Running to Win
I ran a half marathon a few months ago. It was my second time running this particular race. The year before I won the race with a time of 1 hour and 25 minutes. It's not a very big half marathon, but it's local, inexpensive, and fun.
When I ran the race a few months ago I got into a rhythm with another runner whom I had never run with before. We were moving along at a pretty good clip, running some six-minute miles and feeling smooth and good. This was while the wind was at our backs.
At the half-way point of the race you do a 180 degree turn-around. It was at this point in the race that we understood better why we were running so well.
As we turned around we collided with a wall of wind, stripping us of our speed and making it much more difficult to run.
My running mate for the previous seven miles hit the wall of wind harder than I did; he was moving slower as a result. This presented me with a choice: Do I continue to run hard, dropping my competitor, or do I wait for him?
When you run, your body gets into a rhythm. Most people know that if you run too hard you'll have to slow down later on, but what many people don't know is that it can work the opposite way as well. If you slow down in the middle of a run it can wreck your body's rhythm and kill your race. It has a way of making your aches and pains and sore muscles shout and scream.
Which is why, when I eased up to allow this other runner to keep up (thinking I was being a nice guy), it killed my race. My rhythm was shot; I never got it back.
That race has given 1st Corinthians 9:24 a whole new meaning for me:
"Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!"
With a mile to go another runner came along side me. I tried to stick with him. My legs screamed back at me. They told me that I had given up five miles earlier.
I took second that day.
Taking it easy, while good for the right reasons, can prove detrimental to your race for the wrong ones.
Run to win.
When I ran the race a few months ago I got into a rhythm with another runner whom I had never run with before. We were moving along at a pretty good clip, running some six-minute miles and feeling smooth and good. This was while the wind was at our backs.
At the half-way point of the race you do a 180 degree turn-around. It was at this point in the race that we understood better why we were running so well.
As we turned around we collided with a wall of wind, stripping us of our speed and making it much more difficult to run.
My running mate for the previous seven miles hit the wall of wind harder than I did; he was moving slower as a result. This presented me with a choice: Do I continue to run hard, dropping my competitor, or do I wait for him?
When you run, your body gets into a rhythm. Most people know that if you run too hard you'll have to slow down later on, but what many people don't know is that it can work the opposite way as well. If you slow down in the middle of a run it can wreck your body's rhythm and kill your race. It has a way of making your aches and pains and sore muscles shout and scream.
Which is why, when I eased up to allow this other runner to keep up (thinking I was being a nice guy), it killed my race. My rhythm was shot; I never got it back.
That race has given 1st Corinthians 9:24 a whole new meaning for me:
"Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!"
With a mile to go another runner came along side me. I tried to stick with him. My legs screamed back at me. They told me that I had given up five miles earlier.
I took second that day.
Taking it easy, while good for the right reasons, can prove detrimental to your race for the wrong ones.
Run to win.
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