Challenged

Yesterday was my annual fall race.  This year I did Jeff Polen’s Music Fest 5k.  I was hoping for a PR but did not realize the difficulty of this course.  I knew there would be hills so I had ran the, apparently tiny, easy hills around us.  I even did hill sprints, though I do think those helped a lot.  But I was not mentally prepared for the challenge I was about to face.

The race started out, for about 3/4 of a mile, on pretty much flat ground.  With a pace of about 8:50 I was feeling pretty good, till I switched to a trail.  For the next mile and a half I was focused on keeping going.  All my training was being put to the test.  Going up hills I reminded myself of the down hills.  I ran in the grass during the rocky parts and another runner behind me said I was weaving all over the trail.  During this time my pace jumped to somewhere in the 9:00, which was still pretty awesome for me.  But because of the strenuousness of the new terrain I ended up finishing with my normal pace which was somewhere in the 10:00.

My average pace overall was 9:55, which was exciting comparing it to my training runs.  

My biggest lesson God “retaught” me was how much my mind has such a huge impact on my running.  The more I focus on how I feel whether in real life or running, the more it tears me down.  Who I think I am is who I am.  What we meditate on is who we become.  So if I am constantly telling myself lies, such as, “I’ll never make it,” or “I’m such a failure.”  I end up not even wanting to try.

During my run my mind kept saying, “you’re not going to make it.”  But a few days earlier, when I had asked God for some encouragement concerning my race, He told me, “You can do it!”  This thought also kept popping in my mind during my run and I can’t emphasize enough how much that helped me finish the race strong.

So what did I take home from my 5k?  Other than special memories with my family, God allowed me to see from a different perspective, yet real life application, how much dwelling on truth can benefit my life and help me become the person I want to be!