Run for Life - Running Alone

Below is my final devotional written for LIFE Ministries.  This one was written after the race.  You can still donate to LIFE Ministries by visiting http://runforlifenow.com/.  If you were waiting to see if I finished before donating, I did and now it's your turn!  Thank you!

November 8, 2012 – Running Alone

Done.  After months of training and preparation the Pinhoti 100 is complete.  I am very pleased with the outcome.  My first goal was to finish, but my secondary goal was to complete the course in less than 24 hours.  Before daybreak on Sunday I crossed the finish line in 23 hours and 32 minutes.  A full 28 minutes to spare.  Could have cut it closer, but not much!

The whole race experience was surreal.  It was an amazing day, with tremendous highs and painful lows.  The following is a very small sample of my thoughts throughout the day.  I promise I am not making these up.

“It’s November…why is it so hot?”

“This is going to be easy.”
“Who’s idea was this?  Oh yeah, mine.”
“Is that Jason (Friday the 13^th) behind that tree?”  Note:  Watching Halloween movies the week of an all-night trail race is not a good idea.
“If only a wild animal would attack me, leaving me alive but hurt right here on the trail, I could quit now and everyone would understand.”
“I may crash and burn, but I’m going all out the last 15 miles.”
“I think I’m going to throw up.  No, pass out.”
"Throwing up would help.  Nope, i was wrong."
“This is the longest road ever.”  (Final 3 miles was on a road leading to the finish line.)
“Wow!  This is really going to happen.”

Needless to say, if there were a way to get inside my head for the race it would have been quite entertaining.

Much of my day was spent in my own thoughts, reflecting and praying on various aspects of my life.  Sometimes I just tuned out.  I enjoy the time alone to pause and reflect, and in this case to enjoy the beauty of God’s creation at the same time.  Time alone is abundant in running, but during this race I was not alone.

I could not have completed the race without the help of my crew, pacers and the volunteers at each of the race aid stations.  My crew met me at 10 different points throughout the race and provided me with everything I needed to complete the race.  Some stops, especially early in the race, were brief and only a swap of water bottles was needed.  Later in the race more attention was necessary, and my crew and the race volunteers were there to meet every physical need while providing encouragement to get me over the mental hurdles.

A few examples.  At mile 40 I was feeling nauseous due to heat, so my crew provided me with ice to cool down.  At mile 55 they taped a bad blister that was forming on the ball of my left foot.  At mile 75, when I could barely stand, my pacer gave me various drinks/foods to help my stomach recover after it shut down.  At mile 85 the crew altered the original plan to change the types of fluids I would carry for the remaining 15 miles.  Yes, I ran my own personal race, but without the support of many people I would not have made it to the finish.  Obviously I could not have provided my own ice or blister kit, and these are just a couple small examples.  Alone I would have had access only to what I carried with me, which would have lasted only a short time.

Our Christian faith is much the same.  Our relationship with Christ is personal, but not private.  Our faith is strengthened by walking with other believers and encouraging each other along our way.  Sometimes only a little encouragement and support is needed, while other times more care and attention is required. 

Our community of believers should look very similar to my crew in this race.  My crew was finely in tune with my needs and was ready to respond and adapt.  We should do the same for our fellow Christians.  This is critical.  In fact, it is Christ’s design for the church.  John 17:21-23 includes part of Christ’s prayer for all believers, praying that all of us may be one so that the world may believe in Him.  Jesus wants us to be united together, involved in the good and bad of each other’s lives.  This is so different than what we’re accustomed to in our self-centered and individualistic society.  We want to live like the cowboy in the western movie, walking into town tough and alone.  Christ calls us to just the opposite.  We need each other.  It is okay to acknowledge this.

No doubt, being deeply involved in the lives of other believers can be messy, very similar to treating someone else’s blister 55 miles into a race.  It may seem easier to withdraw from the headaches and isolate yourself away from others.  Don’t let the enemy take you out of the battle like that.  Encourage others, be involved, care about people’s struggles and their successes…and don’t be surprised when they do the same for you.

My prayer is not for them alone.  I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.  May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.  May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.

- John 17:20-23