As a high school freshman, I would tell you that the chances of me running cross country were -2/100. Not even possible. Zero would be giving you an unrealistic picture. It would so far past impossible that I would laugh you out of town if you presented the thought, which is what I did every year that my friend asked me to do it.
She ran year round, both seasons of track and cross country and I was definitely supportive, I've always been amazed by runners. I was like "Girl you do you, but that is not for me." And for three years, that was my attitude. Then, came senior year and I wasn't going to play softball in the spring because I didn't want to be on varsity and my basketball aspirations had died years ago, so I had no options for sports, but to run. So to the unbelief of myself and many others, I showed up for the first day of cross country.
Now, mind you, I had been "training" for the past month by running on the treadmill and I was proud that I was finally running a ten minute mile and the longest that I had ever run in my life was a mile and a half. Ok, keep that in mind. The first day of practice, we ran almost four miles and I didn't die. I thought that I would surely faint, but I did not faint. Not only did I survive, but I loved it. I loved the pain because it was attached to a life-changing moment. I didn't know it then, but that moment broke so many mental barriers that I had set up for myself. It really shook to me core.
I texted or called my mom (can't remember) so excited and so amazed. Why? Because I did not know what I was capable of. I had underestimated myself my whole life and in one day, I broke through the box I had set for myself. I don't want to overglamorize this story, so let me give you a full picture. I was one of the slowest girls on the team, but I stayed. I stayed the whole season. I did the runs, I did the push-ups, I did the stretches, I did the races, I cheered on my teammates, and they cheered me on as I finished between 29min-43min. I mean, it was a slow, painful journey, but I loved it. To finish was the goal. I knew that I would not be the best. I was FAR from a 7min pace, much less a 9 min pace, but I knew that I was a beginner and so I was ok with that.
One of the girls that I often ran with was a freshman and she got frustrated about being slow and asked the coach how long it would take for her to get good and he said about two years. TWO YEARS, she exclaimed, TWO YEARS! That seemed too far way. Too out of grasp, but that sounded just about right. Sure, I would have loved to be Flash Gordon and get the glory and get the praise, but these girls who were fast on our team had been running for YEARS, they were dedicated and they deserved to be fast and I respected them for it.
Over the next few years, I continued to run and ran a half marathon in 2011. Since then, I have been working on breaking the 7min mile barrier and it's another slow, painful journey, but I understand that commitment leads to success. I often sing in the voice of Dory from Finding Nemo "Just keep running, just keep running" and it helps. Not only do I run, but I love to support anyone else on their running journey because it is so liberating.
There are so many things that I want to illustrate using this story, but I've already talked for a while so I'll make a few points.
- We are capable of WAY more than we know. God knows it. The devil knows it. We just need to wake up and realize that we have been created and empowered by the God of the universe.
- Just keep running. Of course, you're going to make mistakes on this Christian walk and you won't be as mature or great in your faith as other people, but God gave us the Holy Spirit and guaranteed that if we stay on this path, he will change us to be more like Christ
- It is not enough just for you to experience new life and freedom, you have to commit to pulling others out of their "boxes" to experience new life as well.
