My Journey to 26.2: The Finish Line! Pt.3

Well I know it's taken me longer than I would have liked, to write the last part to this three part series (check out Pt.1 & Pt.2) regarding my experience running a marathon last month.

Honestly I had started a draft, last month! Yet after reading it, I decided to actually start all over.

Here goes...

It was race day! The race would begin at 5a.m. even though I never got up once in all my training to run at this time! I was up by 3:30a.m. the adrenaline was pumping! I was glad to have some friends come, along with my wife of course there with me. Made a difference to have their support!

We arrived to encounter the nearly 600 people that would join me in running (or I them:). The excitement inside of me was now really high. Yet I kept reminding myself to run my race, stick to my game plan and let nothing nor anyone deviate me from running my race.

It was obviously dark but several folks, including myself had little flashlights. I was in the middle of the pack sticking to my pace, watching my heart rate and relying on God for endurance and an ITB syndrome free run! Another concern was the weather. It was expected that it would rain, though as the race began it wasn't raining. But it would come!

I really have to praise God, because as I began to run I just fell into my zone as they say. It was like taking one of my long runs before my injury. Actually it felt a bit smoother because it wasn't as hot or humid and I had trained a lot in very hot and humide weather (easy to do in MS:)

I essentially broke up the race into four parts (mentally): 0-6.5m; 13m (half way), 19-20m, finish line. I felt that this was more of a mental thing for me. I tried to not focus on the finish line, nor mile 20 where many talk about the 'wall' (felt that when I did 26.2 on the treadmill!). I simply thought, "keep strong to 6.5m, then only think about 13.1" and so on. Call it what you want but it works for me.

Amazingly at the half way mark I was feeling good with no ITBS pain! It was raining on and off and though I had good running socks and even applied powder to help prevent blisters. The rain, the wet roads, naturally had my feet wet. Therefore, I could feel a blister forming but simply asked God for help and ignored it. Nothing I could do, plus it wasn't really hurting too bad.

My wife and friends were going to meet me at the half way mark, but I got there before them :) so when they realized that I must have come and gone they went out looking for me. They finally found me at around mile 19. Friends by this time I was feeling it and I was going up a hill. Sure it wasn't a very steep one but at nearly 20 miles this is where training was paying off!

Pushing up the last hill on mile 19

They cheered me on and that lifted my spirits. For the most part I had kept to myself through out the entire race (did speak to one guy a few words) and now I was aiming for the finish line. I was really beginning to feel it as I was approaching the last water station (about mile 24). I had picked up my pace a bit for several miles (trying to have a negative split, last half faster than the first) and now I was paying for it. I made sure to drink water and gatorade at the last water station. Now I was really speaking to myself and saying "2 more miles Javi, that's nothing!"

By mile 25 my ITB wasn't hurting praise God but the thighs were simply burning yet I kept pushing, only 1 mile left and the rain began to pour down! I made the turn toward the finish line and though I was tired I kept pushing and even sped up the last 200 yards or so to the finish line!

26.2 done!

I've been involved in competitive sports for a good part of my life (basketball, baseball, softball leagues, intramural football etc.) I've been part of 3 mens softball teams that won it all. Yet there was something special, at least for me, in finishing a marathon different from other sports.

No doubt that the parallels (of running a marathon) to one's spiritual life are many:

1. Proper preparation is important~~It is the same with our spiritual lives.
2. Having folks cheering you on helps~~Community and fellowship is a necessity in our spiritual journey.
3. Running a marathon is not just physical it's highly mental~~the spiritual life is a battle for the mind
4. Training for a marathon or other endurance sports you will encounter some tough times, don't get discouraged, stay focused~~our spiritual life is no different, we'll get discouraged, yet we must keep our focus on Jesus!
5. When you sense the finish line is so close you can see it, you will be revived and do what it takes to finish~~Jesus is coming soon, the finish line we can almost see, trust in Him, hold on to Him and He will take you to the finish.

It's been over a month now. I already have another marathon set for next February. I'm still battling some injuries but I've learned and I'm not giving up. I hope to run several more marathons (beyond next Feb.) and I'm beginning to train for an Iron Man (no date for that).

Along the way though, one of the greatest reminders (as previously mentioned) is to fully depend on Jesus in all things. As I mentioned in Pt. 2 my identity is found in Him not in running or anything else. Everyone that finishes a marathon is called a 'marathoner'. I'd rather be known as a committed follower of Jesus, who finished the race and helped many along the way to also finish and finish strong...

Javi

My Journey to 26.2: Part 2

In my last post I began to detail my journey to completing my first marathon. Some of my highs and lows, especially though when I was going through ITBS (see previous post). 

The human body is incredible. Really. I believe now more than ever (actually always have:) that God in His omniscient way created humans with such specific and beautiful bodies (beauty in how they function) that, for lack of another word, it's just simply amazing. I also believe that we we're born to run. What I mean is that we we're not meant to be sedentary we we're meant to be active. Obviously the body needs rest, but even too much rest is actually unhealthy.

Yet being that this is not necessary a blog about running in particular (I'm contemplating starting one, should I?) I want to talk about what I left off in the first post. Some of the spiritual lessons I believe God was...well...teaching me and reminding me of...

