I've had time to process my first marathon from a few weeks back. This is straying a bit from my normal subject lines but might be appropriate for some. Here are "lessons learned" from training and running a marathon.
1. The training is more rewarding than the actual event.
2. All shapes and sizes run and finish 26.2. Don't judge a book by its cover. I got waxed by some men and women who didn't look like they grew up in West Africa in the mountains.
3. Those on the sidelines are either the greatest encouragement or extremely annoying.
4. Parts of Detroit are incredible. Parts are discouraging.
5. I found out my wife really does admire me and she's a constant encouragement. She had much for confidence in me than I did in myself.
6. My running coach and mentor, Andy Harrison, apprenticed me. He taught me how to train and prepare BECAUSE he himself had been there. One cannot take another person to a place they have never been themselves.
7. On the course, women would encourage folks with words...men encouraged with their presence. Women offered advice. Men would ask "what's your pace time?" You can run with me." And that's the extent of the conversation.
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4 comments:
CONGRATULATIONS JOSH !! I first became a runner in the military, when the beach was a mile away; nothing compares to the feeling of running barefoot on the sand (soft sand). Im contemplating if I feel like leavein the wamrth of my house to run in and against the wind tonight or not. Definitly not Sand Diego, its hard nowadays to rip myself away from my great family to run - Keep on brother; its a runner euphoria, and to run in "nature" somehow I feel closer to God while doing so !! I lift the class and pastor in prayer, and pray that we would receive wisdom and revelation!
Josh, you know I admire and am proud of you but, DUDE, the next time you need to go 26.2 miles I'll loan you my car. Promise. While some (ahem, Jason) say nothing compares to running the soft sand I'd say it has a ways to go before it can compete with a warm cup of tea, a soft leather couch, and a book - preferably a book on tragic things that happen to people when they run....
This I am sure will come as no surprise, but my comment is off topic.I was studying for our quiz on Philipians 1 and 2, and something that Josh had said in class, started poking at my brain.In fact, he has used this particular reference more than once; the first time was earlier in the semester, and the second was last tuesday in reference to Philipians. The concept was that a certain aspect of the letter was the key to understanding the writing as a whole.He suggested that we take that key aspect,in this case the hymn located in philipians,chpt.2:5-11,and use it as our 3-d glasses, so that we are able to see the whole picture.The first time he said this, earlier this year, I didn't fully grasp the significance of what he was saying,but as I was reading philipians and got to the hymn,I decided to actually try it.I read the hymn and really tried to soak in the full meaning of what I was reading,I then went back, with the hymn still in mind, and began to read the letter from the beginning.The text seemed to jump right off the page as the charactor of Paul came to life in my mind.I could now understand where Paul was comming from when he said what he said;it was like I could see what he was thinking.All this made it that much easier to veiw him as a real person,with an understanding of who he was, I could now relate to him.This totally changed the way I read Philipians. Now I have to go back into the archives of my notes so I can figure out what book he was refering to the last time he used this technique and see what new things that brings to light.
I enjoyed reading about your marathon run. I ran track my first year of college at SVSU and when I read your comment about how training was more rewarding then actually finishing it brought a lot of memories back. I remember days at practice where I would just look up at the sky wonder if I could ever get through it. Well, getting through a day of 100 hill sprints and running 400's until I couldnt feel my legs was way more rewarding to me then finishing a 60 dash at a meet. Nice story though...
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