Live to Run Another Day

Training for marathon

Part of my recent trip to Chicago included running the the Chicagoland Spring Marathon in Schaumburg.  This year I decided I would run as part of Team Samaritan's Purse to raise funds for their Clean Water projects.

I trained throughout the winter in Western New York.  While a relatively mild winter, nothing prepared me for the 90 degree temps of race day.

One of my favorite Bible verses as a runner is Hebrews 12:1, "Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us."  On this particular day, a few more verses came to mind...

"My strength was sapped as in the heat of summer" (Psalm 32:4) and "There is a way that appears right but in the end it leads to death (Proverbs 16:25).

By mile 12, my strength was waning and I was starting to feel the effects of the heat.  I don't know that I would have died had I continued, but I knew I would have been in trouble!

After the 1/2 Marathon

Another of my favorite quotes is, "The better part of valor is discretion."  (Shakespeare, Henry the Fourth)   So in a rare moment of wisdom and ever-decreasing lucidity, I decided to stop at 13.1 miles.

This day the race marked out for me wasn't the 26.2 miles I hoped to finish.  Life is like that at times.  Rarely do things go exactly as planned, at least by us!  But like a marathon (or in this case, a half marathon), we're in it for the long haul.  There will be other days to run.



BTW... together with those who pledged their support, we raised over $1000 for Samaritan Purse's Clean Water projects.  And that's worth so much more than finishing another marathon or an avoidable trip to the ER.

Keep running the race!