Confessions of an Endurance Athlete

You may have noticed fewer runners out on the roads and in the parks the last few days. It’s been recovery week for me and for a few thousand other area runners who competed in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Savannah Marathon & Half Marathon. Even with proper conditioning, nutrition, and equipment; running 26.2 miles takes a toll on the human body.

I heard of a few people who were planning on running the race without any significant training. I haven’t heard how that turned out for them; but I don’t imagine they had a very good result. On the other hand, there were thousands of people who crossed the finish line at Forsyth Park with grins on their faces and hands raised over their heads in celebration because they had done the long, hard work of preparation for race day.

They were teenagers, college students, young adults, and scores of others whose memories of those days are fading. They were school teachers, shop keepers, factory workers, and business professionals of all kinds. You could look at some of them and tell they were obviously athletic. Let’s just say, it would be very unlikely to find a picture of some of the other finishers on the cover a fitness magazine.

They may have had very different journeys to the starting line of Saturday’s event; but I am confident that those who finished well made the commitment months ago to avoid the distractions, to face the challenges, and to endure the struggles that would prepare them to accomplish what some of their own family and friends thought was impossible.

Let me confess that training for endurance events is not always fun. There have been times when I’ve wanted to ditch a workout or just quit all together; but I press on because there is something more important than another finishers’ medal that keeps me going.

Living a faithful life is an endurance event. Paul warned several congregations of the temptation to give up. There are distractions. You get tired. You face opposition—sometimes from the most unexpected people and at the most inopportune times; but to those who remain faithful—who persevere to the end—God has promised an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. Let us press on for that prize.