Sunday Musings: Run Your Race

It is 5 AM on a Sunday, and the house is alive. Well, at least three people are awake (one of them already drinking coffee). It’s race day, time for my son and my husband to run the Cleveland Marathon, a first for both of them. My son has been training for awhile. My husband got the “I think I can do that” bug and signed up, prepared to walk part of the course if necessary.

We have runners in our house, and we have non-runners. We non-runners have an allergic reaction to the idea of running for hours just to get back to the place where we started. That’s how we see it: Everything between the beginning and the end is a giant shin splint and a treacherous way to be bored out of our minds.

The runners see it differently. A marathon is a challenge in many ways. It tests your physical as well as your mental stamina. Runners go through a lot of pain and may at times imagine calling it quits. They endure, though, through will and grit. If their bodies are up to the challenge, they cross the finish line with a great sense of accomplishment. My husband and son got that opportunity today.

Not everyone is meant to run a marathon, but we are all called to compete in challenges in one way or another. How we see the area between the starting and finish lines will determine our success. For those of us with the non-runner mentality, the challenges can seem boring, unbearable or even unfair. We constantly question whether the end-goal is really worth the effort.

Watching two family members push through 26.2 miles on a cloudless, chilly Cleveland morning has inspired this non-runner to better appreciate the runner’s mentality. What are the challenges in my own life that I can better prepare for and complete without being overly dramatic and negative? How can I approach my personal marathons with a can-do attitude instead of a woe-is-me feeling? How do I not only cross the finish line, but do so with determination and joy?

Sign me up for my next race. I think I might be ready.