When I was in college, I decided to come up with a few goals for the following few years of my life, one of which is to run a marathon before age 30.
The trouble with this goal, however, is that I hate to run. Other than my years of playing soccer (it was not coincidence that I opted to play goalkeeper), I regularly chose any form of exercise that was not running. I just couldn’t do it and it bored me to tears.
But during my time in Cape Town, I began to focus more on eating right and exercising, and having teammates who love to run was a big encouragement to get me out the door. It seemed that almost magically one day, I could run for much longer than I ever had before, and I actually kind of enjoyed it!
So for the past two months I have continued this new habit of running, and while my speed is still quite slow, I am working on building endurance so that once I am back in the States, I can really begin the training needed to run a marathon. I am starting to enjoy running and though I usually have no trouble finding the motivation to get out of bed in the morning to run, once I hit the pavement, trials and difficulties arise. Once I have been running for about ten minutes, I generally begin to have the desire to walk the rest of the way. Or I get a cramp. Or some other excuse like fatigue, the excess of sweat, or the weather conditions challenge my goal of building endurance.
And I’m learning the key to reaching my goal is to push through the pain, to refuse to give in and give up. Which in reality is a lot like the World Race (race…get it?). From the day I applied to be a part of the World Race, I knew it would be a struggle. I knew there would be countless moments where I would be tempted to give up – to pack my bags and go home to my nice, comfortable life in Western civilization, where I have my own space and make my own rules. And I was right. Nine months in and I still fight those temptations regularly. Because it just seems easier to walk than to run. Easier to give up than to push through. But I also knew from the beginning that the reward would be greater than the pain I encountered. That growth is birthed from conflict and pain. That I would have to choose what is important and fight for it.
Because if you really love something, you fight for it. Whether it is a fight for a relationship, a dream, a belief, or even just a goal to run a marathon, the fight is what makes it. Sometimes you feel like you have been constantly fighting without any progress and the trials seem to cloud your view of the end result, but knowing that there will be great rewards bring the strength to fight and push through.
For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all.
– II Corinthians 4:17
But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.
– Philippians 3:13-14
Bravely taking to his feet, (I never did!)
He beat a very brave retreat, (Oh, lie!)
Bravest of the brave, Sir Robin. (I never!)
