5k Every Day in the Month of May (Day 11)

Wow. That was dumb. But I did it!

I wanted to try out a long run today and I’m not so sure it was the best idea on day 11 of a 31 day challenge -but I did it. I accomplished my goal.

I ran from my church in Fredericksburg to my allotment in Apple Creek. It was 8.3 miles. Scratch that… it was 8.3 long and hard miles. Yes, that is more accurate.

There is no way out of Fredericksburg except for up a hill. Up a long, long hill.

So I went uphill.

It was actually a really beautiful day for a run, but I did not dress accordingly. I had two shirts on and the top was long sleeve. I also had a winter hat on my head. The hat came off quickly and about halfway through the run I just couldn’t handle the long sleeve shirt anymore, either.

It is pretty safe to say that I was not breaking any world records with this run, but I was so determined to finish.

About halfway through the run I decided that it would be okay if I just walked the rest of the way. It is amazing how you can start to fudge on a goal once you’re in the heat of things. I knew that my plan was to get to my allotment, but that just seemed impossible several miles into the run. My pace had slowed down to around 10 minutes per mile and I just couldn’t get my legs moving any faster.

I was actually miserable at about 5 miles in. I just wanted to be done. Who cares about my goal?! It’s a dumb goal anyway. What does it really matter?

Well, in fairness, it was a dumb goal. But it did matter.

There is a quitter inside of me. He can’t handle the pressure. When the going gets tough, he wants to run. There is also finisher inside of me. He knows that I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me (see Philippians 4:13, but know that I am admittedly taking that verse out of context).

As I was running, I kept thinking about this quote:

“The grass is always greener where you water it.”

How true. We are prone to think that the grass is greener on the other side, but that is only because the grass on the other side is being taken care of. Of course it is greener!

If there is a quitter and a finisher battling inside of me, who is going to ultimately win in the end? Well, it will be the one that I tend to. If I tend to act on the quitting, I will become a quitter. If I tend to act on the finishing, I will become a finisher.

I don’t want to be a quitter. I want to be a finisher. Finishing mattered today because it is a part of transforming who I will become.

Don’t sell yourself short. Be a finisher. It took me longer than I had hoped, but I made it to my allotment and it felt good to know that I didn’t quit.

I ran 8.3 miles in 1:15:48. That is an average pace of 9:07.