All of the what if's have subsided. Today I read my mom's next 5 lessons on what she learned I was reminded of so many things. Last night's run with Joan proved to be exactly what I needed. She said when she doesn't worry about it, the run goes much easier. I will be honest, my first fear is what if I don't qualify? Really? Honestly I have not run a marathon for 20 years. My last marathon was finished in 1995 in Duluth, MN at the Grandma's Marathon . My time was 4:03 It was a fabulous experience and my family and friends were there to encourage me. I finished and no-one but me was disappointed with my time. There is a beauty to age and qualifying for Boston. The older you are the slower the allowed qualifying time. So for me 3:50 is all I need. It is possible. Anything is possible.
I had forgotten the valuable lessons that my mother taught me over the years. She always told me to press on toward the mark. That is a quote from Philippians 3:14. I never really understood that quote outside of the context of running until I was much older. She would also say, sweetheart, you can do all things through Christ who strengthens you (Philippians 4:13). Yes I have heard a few pastors over the years scoff at that verse because it is so often used out of context. But what if we are called to run the race? What if the race we are called to run is a testimony to God's greatness and involves an athletic endeavor? What if?
In my case running is definitely a gift. It was a gift that my mother shared with all of us. It was a gift that oddly enough each of us was blessed with. Not just as something to keep us healthy the rest of our lives, but the gift to run like the wind. There has never been a race in which I can honestly say "I" accomplished the feat. But I can say HE strengthened me to accomplish not just the race, but the disciplinary journey that ensued as a result of the commitment.
So in the past two days I've shared how my mom began running, her preparation, and the first two lessons she learned.
Lesson number 1 – Decisions are never made in a vacuum
Lesson number 2 – Races, like life are filled with difficult choices
As you read the next 5 lessons, keep in mind, she ran this marathon with Cancer. What amazes me the most is that all these things were going on in her mind and never once did she say even acknowledge that fact. I admire her strength and resiliency. Moreso, I awe at her resolve in the face of every Challenge.
I hope you enjoy Part 3 of Twenty-Six things I learned Running a Marathon.
Part 3
Lesson number 3 – Try becoming humble before being
humiliated. Or, make sure you know you will succeed before you
boast in the face of others. About the fifth
mile a lady passed me on the left and said, “I love your shirt” then another
runner made the same comment. I thought,
“My shirt?” Oh No, more pressure!
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| Team 4:13. My sisters and I |
Several weeks before the
race, right after I had completed a thirteen miler in two hours and was feeling
rather cocky about having this marathon in the bag, my youngest daughter had
the shirt made for me. The back of it read “When the going gets tough the
sprinters drop out”. A cool shirt if
you’re running well but not the one to be wearing when you are grimacing in
pain and seriously longing for an ambulance.
I crossed the six point two
mile mark in over an hour, my all-time worst. It didn’t look real good for me
at the moment and I certainly couldn’t prove myself a sprinter, or allow myself
to be made a liar, since I wasn’t a drop out sprinter I would have to keep
going.
Someone wiser than me said,
“It is better to let someone else sing your praises.” You’ve met those people
who act like they know more, can do more, and have experienced more than anyone
in the current crowd; plus they usually have advice on how everything should be
done. I think everyone is capable of
accomplishing great things but we are all more impressed by those who are doing
than those simply talking.
If you are simply a spectator in life, you
will never have your own testimony, you will just be telling someone else’s
story. Each one’s personal journey through life is a story that rings of
victory or defeat. All have dreams and
visions of what life could be like “if”.
If I had more money, was better looking, wasn’t so short or too
tall. All of these are excuses that keep
one from the story that was scripted before they were even born.
The King of all creation has
carefully designed each individual with a specific purpose in life. He placed us on earth to build his Kingdom;
to rule and reign with him. He
established the perfect time and place of our existence and laid out the plans
that each person would fulfill. Then, He
promises to guide and direct the course of his design for anyone that will give
him control, or hand him the steering wheel.
For this reason, the apostle Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians chapter 1, verse 32, “Therefore let anyone who boasts, then boast in the Lord.” Meaning basically we are not always going to experience the results we expect…but with His help they will always have redeeming qualities.
Lesson numbers 4 – When it’s not working, change your
approach. I have delivered that message in business
seminars, now I had an opportunity to determine its merit. Mile eleven was nearly in sight and I knew
that if I came down one more time with a jolt to my right leg I would break it.
I will never understand why the body has to provide nausea with pain but it was
there and I couldn’t shake it, so I went to the side of the course, brought up
the contents of my breakfast and left it in the weeds.
Back on course I tried to
regain some momentum which wasn’t going to happen by running so I experimented
with a different stride. By keeping my
right leg straight and swinging it slightly out to the side I could continue to
move forward. I even tried side stepping but I was afraid I might trip myself,
plus I know it looked a bit ridiculous to the viewers. When you feel the need to
impress spectators you have to maintain some kind of dignity.
The definition of insanity is
to do the same thing over and over and expect different results. You must use another method to reach the
desired outcome. That means you should always
know what result you are attempting to achieve and then do whatever it takes to
get there.
