Through Stained Glass: The Worst Run Ever

For the last six months, I’ve been training for a half marathon. Three times a week, for the first four weeks, I ran or worked out three times a week. Weeks five through ten, I worked out and ran four times a week. The last two weeks before the race are the taper weeks when I reduce the volume of my weekly training mileage.

Yesterday was the last long run before my race this Saturday. And …

It.

Was.

The.

Worst.

Run.

Yet.

My headphones wouldn’t stay in my ears, Tecumseh stopped twice, which meant I had to run with a doggy bag flailing around for most of the run. Then I ran into two herds of people, my hair tie fell out twice, and I was distracted mentally. I grew frustrated and felt trapped behind these frustrating events.

Not what I needed on this last long run of training.

In the past, if when this happened, I would have stopped and ‘tried’ again later.

Not this time.

Instead, I persevered, and by the last interval of the run, I was able to redeem the outing.

Running has made me confront a significant growing edge—the all or nothing mentality. I may not settle in right away, but I can find my stride as I go. Usually, when this happens, I return to my Epiphany star word, “free,” and I remember that there are no expectations on me other than to finish. It settles me, returns me to the ‘why,’ and lifts my eyes forward.

It wasn’t pretty, but we did it.

Our faith journey is like that at times. Some days it is easy to find God in the sunrise, hear God’s voice as the choir sings, and feel God’s presence when we are sharing a meal with someone we love. Then there are those days, weeks, seasons when it is challenging to recognize the Divine in anything. Floating heads on TV tell us there’s no hope, we can’t go get comfort food from our favorite restaurant, and seeing the Cubs lose is better than not seeing them at all.

Still, God shows up.

God is present to us when all is well and when all is going to hell in a handbasket.

We are not left alone.

The Holy Spirit, the one Christ breathed into the disciples, and the one that hovered over creation, is with us now offering sustenance during our faith journey.

We may not start off on the right foot. Nor will we quickly find the flow all the time. However, even just showing up puts us in the race of possibility of encountering the Divine in whatever it is we are doing.

We may not always feel it, but God is there. And that is freeing to me.