Running

I love to run. Yes, I did use that word “love”. It started in high school when I was on the track team because the baseball team was pointless. My goal was to stay in shape for soccer season and baseball just wasn’t doing it. Besides, I wasn’t all that good at baseball and most of my good friends were on the track team. So I ran the 400m and threw shot put. I never won a race and I never placed in shot but I did push myself. My first year of track was probably the biggest challenge I had faced in my young life: showing up after school to cause your body pain.
Fun times!!

I think one of the reasons that I never won a race, nor even crossed the line in front of another runner is because I wanted to run well, I wanted to do my best and I would come out of the blocks ahead, but about halfway through the race my body would seize up and everyone else would pass me and I just wanted to get to the finish. I didn’t know how to settle down and just run. I couldn't enjoy it.

In college I tried to keep up with running. One of my friends (you know who you are :0) and I would get up early during the winter of our senior year and go running through the Ohio snow, as the moisture of our breath froze and formed frost on our hats and “ski masks”. But it was fun because we were running and we were together and sharing this common life.

When I was in Beijing I also tried to keep up with running but only short distances around the campus of the university where I taught. Running the short distances continued when I got to Auburn until one of my friends (you know who you are :0) started training for a half marathon and I challenged myself to running 5 miles one morning. So I ran 5 miles. And I rediscovered the love of running that I learned in high school. This time there was no pressure to cross the finish line first; there was just me and the treadmill. The joy of training.

These times when I run have become very special to me because I have time to clear my head, to think about life or nothing at all; to just focus on my breathing and my strides. I also have time to focus on God. During my times on the treadmill and later running on the road I have been taught a number of lessons. Running has become a metaphor, if not THE metaphor of my life.

I would write more but I planned to go running now...
Tune in next time for: Lessons from Running....