Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Endurance

I have been running for the past 2 months. Six a.m.-ish I meet 2 friends and run. Well, I jog. Actually, jogging is an exaggeration: more accurately,

I plod.

And I usually plod along about 1/8th of a mile behind my partners. However, it feels like a big accomplishment to get out of bed, to hit the trail and to feel different. I've noticed that while my clothes don't even fit me differently, that my attitude about myself has improved.

We added strength training to our routine this week, and I'm sore this morning. I wanted to stay in bed. I wanted to give up. But I didn't. I plodded, greeted by an elderly gentleman who addressed me with "Hello Early Bird!" as he plodded by me. I felt a kinship, and was encouraged to keep plodding. But after he passed me, my short memory and exhausted mind encouraged me to give up. I was reminded of Paul's words "Let us run with endurance the race set before us so that we will not grow weary and lose heart." It made me think that the difference between enduring and giving up is losing heart, believing that failure is inevitable.

Once I commited myself to not losing heart, then I started to get frustrated by the idea of "running the race set before me." In my morning runs, I know what road is set before me. I've run it before. So on my trail run/plod, I can understand what endurance means. But when this statement takes a metaphorical turn, then I have a real problem with the "race set before me." I have no idea what the future holds. It seems more uncertain to me today than it has in a very long time. But this morning, as I plodded along- way behind my partners- I was reminded: I know what to do today and tomorrow and the next day. I just need to do it.

Running the race that is set before me is my job right now. I may not know what's beyond the corner ahead, but that fact doesn't change today at all. The unknown isn't yet set before me. What's set for today is understood.

So I'd better get to it! Wish me luck!

1 comment:

  1. I wish you luck! You are fabulous, my beautiful friend!!!

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