Skip to main content

The Receiving Act of Running

"I reminded myself before the run that the only thing that matters is receiving Christ's love and giving it out to others. I think God wants to work on the way I see myself right now. Getting wrapped up in times and performances is so easy! Am I worthy of respect and love because of my fast pace during workouts and my race results, or am I an adopted child of God who is incredibly loved by the Creator of the universe simply because I am His child? Do I appreciate others for who they are, or do I judge them by their performance and value them only when they run well? These questions challenge me." -Ryan Hall. (2011). Running with Joy.

A timely quote as I prepare myself for this weekend. If anything, running has taught me that it is a receiving act like all aspects of my life. He has given me the ability to run and as I exercise it, He uses me and gives me the joy and contentment which I've never experienced before. There's simply nothing I can bring or add to what's already been given. It's thus my hope to pass on and share this joy with others. And of course, a heartfelt thank you to those who have shared miles with me. I'm out of words of how grateful I am to have so many individuals to run with during the past few months of training. You are all such blessings to me.

For the past two weeks, I've been fixated on Exodus 33:12-23, where Moses interceded for God's presence to go with them as they leave Sinai and asked to see His glory. Likewise, I pray for God's presence to be with me, and that I'll "stand on the rock" to witness His glory.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

WV Trilogy - Part 2

(If you haven't read Part 1, it's here .) (Sat) Oct 13 -  Sunrise at Spruce Knob 6 a.m. start in the dark. My legs surprised me by being happier than yesterday. My heart is in better place as well. The first 6.7 mile goes up to Spruce Knob, the highest point in West Virginia. Part of this section was on fire road and I welcomed the faster miles. Steady progress was made in the first 20 miles or so until the long, long descent into Aid Station 3. As I have decided yesterday, I'd start the race, go from aid station to aid station, and re-evaluate my condition at each. I left Aid station 2 feeling good but then the long descent once again put doubts in my mind. Running reduced to little steps on jello-legs. Compression socks helped to contain the injury and pain, but the strength to support the pounding was still lacking. Soon, my knees started to hurt as well. At aid station 3, they told me I had 2:45 to make it to the next aid station before the cut-off. At the pace I...

New Year's resolution

Nine days into 2012 and a day before entering into a new age group is an opportune time to nail down some New Year's resolutions. 2011 was a good year, one that filled with transitions and norming --  be it moving from California to Charlotte, from being a student back to an architect, or starting fresh in a new territory to establishing roots and relationships. My new running and swimming communities had made the transition easy and welcoming, and partly because of that, much of my attention in the past year was on either sports, like running my first 50k and participating in my first swim meet. Having just graduated from seminary was probably the other half of the reason why I had been keeping a distance from structured studies / reading in 2011. With that said, my 2012 focus will be on balanced growth. While I still have a long list of goals in swimming and running, I need to make sure I allocate enough time and attention to spiritual and intellectual grow...

Blue Ridge Marathon

Bill Rodgers After reading so many people's blog on their experience of America's toughest road marathon, the Blue Ridge Marathon, I'm starting to lose my own chain of thought/memory. Bottom line is I had a lot of fun and surprised myself with a sub-4 finish. My estimate was around five hours, or maybe even 5:30 if condition was tough like last year's monsoon. Here's my account of it: Three and a half hour drive from Charlotte straight to packet pickup at Roanoke's Taubman Museum of Art, a modern and iconic building in contrast with the rest of the historical railroad downtown. It was Friday evening and the streets were lively. People were on the patio and on the street with live music playing. I strolled around a little but not too much since I wanted to save my legs. My hotel was only about a mile away. I contemplated on just walking there from the hotel, but ended up driving half a mile or so to park at the Civic Center. Half a mile could be a haul af...