Two and a half weeks ago I completed my first ever 5K! It was an awesome experience. My time was just over 45 minutes, 59.8 seconds. I finished #209 of 210 runners. I beat out an 8 year old...go me!
I know. Unimpressive, right? Perhaps at first glance. But consider this: 5 weeks before that I started a couch to 5K running program and struggled to make it through running 1 full minute. SLowly, I've been building my strength and ability to run longer times.
Yesterday I reached the official halfway point of the program. I ran 25 minutes out of 34 with only 2 minutes of walking in between running sections. Here's how it played out: Run 2 minutes, Wall 2 minutes, Run 4 minutes, Walk 2 minutes, Run 5 minutes, Walk 2 minutes, Run 6 minutes, Walk 2 minutes, Run 7 minutes, Walk 2 minutes.
Trust me, by the time I got around to that last 7 minute section I was huffing it. I was tired, out of breath, and feeling like I couldn't make it. But I just kept thinking about when I started and looking at my time and telling myself I could do it. Yes, I was running slowly. Probably really walking if you compared me to most, but I was doing it. I wasn't quitting. Even though that would be so easy. I'm not getting the results yet with my weight that I was hoping for. I still get super tired. I am not really enjoying it as much as I think I should.
I've been feeling a bit run down lately in my regular life. This training process is exactly what it infers. I am pushed further than I was last week. Sometimes I feel like it's to my breaking point. It would be easy to quit. Support raising isn't coming along like I hoped it would. I don't feel like I'm getting results with students as quickly as I thought I would. I'm tired and worn out and it seems like everyone else is winning but me. I feel like stopping because it's too hard. But...
I don't quit. I keep putting one foot in front of the other. I press on. Giving up would be worse than what I feel right now. I am going to finish. And in that, I will win.
One day, I will run another 5K and my time will be faster. I might even beat out more people. Because I will keep training and trying and getting stronger.
And one day, I will finish this race too. I will continue to train and to try. I will get stronger, because He is my strength.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect, but I press on to make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own. Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14
