Three Mile
Numbers. 184 bp. 2/3 done. 2 miles. 17 minutes. Yesterday I ran my first 5K race, and numbers kept me sane. One step in front of the other.
"It was only three miles! You act like you just ran a half marathon."
You're right. I merely completed one of the easiest races possible. But if you knew me eight months ago, you'd know that's a miracle.
Eight months ago I could not run. My asthma was barely controlled. I just recovered from one infection because of months of drugs treating another infection. My health was in shambles, though I looked healthy on the outside. I prayed for a miracle. The first part of that miracle was Weimar Institute's HEALTH program which I attended last semester, and the required three mile walk every morning. I started to see myself change.
Now I'm here at Southern Adventist University. The culmination of a semester fitness class was my first 5K. Just over three miles. I'll admit it: I was scared. Scared of failure, of pain, of embarrassment. My heart beat fast, and palms sweat. I hadn't even run.
The tone sounds. 24:09 later I'm across the finish line. This is what I learned:
1. Run the fastest on the hills. It doesn't matter how tired you are. Get to the top by running to the top. Don't slow, give it what you have. It may be the hardest part of the race, but mounting the difficulty in front of you requires momentum. Don't stop.
2. Both sides are tough. Running downhill is just as hard as uphill, just different. Don't wait for the downhills because of the rest. Take it all in stride. Know that success is just as hard to hold as the struggle before it. Don't fall on your face.
3. You never know someone else's struggle completely. My legs are short. Go ahead and laugh, I'm used to it. It doesn't matter that it takes me two steps to many other's one. I finished ahead of several six-foot plus guys. I just had to take that many more steps. Don't make excuses.
4. Encouragement inspires. I lagged as I rounded a curve just over halfway through. Through my haze of pounding heart and discouragement I heard a dear friend's voice: "Go Evan! You've got this! Finish strong." Chin lifted, heart soaring, legs renewed, I ran on. Strengthened by love and encouragement in another's voice.
5. Why walk when you can run? Never stop. No matter how tired you are don't walk. Keep pushing. Keep striving. Change your pace, your rhythm, or your gait, but never stop running.
6. Sprint the finish. Alan and I touched the grass on the last stretch together. Unspoken, instantly, we took off. Every part of my body groaned, but all I could see was the finish line. Pounding rhythms and thoughtless tenacity grasping to the ever closing distance.
The clock is ticking. How fast are you running?
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside ever weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
"It was only three miles! You act like you just ran a half marathon."
You're right. I merely completed one of the easiest races possible. But if you knew me eight months ago, you'd know that's a miracle.
Eight months ago I could not run. My asthma was barely controlled. I just recovered from one infection because of months of drugs treating another infection. My health was in shambles, though I looked healthy on the outside. I prayed for a miracle. The first part of that miracle was Weimar Institute's HEALTH program which I attended last semester, and the required three mile walk every morning. I started to see myself change.
Now I'm here at Southern Adventist University. The culmination of a semester fitness class was my first 5K. Just over three miles. I'll admit it: I was scared. Scared of failure, of pain, of embarrassment. My heart beat fast, and palms sweat. I hadn't even run.
The tone sounds. 24:09 later I'm across the finish line. This is what I learned:
1. Run the fastest on the hills. It doesn't matter how tired you are. Get to the top by running to the top. Don't slow, give it what you have. It may be the hardest part of the race, but mounting the difficulty in front of you requires momentum. Don't stop.
2. Both sides are tough. Running downhill is just as hard as uphill, just different. Don't wait for the downhills because of the rest. Take it all in stride. Know that success is just as hard to hold as the struggle before it. Don't fall on your face.
3. You never know someone else's struggle completely. My legs are short. Go ahead and laugh, I'm used to it. It doesn't matter that it takes me two steps to many other's one. I finished ahead of several six-foot plus guys. I just had to take that many more steps. Don't make excuses.
4. Encouragement inspires. I lagged as I rounded a curve just over halfway through. Through my haze of pounding heart and discouragement I heard a dear friend's voice: "Go Evan! You've got this! Finish strong." Chin lifted, heart soaring, legs renewed, I ran on. Strengthened by love and encouragement in another's voice.
5. Why walk when you can run? Never stop. No matter how tired you are don't walk. Keep pushing. Keep striving. Change your pace, your rhythm, or your gait, but never stop running.
6. Sprint the finish. Alan and I touched the grass on the last stretch together. Unspoken, instantly, we took off. Every part of my body groaned, but all I could see was the finish line. Pounding rhythms and thoughtless tenacity grasping to the ever closing distance.
The clock is ticking. How fast are you running?
"Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside ever weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God."
Hebrews 12:1, 2
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