Running the Race?

Today, I headed out the door for a much anticipated run. It had been a couple weeks since I’d been able to hit the trails, what with the bad weather and me a little under it. I was so excited, though a little frightened, to pull on my SHORTS and run off my stresses.

Now, typically I run 3 -4 miles without much problem. But as before mentioned I had put this activity on the back burner for, oh, about two weeks. I’d done some stair machines and a little walking in between though, so I anticipated a great run.

Ha! Was I ever wrong! From the minute my heart started pumping, my lungs lost all ability to function. My legs felt like dead weights (I blame this on the wind resistance from not shaving in a while. Ew, yuck. Sorry.) I immediately got a cramp in my side, so I slowed down a little. I would have slowed down even more, but then I would have been crawling. I made it through a mile and a half, walked a few minutes and picked up the next mile and a half.

The whole time I was thinking, “What in the world is the matter with me? I can run. It’s the perfect day and I should be able to do this.” (In reality, I just got over a virus of some sort that pretty much zapped my energy.)

But even though I realized this, I was feeling disappointed. We finally got a day of really good weather, the perfect running weather. I WANTED to run; I wanted to run for a long time. I had envisioned myself having a really good run. And then I wasn’t ready for it.

I’d put off my training a little too long, ate a few too many cookies, didn’t drink quite enough water. Instead of being ready to have the perfect run on the perfect day, I was hurting and left disappointed.

I always feel I learn a lot of life lessons when I’m running. And as I was struggling for breathe today; my mind went to this verse:

1 Corinthians 9:24-27

“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.

Just as I wished I wouldn’t have slacked and I’d been ready for that run today, I don’t want to ever find myself being apathetic on the most important RACE and find myself lacking at the end.