Running is Hard

LOL

You might think it’s tacky for me to start this blog with “LOL” but after toying around with several potential titles for this piece, and finally landing on the truth that – Running is, in fact, HARD, and always has been for me – I actually DID really laugh out loud.

But wait, let’s return to the blog.

I can’t run anymore.  I’m too old, too injured, and too out of shape.

And oddly enough, this is a story about running.  It’s a story about ME running.  (Some of you are laughing right now).

But it’s also a story about you running.  Yes, you.

Stay with me.

I actually learned to hate running just after basic training when I got stationed in Panama.  Ever been there?  It’s hot, and it’s humid like nobody’s business.  And instead of running at normal morning hours, our commander insisted we run three (not two like requirements dictated), but yes, three miles.  We did this three days a week at 4 o’clock in the morning.  Up hills, down hills.  It took me ONE RUN to learn to hate running.  That’s right – just one.  And it took only one every-Friday-morning-run when the commander would stand in front of our entire Battalion and say on a loudspeaker, “It’s a great day to be alive and in Panama!” to dislike HIM greatly, too.

So, why 4 a.m., you ask?  Because in Panama during the rainy season, it rains at very specific times; you can set your watch by the rain.  It’s that accurate.  And it rains HARD.  And it is HOT, and it is HUMID.  Born and raised in Mississippi?  Yeah, it’s worse than that, 100 times worse than that.  And, have I mentioned the insects?  They are large enough to tackle a small human being.

And during dry season it’s hot too – dry, dry hot, with ashes blowing around in the air from all of the fires that spontaneously start because there’s NO RAIN for many months.

And so, I learned to hate running.

Fast forward several years, I re-learned how to LOVE, LOVE, LOVE running in Korea in normal weather, at a sweet pace.  Running became a routine for me, something I couldn’t get through my day without completing.  It was an essential part of my day – like brushing my teeth.  I was never, ever very fast, but I could run for a full hour and enjoy every minute of it.

I had 22 minutes to complete two miles, and this was a comfortable pace for me.  At some point a few years later I was sent to a leadership training course for a few months, and evenings were usually free.  I had made friends with two guys who were infantrymen, one of whom was an airborne paratrooper.  Those guys were pretty tough!  The three of us hung out every evening and went for long runs through incredibly beautiful and scenic trails available through the woods on the Army base.  There were several, so we were never bored, and as we ran – we chatted, becoming good friends pretty quickly.

One of the requirements to complete the course included passing a PT Test, which of course included a two-mile run – for me, in less than 22 minutes.

Well, my infantrymen friends completed the two miles in record time, and walked over to grab a bottle of water, returning to the finish line to wait for me, but I had already finished, so had a little fun walking up behind them and tapping them both on the shoulder.  They were so proud of me, and I’m convinced to this day that their goal for me the entire time we were casually running, was for me to finish stronger than I knew I could.  Now, that’s friendship.

Done!   Done in 18 minutes and 23 seconds.  I had NEVER done that before.  And had I not been running with those two men who didn’t even realize (or maybe they did), that it was their companionship that contributed most to how I ran, I’d still be trudging along at my former two-miles-in-22-minutes pace.

Listen – it MATTERS.  It matters GREATLY who you run with, likely more than any of us even realize.  We are so easily influenced.  I think you’d agree that we will sound like those we listen to.  If you move to the south, eventually you’re going to sound southern, and if you hang with people who cuss all day – guess what.  You’re going to cuss too.   If you listen to those who talk poorly about others, guess what – you’re going to talk poorly about others too.

“Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise, but the companion of fools will suffer harm.”  Proverbs 13:20

But if you listen to those who speak kindly and find ways to encourage one another, guess what – you’ll start sounding like them.  Want to love your new daughter- or son-in-law well?   Assume the best, speak kindly about them.  It’s a choice.  Be careful who you sandwich yourself in between.  Everyone has a few people in mind they wish they were a little more like – mature, wise, kind, etc.   Surround yourself with them.  Seek them out, even!

(Just want you to know I’m preaching at ME-SELF right now, too!)

 ^“Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”  1 Corinthians 15:33

This life is temporary.  It goes by so, so quickly, and unlike my two or three-mile runs when I knew the finish line was coming…  all of our finish lines are in different places, and none of us can see them coming.  Therefore, as followers of Jesus Christ, it’s even more important to stay focused on Him – He is the founder and the perfecter of our faith!

Just jump into all of Romans chapter 16.  Formerly persecuting Christians, after Paul’s conversion, he completely changed who he “ran with.”

Be like Paul.

We’ve all known those people who get saved and almost overnight every aspect of their entire lives change.   That was Paul.  He was all in, which is what makes his testimony so impressive.  He even uses the analogy of athletics to point us to Christ thousands of years later.  Romans 16 is so encouraging!  And there are so many more stories of those running this race that we can choose to read.  I recommend getting Voice of the Martyrs literature, because there is story after story about current day fellow brothers and sisters around the world, whose stories of encouragement will spur all of us on in our races.  And because it also matters greatly what we look at – read these instead of doom scrolling through Instagram reels!

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.”  1 Corinthians 9:24-25

A prayer I’m always praying over myself, and all of my children is that the Lord would be constantly rearranging our surroundings – that he would remove who needs to be removed, and replace them with those like my two friends who ran alongside me, all of us pressing forward to the finish line, each of us challenging, loving, and encouraging one another along the way!  Listen closely – nothing, NOTHING, matters more!

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”  Hebrews 12:1-2

If you’ve made it this far reading what might be one of my longer blogs, I’m guessing you are running the same race that I am.  I pray this can be said of us when you and I cross the finish lines that God has beautifully planned just for each of us.

“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”  2 Timothy 4:7

Running is hard – don’t do it alone 🙂

Press on, brothers & sisters!

“I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.”  Philippians 3:14