Running on Faith: Timeless Principles for Winning Life's Marathon
by Rick E. Meyer
Introduction
My legs burn with fatigue! The Kearney Good
Samaritan Hospital 5K starts in a matter of moments, and others question my
sanity again! I quip to Erich and Tom, “This will be a good mental toughness
workout.”
Perhaps the 5:30 a.m. 6-mile run and the 120 weekly
miles of training contribute to the intense fatigue. As the gun fires at 8:06,
Kearney High runners shoot out quickly.
Former UNK (University of Nebraska-Kearney) cross-country runners Tom Magnuson--a three-time All-American--and Erich Whitemore join me as our bodies transform potential energy to kinetic.
Former UNK (University of Nebraska-Kearney) cross-country runners Tom Magnuson--a three-time All-American--and Erich Whitemore join me as our bodies transform potential energy to kinetic.
Tom’s experience and strength delay his assumption
of the lead until near the quarter-mile mark. Erich and I move into the second
and third positions after the first half-mile.
We pass the mile in 4:45. “I can hang out at this pace,” I reflect while viewing the split. Erich has other ideas; he quickens the pace. At the halfway mark, my legs begin to wobble and buckle. I struggle to remain standing, while Tom holds a commanding lead.
We pass the mile in 4:45. “I can hang out at this pace,” I reflect while viewing the split. Erich has other ideas; he quickens the pace. At the halfway mark, my legs begin to wobble and buckle. I struggle to remain standing, while Tom holds a commanding lead.
My mind, exhausted from the focus and concentration
necessary for the demanding mileage and workouts, seeks relief and begs my body
to stop. Erich looks back at me, and I call out, “Go ahead.”
Erich yells
back, “Come on!”
Once again I
plead, “Go ahead.” This mental toughness workout exceeds my expectations and
desire. My legs wobble like a wheel falling off a wagon.
Erich bellows a second time, “Come on!”
I state consciously but not verbally, Lord, I need you! I cannot! Christ can! We
are. It is not me, rather Christ who is in me. I repeat this as if playing
on a continuous loop. Suddenly, my body fills with the strength necessary to
continue this hasty cadence.
The perpetually intensifying pain resembles
lightning bolts piercing my body’s every nerve. Our second mile split is 4:37;
four minutes and thirty-three seconds (4:33) excruciatingly pass into history before reaching the three-mile mark.
Running on faith, I sprint the final 176 yards and pass Erich to win second place in 14:32.
Running on faith, I sprint the final 176 yards and pass Erich to win second place in 14:32.
In the hospital parking lot following the awards
ceremony, a Kearney physician approaches me. “Congratulations, Rick. I could
never run like you do. I hurt when I run.”
His words
leave me speechless! Little do I realize, 10½ years later, I will stand in this
same parking lot, speechless, with excruciating pain zapping my body and mind:
‘Running on Faith.’
*****
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