press on

I have never been athletic, nor have I ever claimed to be.  So what I'm about to say is huge for me.  I am registering to run my First 5k race this November.  I have been trying to get healthy and walk/jog for the last several years, and had worked myself up to over three miles, but in all honesty have never built up my endurance to be able to run even half of it.  I became frustrated and took several months break. 


Four weeks ago I set a goal, to run the 5k race on Seabrook Island while I'm there on vacation in November.  That gave me approximately 10 weeks to get ready.  So you may ask, why?  what's my inspiration?  Well my inspiration are two people:  May pastor Ken Sausedo, who just ran a half-marathon and is 10 years older than me, and my friend Steve Conard who ran a full marathon the same day.  I figured if these guys can do it, there is no reason why I shouldn't.  So then the question is why?  Well, mainly for my health.  I want to improve my health both physically and emotionally.  Running is a release, it's gets me away from the stress.

So how am I going to reach my goal?  I found an app for it.  I'm not joking.  I found an app that is supposed to take you from 0-5k in 8 weeks.  Through the end of week three I felt confident that I could get this, last week the workout was 5 min warm up walking, jog 90 seconds walk 90 seconds, run 3 min, walk 3 min rotation for 31 minutes.  I did it no problem.  Then came this week:

My routine this week is 5 min warm up walking, jog 3 min, walk 90 seconds, jog 5 min, walk 2.5 min rotation for 31 min.  I was ok until the last 5 min, it was the toughest the workout had been.  My legs where screaming at me, my mind was telling me to just quit and walk "no one would know", and this was only 2 min into the last run.  I can say I made it all the way through the last 5 min run without stopping.  I have a goal.  I want to run the race.  I want to reach 5k.

We all need goals.  God has a goal in mind for you in this life.

^14 I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.  (Php 3:14., NIV)

The closer we get to reaching the goal of what God has in mind for us, the harder it will get.  Just like this morning when I hit that 2 min mark in the last run and I wanted to quit, when you hit the mark that makes you work a little harder to reach your goal you will want to quit.  You have to dig deep down inside and keep going.  We all reach points where we feel like we want to quit, where we want to take a break, or where we want to give in.  Dig deep.  Press on.  Jesus believes in you.

I can do this, and so can you.  Press on.

Have a great day, Chris