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| Joyce |
I finally settled on a stride
that I could endure and would eventually carry me two miles to my newly defined
goal.
Have you ever had life throw
you a curve ball that you couldn’t hit unless you added two inches to the
bat? If you haven’t one day it will come
fast and hard. It is then that you have
to dig deep inside and determine in your mind that one set back will not stop
you from making the necessary adjustments needed to reach the lesser goal. Failure must never equal defeat or you will
find yourself benched and accomplishing nothing.
Lesson
number 5 – Don’t focus on what you can’t do, just do what you can. Mile thirteen
registered just over three hours. By walking I was actually picking up my pace
but I realized that goal number one was definitely out of the question. Since I finally reached my declared quit
point, I could gracefully bow out without having to apologize to anyone. Just when I was about to make the gesture to
the emergency vehicle to take me to the finish I was passed by someone wearing
a T Shirt with writing on the back that said, “ When you think there is nothing
left in you, there is.” I didn’t get the
name of the author but I got the message.
A new plan, I would go as far as I could go until there was nothing left
in me before I quit.
Many times in life we quit
when we have a lot left in us (probably more than we think). I have known people who have quit living long
before they died. It is a waste of air and space to drift through the years
that can be our most productive because we think we have nothing left to
offer. An excellent life is created
first in the mind. That message alerted
me to the fact I was trying to make excuses for giving up too soon. I also realized that when we determine to
continue there is always a message of encouragement which comes at just the
right time.
In the eleventh chapter of
Hebrews the writer highlights the lives of familiar people throughout the ages.
Moses, Rahab, David and a host of others are commended for their faith as they
made their way through incredible obstacles. Then in the twelfth chapter the
author begins, “Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let
us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And
let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on
Jesus the author and finisher of faith.
For the joy set before him he endured the cross…”
At any time during the
greatest struggle of His life Jesus could have aborted his mission. If He had, life as we know it would not
exist. So it is with people living
today, if we prematurely quit before accomplishing our mission, those who
follow in our wake may never experience the joys set before them. We can be encouraged by the message presented
in Hebrews. Keep your eyes on the prize and don’t give up until, “It is
finished.”
Lesson number 6 – Activate plan B when plan A fails. I was moving at about a fifteen minute mile pace,
the pain was still there but hey I was about to mile fifteen, over half way,
and not in an emergency vehicle. Another
runner who was having his own challenges made a statement that made me think.
He said, “I’ve broken a new personal record, this is my 52nd
consecutive marathon in which I have failed to qualify for Boston.” He added a funny quip saying, “Well actually
I did qualify in the last one, I just had a hard time convincing the officials
I was an 81 year old female.” Then he said to the person he was running with,
“I’ll catch you at the finish.”
I knew at that moment I would
work to finish this race. I had
succeeded in making it to my second goal but nothing needed to stop me from
setting a new one; I would finish this challenge regardless of how
difficult. There will always be another
day to revisit the goals of the past and determine if they are worthy of any
further attention. Right now I would
focus on plan B.
Failure does not define
success. You may experience many
disappointments in life that seem like miserable failures but the only real
failure is not ever making the attempt.
There is always a plan B that leads to a successful conclusion. Maybe not the success you were looking for
but a winning finish none the less.
The statistics tell us that
only 2 percent of the people ever complete a marathon. I was already in the top
two percent of the general populace something that anyone should be proud
of. My coach was right in telling me all
I had to do was finish.
Now I will pass on that
information to you…”You’ve got this, all you have to do is finish.” That is much easier to comprehend when you
are in your twenties or thirties and at the top of life’s game with youth and
vitality as your hover board. But in the
last half of your sixties it is ninety percent mental, mostly because over half
of the population has found an easy chair to harbor their retired self.
Lesson numbers 7 – Sometimes the challenges in life
are all mental. By the time I
reached mile sixteen I was fighting a fierce battle. When I focused on the distance I needed to
complete my pace would slow and I began to fear permanent damage to my
body. However, when I concentrated on
each step and maneuvered in such a way that the pain was not too intense I
could move faster. The ten remaining
miles seemed like a hundred in my mind and I knew I had to change my thinking
on how far I had come instead of the distance remaining.
By now my daughter had
finished the race and everyone that had come traveled with us to Duluth would
have to wait for at least two more hours. That was another thing I had to shake
from my mind and hope my group would be happier with me finishing than
disturbed at having to wait.
In life there are times when
we are working hard toward our goal and we stop because we don’t want to
disappoint or inconvenience others. That
is a mental adjustment you must make since it is impossible to know what
another person is really thinking and you will never please everyone. It’s important to be confident in your own
choices and not be deterred by what you assume others think. It’s a mental discipline to avoid being a
people pleaser at the expense of personal achievement.
The finish of this feat now
became quite important to me, yet I really did not want to selfishly
inconvenience others. So, I focused
instead on what it might mean if I quit.
I would set an example one way or the other and I had to decide which
example was more important to me.
Finishing strong has always been my motto so I set my mind on the
ultimate prize. I knew in my heart
crossing the finish line was just as important to others as it was to me so I
would not use any kind of excuse to prevent it.
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| Hudson Triathalon |
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