Have you been dying to know what the deal is with my new found ambition to run a half-marathon?! Or, for those of you who know me well, you might be wondering what spurred me on to run at all?! Let's just say, I waited 2 months to drop this news because as someone who swore I wouldn't run even if chased, I wanted to make sure that I could stick this thing out before I clued you into the process. Just to clarify, you did read this right, I am going to run a half-marathon! It's okay if you're in total shock; you're in great company because most of my friends are still getting over the surprise!
This decision may seem abrupt, and in some ways it is, but the process of getting here has been nothing but life-giving, which is what I desperately needed.
Here's how it happened: about three weeks before student teaching ended in April I started praying about what I could do to take healthy steps towards a balanced life. After investing all of my resources and reserves so fully into student teaching, I knew I was going to walk away over-tired, emotionally drained and unusually unable to invest well in the lives of others. I was drained in ways I had never experienced and I was afraid of how long it was going to take me to recover. As I prayed about the steps I could take to move towards the Lord, steps toward restoration and steps towards other people, I felt the Lord prompting me to run.
I have always wanted to be a runner but after a trial period for a few months my sophomore year of high school, I gave the sport up in pursuit of something less taxing and kinder to my knees. When I started college 6 years ago, I stopped exercising because I was so stressed and stretched academically that I didn't have any extra reserves to invest in working out. I know that working out has been scientifically proven to lower stress, but for me, the thought of making time for it, escalated my stress. I couldn't balance gym time + school + friends + my job + my involvement in campus ministry + church. It was too much and gym time seemed like the only thing that I could cut out without academic, emotional or spiritual repercussions. I frequently thought about working out because my inability to make it to the gym combined with the stress-eating that accompanied long days in the library resulted in 6 years of gradual weight gain. Gross.
Now that I am standing so close to the finish line of my college career, I am ready to change my life and develop healthy habits to carry with me all the way through adulthood. So why a half-marathon?! Good question. The answer is actually so simple, it's liberating: I needed something that was built to be fueled by the daily commitment to the prescribed process. I didn't trust myself to build gym-time back into my life and do it in a healthy way. I didn't want a quick fix and I certainly didn't want to do any crash dieting. I wanted something that relied on daily progress for long-term success. I found a pre-training schedule online to turn me into a runner and then I found an official training schedule to build my endurance and mileage over time.
For me, running this half-marathon is about moving towards the Lord, allowing Him to restore my life and trusting Him to continue to be sovereign over my life one day at a time. Training for this half-marathon has mirrored my spiritual journey with the Lord in so many life-changing ways. I am deeply thankful that I have had the time to invest in this new adventure. So far, it's been a good one!
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