Did they really mean “dash”?

I hate running.  Always have, really.  And yet I did the whole high school athletics thing, such as it was for young women back in the 70’s.  I was generally pretty terrible at it, but when you’re a 6-foot female, it’s just something you feel you have to try I suppose.  I was even on the track and field team for a year or two.

Guess what they do in track and field… 

I think at one meet I finished a race in about 94 seconds.  In my case, it was mistakenly labeled the 400-yard-dash.  For me, it was more of a plod, woeful, but at least I finished.

So a big shout out to bloggin’ buddy Marie Griffith at Full Time! Over the past year, she’s started her running adventure and has been working her way up—I anticipate a full marathon is in her future, and maybe one of those crazy tri’s. 

A consideration~~It’s one thing to run a 5K, but quite another to walk 25 miles.  The former has you huffing and puffing at the end; the latter pain creeps up on you slowly, when you feel it the next day, and the next.  We don’t really think of walking as strenuous, but in reality, walking is being extolled for its remarkable health benefits.  Why?  Because over time it’s more strenuous than one may think.  I mean, after all, it’s just walking, right?

Here’s my point.  It’s one thing to weather a crisis in life.  It’s exhausting, but when it’s over, and the dust clears, and you’re still standing, we applaud you as victor.  Yea. 

Unfortunately, we tend not to see the rigor and stamina needed for the monotony of everyday life, and even less do we allow ourselves even a pat on the back for a job well done—changing that diaper, cleaning that frig, getting the whole fam to sit down for a meal, putting in 8-10 hours in the cubicle to put that meal on the table.  Over time, this walking through the daily tasks of responsible living and loving, gets…exhausting.  Only it creeps up on us unawares. 

Like the sore muscles that we didn’t expect from just….walking.

Runners like my friend, Marie, have strategies.  They know how to pace themselves, listen to their bodies, and when to push through it or not.  Brilliant!  She knows how to cooperate with her body to prevent a pulled muscle, or physical exhaustion.

I’m thinking that I need to take a lesson from her for the “walking through daily life” as well.  Over time, without these strategies, my heart and head start to ache, and I’m not even aware of it as it becomes normalcy.

I would love to hear some of your strategies in walking through life to avoid mental and spiritual exhaustion.  And in the comment section, I’ll share some of mine.

And Marie, when you get to the Ironman, I was photos of Hawaii!

“Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.”

Hebrews 10:36  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.