Filed under: running free
I had a funny thing happen this week. I went walking with Derrick Monday morning for 3 miles. Getting out of bed at 5:45am to do so was not something I REALLY wanted to do. I didn’t get to sleep right away the night before. SOOO, I get home, know I SHOULD go out and run and really didn’t want to. For the first time, I had to force myself to go out. I ran a version of my regular 5 just to keep it fresh.
So, I feel proud of myself that I forced myself out of the house twice. THEN, pastor Alex from LifeChurch called me at 10. His first marathon was Detroit this year. “Still running at 11:30?” I completely forgot! “Yeah, would love to.” Crazy, I know. So I met him on Hines Drive just west of Haggerty. It was then I decide to ask, “When do you do your long run?” His response? “Today.” We ran and talked and shared about ministry and traded training tips and ran… 11 miles later we’re at our cars, I’m munching down a Clif Bar and guzzling my water.
Yes, on a day I didn’t want to get out of bed, when I didn’t want to go back out to run… I spent 19 miles on my feet! What’s amazing and crazy is that I’m not sore today. PRAISE GOD!
Filed under: running free
“I run in the path of your commands, for you have set my heart free.” I was struck by this passage in the longest chapter of the Bible. Running and running after God have both become freeing to me. I’m no longer running because I have to but because I want to. I’m no longer running after God because I have to but because I want to.
This will be a short post, for I simply want to jot down some thoughts on “chapters” I should write for a book on running with God.
- Small Beginnings: went out not caring about how far I went or how long it took me.
- Being challenged: talking with Steve Rose at the track, challenging me to run further and faster.
- Being the challenger: helping others on the journey, like Michelle, new friends on the track…
- Ancient runners: was Paul a runner?
- Endurance running. Endurance living.
- Hindrances: there are things that hinder my running and my living. God asked me about the “weight” I needed to drop in order for me to run my race (Hebrews 12:1-2).
- New adventures: keeping it fresh by planning out new trails, sometimes long before I’m ready to run longer miles.
- Rest.
- Doing too much too soon: avoiding burnout.
- Interview runners and learn from their lives (like your personality profiles from Insider Business Journal or Runner’s World “I’m a runner”).
