Runner
Book of the Week: The Lost Art of Running by Shane Benzie (2020)
Song of the Week: Redemption Song by Bob Marley and the Wailers (1980)
Sorry to miss another week - I think that may be a rule for me, travel or visitors means a no-go. Call it a philosophy of presence. Fancy way to say, I’d rather be present with the people in front of me than to be typing away on my little keys.
As we’re talking about new rhythms, commitments, and habits, I think it might be a good time to check in on one of my rules of life for the year - running. I’ve been running (more or less) a mile a day, with a couple caveats about makeup miles. You might say “Boooo Josh, where’s the locusts? I followed this for the honey!” A departure from our regularly scheduled programming? I say no. We are embodied beings and our mind, body, and soul are intertwined in a mysterious way. Not only do the things we do and think impact our soul, but at the bottom level of our life with Christ is the understanding that how we live our lives matters to God. He cares about how we treat our bodies, how we regulate our emotions, the goals we set, and so on. He’s using this to teach me many things - here’s what I’ve learned from my year of running so far.
The value of discipline. This is so layered - think onions, cake, ogres. There’s something deeply impactful by waking up every day and knowing you have to do something specific, something that takes resolve, is not easy, and if we’re being honest, is a massive inconvenience. Isn’t this true for all things worth doing? If life were easy, everyone would excel - marriages wouldn’t break down, people wouldn’t steal, childhood trauma would be an obsolete term - but the reality is, all good things take work, it’s the curse of the Fall. The pursuit of wholeness in a broken world is fraught with pain and toil but it is our heading - it is the direction in which we hear the call, will you go? There’s also a cliche in the fitness/running community that talks about committing to a rhythm of fitness as “showing up for yourself” - starting to understand what that means. I know that the commitment I made means nothing about my value or worth. If I miss a bunch of days, no one will care. And they shouldn’t, it’s silly, but it’s real, and the impact is tangible. Taking better care of my body and investing the most valuable resource I have - time - into cultivating one of the greatest gifts I’ve been given - my body - is more than worth the while.
Build the boat as it sails. Just start. Start with the right perspective. Look, no one knows what they’re doing. If you’re reading this and you’re anywhere under 28 years and 129 days old, I just want you to know we’re all just trying to figure this out, and unless something clicks in my head tomorrow, it’ll continue to ring true. Stick to the basics, love God, ask her out, call your mom, and go running. Walk if you need to! Form corrects itself - you will not be able to run very long with bad form, or bad shoes, or bad clothes. You learn these things and get better at them. Don’t buy electrolyte mixes, just drink some freaking water. Eat food and sleep good. Don’t expect it to be easy, expect to get better. Don’t expect to teach, expect to learn. Don’t expect to win, expect to finish.
Pain. I’ve had a pretty easy life, not much suffering. Running has cultivated an interesting relationship between me and pain. The reality is we don’t make it through life without pain and suffering. Running is pretty minimal compared to what many people go through, but there’s a lesson to be learned when you’re two miles into a three mile run and your leg tightens up, or at the very beginning of a run when every area of your body takes it’s turn at letting you know it’s there and it’s not super happy about you making it do what you’re making it do. Will you stop? Or will you embrace it?
No soldier gets entangled in civilian pursuits, since his aim is to please the one who enlisted him. An athlete is not crowned unless he competes according to the rules. It is the hard-working farmer who ought to have the first share of the crops. - 2 Timothy 2:4-6
Fight the good fight and go run.
In love,
Josh