Lessons learned:

1. My identity is found in Jesus: Some may be saying what? We live in a highly competitive world. Running as any sport is highly competitive. When I first started really pushing myself I began to 'tweet' some of the things I was doing. Quickly folks wanted to know how far, my time, and so on. I understand, it's part of it. Yet when I had to cut down drastically on the weekly mileage it was a huge hit to my ego. I will admit. I began to really look deep into myself and take a step back from all this training. The point: who I am is not based on what I can do as an avid runner, a pastor, or anything else. My identity, who I am, is determined by whose I am. I belong to Jesus, I have given my life to Jesus not because of what I do but because of what He has done. 

I don't believe it's wrong in wanting to improve at your job, make more money, run faster, live a healthier life. But as Christians we must remember that our identity is not about our achievements, our suppose prowess in a certain sport, or what car we drive, or how big our house is. In the end, when Jesus comes none of this will be of any good to us. Only comprehending, understanding and realizing that are identity is found in HIM.

2. Cross training: Ok though I mentioned this is not a blog about running per se. I will speak a little about it here. As I was trying to shake off ITBS I needed to find ways to keep up my physical fitness without running. Ever runner knows the importance of cross training, such as swimming, biking, or even the elliptical (as long as you have no pain when doing it). Cross training saved me. In essence the last three months before the marathon I never ran more than 15miles in one day. This really wasn't ideal. Although I had obviously had many long runs of that distance and more before the injury, after, I was cautious. I wanted to make sure I wasn't flaring things back up when it came to ITBS. 

I was specific, intentional, and consistant. Part of what I focused on was obviously keeping my heart rate at a certain level that was nearly the same as when I was running long distances. My thought was if I can keep my heart able to go fast for long periods of time, I could push my legs on through the pain during the race.

Too often Christians get stuck in a certain way of doing things. They may even blame everyone but themselves for their weak spiritual lives. I could of easy have said this ITBS is too much, I can't run, I'm done. Praise God I didn't , He help me find other ways to train for the same goal. There are so many ways in which God wants to use us. So many things that I believe He wants us to do, but sometimes we seem stuck in our one way of doing things, perhaps have a little 'pitty party' about our lives and become blind to the fact that in the midst of our problems God is calling us to perhaps change things up to accomplish His mission in ways we never thought possible.

3. Trust in God: Race day was only two weeks away. I decided to run a half marathon to see how the leg was doing. It did ok, though at the end I was feeling some discomfort, not a lot, but enough to keep me thinking. Along these lines my wife had to travel to San Francisco on business and I was going with her. I was a bit nervous that the week before the marathon, when all the pro's are saying to keep your routine, I was about to change things up a bit. Also in all my training I'm not the get up at 4a.m. guy to go exercise. Yet the race was starting at 5a.m. central time and I was spending most of the week before the race on pacific time!

By this point I just put it all in God's hands. This was important to me. I had trained, re-trained, changed several things in my personal life regarding health. I was putting it in God's hands. I let go...I enjoyed my time in San Fran., even ran up and down the wonderful hilly streets of San Francisco and loved it. 

When we finally got home, race day was only three days away. By this time everyone at church knew I was running a marathon, my family back home knew, of course everyone asking, 'are you ready?' Deep inside I knew physically I was ready, but in the back of my mind I wondered would this dreaded ITBS pain return, since to some degree it still lingered....

stay tuned for part 3...the race!

Javi 

My journey to 26.2

I have always loved to exercise, and be active. It's a part of me. About two years ago I began to change my exercise regiment (that's for another blog theme:), which over time invigorated me and essentially in part lead me to start training to run a marathon.

To some degree I had always wanted to do it, but never really felt motivated to put in the time and effort it takes to be able to do it and do it with some form of success (at least in my eyes). Over the course of the training I lost about 20 pounds, began to eat better, drink a lot more water, and honestly was feeling better than I ever had in some time. Surely there were some aches and pains, blisters, and the losing of some toe nails. For many, those are just part of the running experience. Especially when you first start out.

For several months I was feeling what is called, 'runners high.' I was running 50-60miles a week like nothing, training in the very hot Mississippi weather, pushing my limits beyond what I had ever done before. At one point I even decided to go ahead and run the distance of a marathon (26.2miles) on a treadmill!

Then it happened...injury! It's called Iliotibial Band Syndrome. It is a superficial thickening of tissue that essentially goes from your hip to your knee. It's a common injury among runners for different reasons. This was an injury I honestly knew nothing about. I asked around, even asked a few folks that are runners about it but honestly got very little help. I obviously read more than my share of what this injury was about online and did get some answers.

I ended up seeing an orthopedic who is a knee specialist and was a runner, got some physical therapy, and did everything they said and then some. It helped, but the worse part about it, yet the most important part was I needed to stop running in order to really allow for the injury to heal. If you know anything about running and runners this is torture!

I was humbled, upset, and to some degree worried. By this time I had already registered for my first marathon and now I was thinking would I be able to do it now that I was sidelined. Sure I was still about three months away from the race, nonetheless going from 50-60miles a week to zero was physically and emotionally painful.

Yet during this time of trying to shake off ITB syndrome, is when I believe I began to learn not just more about the sport of endurance running but about what I believe God wanted me to learn.

Stay tuned for more on the journey...

Javi