Benchmark Day

I ran from my house to my friends house in Cobleskill today. It was 15 miles.

Many people know that I'm in the midst of training to run a marathon. The goal I set last October was to run a marathon in the year and I've been running 4-5 times a week. Over the winter I ran in below freezing temperatures, snow, sleet, and on ice. In the spring I have run through thunderstorms, rain, wind, and drivers who apparently drink while driving because of the amount of beer cans that litter the side of the road. I have already worked through several injuries due to overpronation, weakness in my knees, and being way to heavy as I bounced myself down the road as consistently as I can. I have recently been training my long runs at the college, running circuits on the track. It is extremely boring, but the soft surface to run on is excellent for my beat up legs. I have been steadily increasing mileage over the last 6 weeks, and today is just the middle of my training schedule...but today was a milestone for me.

I mapped out the route, and didn't take into consideration the amount of hills between my house and Cobleskill. I usually bypass this route when I drive the car, because I hop on the highway. Anyhow, I struggled to decide how to provide water to drink on the way. When you run at the track you are never more than 110 meters from your water source. I wanted to make sure today was the same. I settled on bringing my backpack. I would strap it on tight, keep my waterbottles wrapped in a towel, and bring some other snacks for the road.

Bad idea.

The backpack bounced constantly and the side to side movement of it was extremely annoying. The only joy was the moment I got to drink some water. I was happy it was there. Eventually around mile 7 or 8 Keila showed up with the girls to give me a little much needed lift. I took the opportunity to put my backpack in the car so I didn't have to carry it. I decided instead to carry my water bottle.

Bad idea.

Man...you wouldn't think that 22 ounces of water would get heavy, but after 9 miles today, everything began to shut down, and I still had over 5 miles to go.

I battled my mind a lot today. After the crest of every hill, I would see the next hill with a valley between us. And as I started down into the valley and looked over the next hill, I could see the top of the last hill that was the highest of them all. It was really discouraging. I deal with hills on my short runs, but the long runs on the weekend, I have been running on the level track, when the only time you ascend or descend is when you are grabbing your water bottle.

The last 4 miles were the hardest I ever experienced, and if you are the expert runner who reads this and thinks, "what a wuss", I might just agree with you...I was physically, mentally, and emotionally spent. I kept trying to talk myself out of the run and honestly didn't feel that I could finish my goal.

I began to pray, to try and set my mind on something higher than my circumstance. The Lord dropped this verse on my heart, 1 Corinthians 9:24-27, "24 Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win! 25 All athletes are disciplined in their training. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26 So I run with purpose in every step. I am not just shadowboxing. 27 I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified."

Paul said, "I disclipine my body"...other translations he says "I beat my body". There is no doubt that this verse made sense to me today. I was beating my body up. I have fixed my gaze on a lofty goal, and the only way to get there is to press through this moment...I began to tell myself.

So, in order to achieve my ultimate goal (marathon), I have to accomplish this daily goal (15 mile run), but I began to lose sight of all the goals. After the verse ministered to me, I began to set ridiculously short goals. Usually I run to every tenth of a mile, I keep my eyes out for the little green signs that mark tenths of a mile, and I try to keep going from mark to mark. Today it turned into marks literally 5 feet apart. I would find a piece of grass, and say "make it to the patch of grass" and then I would see a discoloration in the pavement, and then a ditch culvert...it was the only way I knew how to finish. My ultimate goal was broken down into 2 strides apiece, and I finished the daily goal today. It will be a day I will never forget as many of my training runs have fused into a mush of memories. This one will stand out. I reached the end of myself on this run, the Lord stepped in, and gave me the inspiration to finish the goal.