. is. exhausting. Have you ever taken on so many tasks that left with barely enough energy to fry an egg for dinner? I have. And, what has ended up being the result is a very dry and weak relationship with Jesus because my focus has been so much on the race and getting as much accomplished as possible and, not so much on nourishing, training and strengthening my soul. When I take the time to hear the whisper of Jesus and truly pause to take it all in, I do not feel tired or overwhelmed. When I read what I can and work out all the different areas of my spiritual soul, I feel stronger. I feel more confident in my faith and who Christ is.
Can you see how similar this is with running? Instead of hurting and exhausting ourselves with rushing, adding more and more to our plates or cramming in more bible knowledge, we need to pace our lives. I have learned to pause before saying yes to a commitment. I've decided to do one Bible study at a time and I don't worry about having to have an answer to everything. It's so freeing.
I love these verses out of Proverbs:
Do not be wise in your own eyes;
Fear the Lord and turn away from evil.
It will be healing to your body
And refreshing to your bones.
Proverbs 3:7-8
I'm experiencing this with my running training and with my relationship with God. Once I learned to slow down and make wise boundaries, my spiritual soul began to feel refreshed, healed and whole.
