Doing the Impossible

About a year ago, my brother in law, Rich, ran a half marathon with his brother. For months before the race, he would run 2-3 times a week and each Saturday he would add another mile to his long run. On race day, I was simply amazed at his accomplishment as we watched him run mile after mile until finally he finished 13.2 miles.

Inspired by his athleticism, and desperately in need of exercise, I decided to join a gym. I quickly discovered and fell in love with the cycling classes. After a couple months, the idea of doing some kind of race started rumbling around in my head. I was so inspired by Rich's determination and wanted to know if I could do something similar. On the eve of 2007, I decided in my heart that I wanted to do a triathlon.

After about three months, I finally decided to start running (sometimes it takes me a while to figure out the obvious). All the while, I kept my training from all my friends for fear that it would be too hard and I would eventually quit. This would at least save me from the public embarrassment, if not the personal disappointment. This race would be the hardest, most difficult physical goal I had ever accomplished. Not only that, it would require months of consistent training - a goal that was too far in the future for me to entertain.

A couple weeks after I started running, a coworker of mine asked if he could run with me. Running with another person became so much easier! Just the distraction of mindless conversation and the accountability helped immensely. After a few weeks, I shared with him my plan to do a triathlon at the end of the summer and he immediately said, "Oh, can I join you? I've always wanted to do one of those..." I thought to myself, "Woah there, buddy. You probably need about four months to ponder this - the biggest decision of your life - you clearly have no idea what you're committing to." Of course, he did know what he was committing to (I had memorized all the mileages and could explain the race in full detail) and didn't see a problem with it.

The summer rolled by and we ran 2-3 times a week in the morning. Each day we ran, the impossibility of the race began to get smaller and smaller. Even up to the day of the actual race, I didn't know if I could really do it. Sometimes the doubt was so great that I would search for any excuse to give up. But a voice inside kept nudging me on, "It is possible, and you will do it." I told God the whole time that if He could get me through this race, I would know for sure that He can do anything. (I'm sure I'll say that again once I find a bigger goal...sigh)

After we were running consistently well, we adding swimming to our regime. Thankfully, swimming was always something I enjoyed, so it wasn't quite as hard to learn as the running. Gregory improved dramatically in his swimming - by the end we were both little fishes. In the middle of the summer, I moved to Norfolk and came upon the challenge of training by myself. This was no easy task, however, I had already passed the point of no return.

August proved to be a difficult month: two weeks of travel and one week of sickness - enough to completely hault all training. When I started up again, it felt like starting from scratch! That's when I decided that I must resign myself to exercising for the rest of my life. It's just too painful to start over.

Race day. Just like any other day, except on this day I would find out just how big my God really is. With the swimming came some dizziness and a terrible headache, and with the riding came some much-welcomed rain, but the real challenge didn't start until the running. It was a special moment when I first dismounted my bike and set out to run. I think I was surprised more than anything else at the complete lack of energy and pain I felt in my legs.

That's when the training proved most successful. I realized at that point that I had not only trained my legs to run, but I had been training my mind to focus until the goal is accomplished. The expression "mind over matter" is now very clear to me.

During one of my runs a few weeks before the race, I said, "God, I can't do this!" and he said, "You're right. You can't do much of anything. But with me, we can do it - one step at a time."

Luke 1:37 - For with God nothing shall be impossible.

Edit: I did finish! I actually sprinted the last 50 feet or so and came to a small group of friends all cheering for me. It was mainly a relief to get to the end, but I was also surprised at how quickly it went by. It wasn't easy, but somehow it seemed at that moment that all those days of training before that were just about as hard as the actual race day itself. I've heard people say before that they love running marathons. Then they admit that they don't enjoy it so much during the race itself, but they love the whole process. I felt the same way. I was just happy all around - happy with myself, happy with God. Just really pleased.