OnFire #334 Half Marathon Thoughts
Hi Folks
About a week ago, I ran my first official half-marathon, 21.1 km of stamina and endurance. I finished in 2:22:15, which earned me 9th out of 12 men in the 40-49 age category. Humbly, I finished just ahead of a sixty-year-old who ran the entire course barefoot. Like a lot of things I’ve written about, I found some spiritual and life lessons, and I offer them to you hoping they are helpful and encouraging.
It Took More Energy To Finish than to Start
The beginning was fresh and exciting. The middle had some tough hills, but even that was OK. The real challenge for me began as I turned downhill for the last 5km. Pain struck my knee, jabbing me with every stride. Stretching at the side of the road helped, but didn’t take it away. It took a lot of energy to fight back the pain at the end of the race.
There is a rule of thumb that the last 10% of a project will take 90% of the energy. There is certainly some truth in this. I thought that once I finished the tougher 15km, the race would practically finish itself. I underestimated how hard the finish would be.
There is a life lesson in this. We love to plan the beginning, and things are exciting at the start. But the true test of character is finishing.
I Did Not Feel Ready
In August I developed pain in my knee related to something called IT bands. For a while, I could not run more than 5km. I did, however, find that slowing my pace made it tolerable. Even still, I wished I had another month to heal and prepare.
I thought about this when I was running and remembered all the times I wished I more time to prepare before some project in one of my churches. It seems there comes a time to act, whether we feel ready or not.
We won't ever feel 100% ready. This is not an excuse to avoid preparing. On the contrary, it ought to drive us to prepare all the more. But there is always something more we could have done. More time we could have used. Perhaps this is where faith comes in, and we must pray, “Lord, I’ve done all I can do. It is time to start, the rest has to be You.”
Don’t Quit Before You Start
When my knee didn’t seem to improve, I seriously contemplated giving up about a week before the race.
Looking back, I remember the same feeling at other times when things did not seem to be coming together – fundraising a trip, pulling volunteers together, rolling out a new ministry. There have been times I quit too soon, when I didn't ask for help, when I wasn’t determined enough.
There are crossroads when we must decide to continue or quit. There are times to quit, but this is the topic for another discussion. Let us not quit too soon. There are times we need to push through or we will never reach our goal.
God Was in It
On the morning of the race I opened a Bible to do my next scheduled reading and turned to Hebrews 12.
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus,…” (Hebrew 12:1-2*) Truly, God has a sense of humour!
And then while talking with another runner after the race, he showed me a bracelet he wears on race days with the same verse.
Coincidence? It showed me that God was in this, watching over the entire process from training to race day, including bringing me into fellowship with other believing runners. All I can say is, God is cool!
I Heard My Name
This race had chip timing, meaning that we all wore plastic disks that transmitted our information to a computer as we crossed the finish line. It was pretty neat to hear my name being called over the PA: “And now, Troy Dennis from Shilo, Manitoba!” A crowd of people cheered and clapped. What a feeling of pride, accomplishment and satisfaction.
How special it will be when believers appear before the Lord at the end of time. The book of the Lamb will be opened, and those whose names are written there will enter. (Revelation 21:7) Surely there will be so much more joy to enter into the eternal presence of the Lord.
These are some of the thoughts I had from my half-marathon. I hope this helps. Be on fire.
OnFire is a letter on faith and character written by Troy Dennis. Married to Jan, Troy is a chaplain in the Canadian Armed Forces, and has more than 20 years of pastoral experience. This letter published Sept 24, 2015. *New International Version. To subscribe, unsubscribe, or reply, email onfireletter@gmail.com. Blog located at www.onfireletter.blogspot.com
