Yesterday dawned cloudy and drizzly in Nashville, Tennessee, but by the time all 30,000 runners and walkers had crossed the starting line, the clouds had all but disappeared. The sun was shining, bands were playing, and folks were cheering. What a thrill it was to be running the Country Music Half-Marathon for the second time!
As you may recall, last Spring my friends and co-workers Mayme and Benj convinced me to join them in running this race. What started as a completely ridiculous idea turned into something I loved. Hence, when Mayme suggested we do it again, it didn't take long for me to say yes. I even managed to talk my dad into running it with me, and he suggested my cousin Sam join us as well.
This training season was harder than my first. Some days, life and work took over. Other days, it was laziness that won out. Nonetheless, Saturdays still found me on long runs, most weekday mornings found me up early, and I said good-bye to soda for eight weeks. This year's training and race brought some other new and exciting things as well. Some highlights:
- Learning to embrace (and actually run up) the myriad hills in my neighborhood.
- The addition of Spandex to my running wardrobe.
- Subscribing to Runner's World magazine (talk about good motivation!).
- Discovering that running with people is actually rather enjoyable.
- Doing training runs in five states, including running in Louisiana humidity, unexpected early Spring heat in Alabama, and doing eight miles on a cold, rainy Saturday morning in Minnesota.
- Seeing my cousin Sam for the first time in more than ten years, and fully appreciating the fact that he ran the race in a mohawk.
- Watching my dad get into running, doing training runs with him when I was home, and running more than ten miles of the race with him by my side.
- After a rather anonymous run last year, we had fans for this year's race! It was great to have familiar faces cheering us on.
- I finished this year's race ELEVEN MINUTES FASTER than last year's, and can confidently say I could not have done any better or given any more. Now I know what people mean when they say they "left it all on the course".
In some ways, doing this the second time around made the process a little less thought-provoking. It was a little more routine, and a little less inspirational. At the same time, God never let me get too far without reminding me that every step I took was a gift from Him, and that it was only by his grace that I could train for and run this race. He also gave me a very gracious gift in the motivation department - something that gave me a reason to keep going during the weeks when I wanted to put away my running shoes.
What was this motivation? A magazine article. No, not an article from Runner's World. Rather, it was a piece I wrote for the new magazine Reverb, which YouthWorks will be distributing to all its participants this summer. The article is about running, and how God has so unexpectedly made it a part of my life. When I wrote the article in January, I wrote, "now I have one half-marathon under my belt, and I am training for a second." However, when the article came back from the editor, it had been changed to reflect the fact that the article would be published this summer, after the race. Now it read, "I have two half-marathons under my belt." I read those words in February, struck by the realization that 37,000 YouthWorks participants would be reading those same words this summer. They would know me as a two-time half-marathon runner. If I quit training, those words would be a lie!
"Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits the appointed time; it hastens to the end - it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." Habakkuk 2:2-3
What if all of my goals were made so public? What if I wrote all of them down for all to see, and wrote them as if they had already been accomplished? Talk about motivation. Talk about accountability. Talk about a vision that hastens to the end.
As you may recall, last Spring my friends and co-workers Mayme and Benj convinced me to join them in running this race. What started as a completely ridiculous idea turned into something I loved. Hence, when Mayme suggested we do it again, it didn't take long for me to say yes. I even managed to talk my dad into running it with me, and he suggested my cousin Sam join us as well.
This training season was harder than my first. Some days, life and work took over. Other days, it was laziness that won out. Nonetheless, Saturdays still found me on long runs, most weekday mornings found me up early, and I said good-bye to soda for eight weeks. This year's training and race brought some other new and exciting things as well. Some highlights:
- Learning to embrace (and actually run up) the myriad hills in my neighborhood.
- The addition of Spandex to my running wardrobe.
- Subscribing to Runner's World magazine (talk about good motivation!).
- Discovering that running with people is actually rather enjoyable.
- Doing training runs in five states, including running in Louisiana humidity, unexpected early Spring heat in Alabama, and doing eight miles on a cold, rainy Saturday morning in Minnesota.
- Seeing my cousin Sam for the first time in more than ten years, and fully appreciating the fact that he ran the race in a mohawk.
- Watching my dad get into running, doing training runs with him when I was home, and running more than ten miles of the race with him by my side.
- After a rather anonymous run last year, we had fans for this year's race! It was great to have familiar faces cheering us on.
- I finished this year's race ELEVEN MINUTES FASTER than last year's, and can confidently say I could not have done any better or given any more. Now I know what people mean when they say they "left it all on the course".
In some ways, doing this the second time around made the process a little less thought-provoking. It was a little more routine, and a little less inspirational. At the same time, God never let me get too far without reminding me that every step I took was a gift from Him, and that it was only by his grace that I could train for and run this race. He also gave me a very gracious gift in the motivation department - something that gave me a reason to keep going during the weeks when I wanted to put away my running shoes.
What was this motivation? A magazine article. No, not an article from Runner's World. Rather, it was a piece I wrote for the new magazine Reverb, which YouthWorks will be distributing to all its participants this summer. The article is about running, and how God has so unexpectedly made it a part of my life. When I wrote the article in January, I wrote, "now I have one half-marathon under my belt, and I am training for a second." However, when the article came back from the editor, it had been changed to reflect the fact that the article would be published this summer, after the race. Now it read, "I have two half-marathons under my belt." I read those words in February, struck by the realization that 37,000 YouthWorks participants would be reading those same words this summer. They would know me as a two-time half-marathon runner. If I quit training, those words would be a lie!
"Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it. For still the vision awaits the appointed time; it hastens to the end - it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay." Habakkuk 2:2-3
What if all of my goals were made so public? What if I wrote all of them down for all to see, and wrote them as if they had already been accomplished? Talk about motivation. Talk about accountability. Talk about a vision that hastens to the end.
There's no doubt we'll be back in Nashville again next April. Post a comment here if you'd like to join us.
1 comment:
It was good to see some pictures! You just left and I don't like it. You should just stay here always. Is that asking too much?
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