Run for Life - Training for the Long Run

Less than 3 weeks until the Pinhoti 100 mile run.  Below is the devotion I wrote for LIFE Ministries this week.  Again, you can read about the Pinhoti 100 and get much more information and donate at www.runforlifenow.com

October 15, 2012 – Training for the Long Run

Training for a 100 mile run has proven to be very different from other races I have completed.  Training for any race ranging from 5k to a marathon consists of a good bit of “speedwork”, which is simply high intensity, shorter workouts that focus on leg speed rather than endurance.  Of course, endurance is very important, especially in a marathon, but the goal many times is to move as quickly as possible for the goal distance.  In a 5k this can be quite fast.  For me a 5k reaches the point where my heart is racing throughout the entire run and each step brings me closer to the point of passing out or puking.  Just being honest.

My training for the Pinhoti 100 has featured less speedwork and instead longer, slower, consistent efforts that last for many hours.  For example, last week I logged 97 total miles, including back-to-back 5 hour trail runs on the weekend at Oak Mountain State Park.  How many of these miles would I consider to be fast or speedwork?  Zero.  In fact, many of the miles were very slow and plodding, but the idea is to keep logging time on your feet and keep coming back for more.

As Christians, I’m afraid that most times we live our lives like a 5k…fast and focused on the short-term.  Our minds are focused on the here and now.  What it takes to get ahead in this world is more important than the eternity that God has placed in our hearts.  We live tired and overextended lives in order to get ahead and live life to the ‘fullest’, whether it is the next promotion, bigger house, fancier car, etc.  By the world’s standards, these things equal success, and it is easy to define success by the world’s criteria and believe we are winning the race.  Unfortunately we are running the wrong race and the pace is not sustainable.  Our race is much, much longer, and our mindset and hearts must reflect this reality.

A 5k is fairly fast for many runners, but the pace cannot be maintained for the long-term.  Longer races, particularly ultramarathon races, require a commitment to steady effort and constant forward progress, regardless of the pace.  Similarly, the frantic pace of our current life is exhausting and many times not focused on our long-term goal of spreading the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  As human beings, we tend to focus on worldly victories like the ones mentioned above, and many times with good intentions, but these are small in comparison to the victories that God promises for running and finishing the race we should be running, which focuses on eternity. 

Very simply, you can’t run a 100 mile race on 5k or 10k training, yet many times we try to do exactly that in our daily lives.  We focus on living life to the ‘fullest’ by the world’s standards and miss focusing on the longer and larger prize of heaven and winning souls to Christ and nurturing our relationship with Christ so that we may live life to the fullest in Him. 

 "I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.” – John 10:10

"Yet God has made everything beautiful for its own time. He has planted eternity in the human heart, but even so, people cannot see the whole scope of God’s work from beginning to end." -Ecclesiastes 3:11