In the long-term training to qualify for and then compete in the Boston Marathon, you learn a few things. About 10 years earlier, prior to making the commitment to run in Boston, I had run in my first marathon and it went poorly.
My lack of proper training – not just running long distances, but also figuring out what to eat for fuel during the race, how to properly pace myself without getting caught up in the exhilarating rush of race day, etc. – left me completely exhausted and unable to walk forward after finally crossing the finish line. I could walk backwards with a lot of grunting, lurching and bracing myself against railings and people’s shoulders and tables and chairs and whatever else was within reach, but that made moving around a wee bit challenging.
Once Boston became my goal, I vowed to train correctly this time because I would have to endure not just one marathon, but two, because to run in the Boston Marathon, you must meet certain age-based qualifying times in another marathon.
I learned a lot during that training, not only about how to be a better runner, but how some of those same lessons apply to my journey as a Christian. The preparation and training for a marathon, or any daunting challenge, are similar to how we should be practicing as Christians to meet our ultimate goal of crossing the finish line into heaven.
So here’s a list of some training tips I’ve learned:
- Verbalize your goal, out loud and by yourself. Then tell someone else, and then someone else. After a while, even the craziest sounding goal begins to seem reasonable.
- Find people who understand your goals and will encourage you along the way.
- Plan your life around what you need to do to meet your goal, not vice versa.
- Accept the facts: there will be setbacks and you will get hurt. Keep moving forward as best you can. See #2.
- Pace yourself. Burning out makes it 10 times harder to get going again.
- How well you do is based entirely on your effort, commitment and perseverance, not somebody else’s.
- If you want to get better, you’ve got to struggle up some steep hills, and …
- … you won’t get to the top of a hill by coasting.
- Don’t compare your results to the results of others. It’s your race.
- Celebrate your accomplishments along the journey. Even if they seem minor, they are steps toward something major.
Maybe running isn’t your thing. But even if you never plan to run a marathon, you are still in training for that journey toward eternity, and need to “train yourself to be Godly” (1 Tim. 4:7).
What training tips do you most need for your spiritual journey?