When I was a freshman in high school, I joined my school’s track team. Every time I think about those times, I cringe. The idea of me running even as little as a 50-meter dash made me hurt inside. After that year, I completely strayed away from the idea of running, and really the idea of “working out” in general. Needless to say, when I committed myself not to one, but two 5K runs last semester, my friends and family thought I was insane. For the most part, I owe my insanity to the friends I made at college that contacted me over winter break. They had all made New Year’s resolutions to work out more, and decided to solidify that resolution by signing up for a 5K in Cleveland on April 23rd. By contacting me, they had passed down the invitation to join them on their journey. In the beginning of this year, I had been to the gym several times with my friends and I even ran on the treadmill at those times, but really only for 5 minutes or so. However, I was committed to my seemingly impossible goal of running an entire 3.2 miles in under 30 minutes. I did all the research, downloaded all the running apps and even started to eat the right foods for a training period. When I came back from winter break, the training began.
My very first running experience for this training was dreadful, to when I completed the 3.2 miles in almost 55 minutes. I tried to not let it get to me, as it was my first time ever doing a workout such as that. When all the other workouts began following the same pattern, I was simply discouraged. I knew then that I was doing something wrong. It was then that I was invited to join this run in Michigan, exactly one month before the run in Cleveland. I knew that I had to push myself even harder if I wanted to complete both runs effectively. However, this time I would do it right. I began to look into the idea of being a “living person” of Christ. In the end, I discovered that I was looking for the end result too quickly. I was much too focused on my timing and my failures rather than focusing on the small achievements I had made along the way. As I began to focus each of my workouts on the idea of being a living person of Christ, I noticed that progress was finally being reached. I was growing stronger, I was running farther, most importantly, I was breathing easier. No one ever said that running was easy, I knew this from the start. Yet, there is something about exercising that brings you closer to God, if you let it. This was my experience and I wouldn’t change that for anything in the world. Despite my horrible experiences with running in high school, I managed to find joy in going to the gym to work to achieve my goal. I ran those two 5Ks constantly reminding myself of my many training sessions focusing on God as I ran. Now, as I continue to challenge my body to do things I never thought possible to achieve goals I never realized could be reached, I remember that being a "living person" is my only and final goal. That's all that really matters.
