*This is part of a multiple post piece. Part 2–>
Last April I got this crazy idea to run a marathon. Fortunately, I knew my brother Brayden was also crazy enough to do it with me. So on October 11th, 2015 my brother Brayden and I ran 26.2 miles (well the last five to six miles were mostly walking) completing the Mohawk Hudson River Marathon in Albany, New York.
Running for me, especially long distances, is more than just about exercise or fun (cause a lot of times it is not fun). Running to me is a representation of life as a Christian. The author of Hebrews writes, “Since we are surrounded by such a great crowd of witnesses let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles and let us run with endurance the race marked out for us.” (Hebrews 12:1)
While running the marathon I continued to further recognize some things about my life and life in general.
Thought # 1: Running a marathon isn’t pretty
I don’t know about you, but when I consider the idea of a marathon I sort of get this grand picture in my head. The picture of a runner breaking across the finish line with His hands in the air and face beaming celebrating the accomplishment of such a great feat. As I looked around me during the run the picture was much different. Faces were a red mess. You could see the white salt crystals forming from hours of sweating. Runners mostly just stared forward and kept pressing on. Some grimaced in pain as they pushed themselves to take another step while others reverted to the walk a little, run a little method, exhausted and just trying to reach the end. It was not some grandeur thing, it was real and it was ugly and I thought, this is life.
I often get this idealized picture of life, but in reality life is ugly. This is not to say there is nothing good in life, but I feel we sometimes hide or down play or maybe rather fail to recognize the process of life. We hear of wonderful and amazing people and the stories of the things they accomplished, but in these lives we only see the end result of life’s full process. We are privy to the struggle and even more so the ordinary days in which the person simply committed to getting up and doing what needed to be done. When it comes down to it the key to finishing a marathon is to just keep putting one foot in front of the other. It is not a glamorous task, it is a simple mundane task most of us preform daily, but keep it up and though it will be ugly you will reach the end.
As I anticipate staring the World Race I am trying to remember to not idealize it. Traveling to 11 countries in 11 months definitely has that ring of grandeur to it, but I know many days on the race is are not going to be all that glorious. My hope and goal is to not wait for the grandeur to happen, but to be present in the day to day so that when I finish, a great thing will have happened.
