World Race: Gap Year. Training camp in Gainesville, Georgia. I had just finished running the most challenging course I’ve done in years, maybe even in my entire life.
The challenge was this: run 2.2 miles across hilly and rocky terrain with your entire 45-50 lb backpack in 38 minutes.
The day of the run dawned and we were all feeling some doubts and dread, because when the sun came up the temperature rose to the hottest we’d had all week: 95 degrees Fahrenheit. Breakfast was light, but for those squads running in the afternoon, lunch spelled DISASTER.
For some context, each day at training camp we have a different country theme. The theme for the running day however was “traveling day”, a simulation pretending for example, that we could be traveling to a different country and our bus breaks down, causing us to walk to the border. However, on traveling day our team leaders took the time to encourage us to try new foods.
I can now proudly say I’ve eaten a cricket.
I can less proudly say that for lunch I ate goat and chicken gizzard (which, by the way, that last one I really don’t personally recommend). The only thing on the plate was meat, meat, and more meat. Obviously, as you can imagine, lunch was very heavy. My squad had the unfortunate luck to be running the course barely 10 minutes after lunch ended.
Halfway through the first lap I was gagging, trying not to let my lunch come up. By the end of the first lap I’d had to stop, almost puking on the side of the path. And a little into the second and final lap, after a gigantic hill, my trainer pulled me over to the side of the road as I nearly threw up again and became dizzy and faint.
Another girl on my team almost passed out, and we spent the rest of the race sitting down by the nurse with bags of ice on our necks and frustrated tears in our eyes. This was a team exercise. We hadn’t finished, and so our whole team would have to run it again tomorrow. It was incredibly discouraging.
It was my fault my team would have to run the gambit all over again. Was I really supposed to be here? Was I physically fit enough to even be able to go?
…..how could I finish my 9 month long race if I couldn’t even finish this one?
But God worked a change in our team. We woke up the next morning at 6:00 ready and willing to glorify Him with all our energy and entire wills.
As my teammate said so beautifully (and breathlessly) as we ran up the gigantic hill for the second time in 25 minutes, “God gave you powerful legs to use for His glory, so use them!” We powered up that hill and all the way back to the finish line.
I’m not gonna lie, that run was incredibly tough. That was the sweatiest I’ve ever been. My shirt was soaked and the harness of my backpack was wet. In ordinary circumstances I don’t think anyone would’ve wanted to come within a mile of me, but we were all just so sweaty our squad couldn’t really even tell anymore.
Most people can walk a mile in about 20 minutes. But adding in hills, rocky terrain, and last but certainly not least, a 50 lb backpack on your shoulder for the entirety of the course, and you end up with a pretty challenging run.
But it showed me I CAN do hard things, through Christ my King who gives me strength. I CAN live in foreign countries for 9 months working as a missionary. But only with the strength of God and the encouragement of my team.
I completed the course in 37 minutes.
My entire all-girls team ran the course within the time limit.
We CAN do this.
P.S. Some bonus pictures!
You see that? That is allllllll sweat my friends. No water here, just the proof of my premature death-by-training-camp.
Had a teammate take a picture of my back right after the race. Yup. It felt just as nasty as it looks. BUT WORTH IT.
Praise God, and I pray that all of you are having a wonderful day.
