A few years ago, when I was still pretty new at running, I signed up for what I thought was a 5K run in Indianapolis put together by an organization we supported.
Five kilometers is just over 3 miles, and I had trained for that distance and was ready for it.
Imagine my surprise when I arrived at the starting line to see that it was actually a 5-mile race!
I was shocked, but I figured, “no worries; I can do this.”
As you might expect, the first three miles were great. The last two…not so much.
Besides getting the distance wrong, here is where I made a tactical error: I started at a pace which I could only keep up for three miles, so I ran out of gas and I then just dragged myself for the last two.
If I had really had a mindset of slowing down my pace early on, I could have done better and finished without being so exhausted.
I have now run two full marathons (Indianapolis and Chicago). A marathon distance is 26.2 miles.
A friend of mine says that the halfway point in a marathon is mile 20. What he means is that, even if you do your training right, those last 6.2 miles will feel as long as the first 20.
That certainly was true for me both times. I learned from each one of those races, and I hope to use that knowledge next fall at the Marine Corps Marathon (Washington, DC).
When we started dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, we thought it would not last too long.
Remember reading that if we could just stay home for a few weeks it would all blow over? And then remember when we thought that after the summer it would all blow over? And then remember when we thought that we would have a vaccine in record time and then it would all blow over?
We were training ourselves for COVID as if to run a 5K, but then when we got to the starting line, we discovered it was a COVID marathon.
Yikes! Some of us have already “hit the wall” (the feeling you get in a marathon after mile 20 when you feel your legs can’t go another step).
We’ve had it with this pandemic, and we’re impatient and frustrated. When can we all go back to worship in person? When can we go back to not wearing masks? When can we be done?
But we’re still dealing with it. This race is not over. And we’re not sure whether the finish line will keep moving farther back.
In the Christian tradition, there is a passage in Hebrews 12:1-2 which reads: “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight and the sin that clings so closely, and let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus the pioneer and perfecter of our faith.”
We didn’t know we had signed up for a marathon, but that’s where we are. Maybe we started with a pace that has us tired out, but we still have miles to go.
Slow down. Keep your head up. Cheer fellow runners. And remember that we are following the example God has set for us — no matter how hard these last few miles feel.
The Rev. Dr. Felipe N. Martinez is the pastor of First Presbyterian Church in Columbus. Send comments to [email protected].
