Run With Patience

Those of you who know me know that I like to run. This photo was taken in September 2014 after the South Jordan Half Marathon. If you look closely, you will see that I am wearing two medals: a participant medal, and a winner's medal. Yes, I actually won the race! First place overall. I don't claim to be a great runner, but my consistent training and focused effort (and, I must admit, a small number of race participants) led to my victory! My overall time was 45 seconds slower than my goal, but it was enough to win.

Winning a race gives a person a great sense of accomplishment. The thing that made this victory particularly satisfying to me was the fact that four months earlier, I ran my worst half marathon ever. Yes, even worse than my first half marathon in 2007. Runners often talk about their PR (personal record), but in May 2014 I got what I call my PW (personal worst). It was very disappointing, but instead of choosing to give up running forever, I decided to train harder, and the result was my one and only half marathon victory!

This morning, I read Hebrews chapter 12. In the first verse, Paul (or whoever it was that actually wrote Hebrews) said, "let us run with patience the race that is set before us." The thing that caused me to pause and think in this verse was that running and patience don't seem to go together very well. How can we be patient when we are running our hardest?

I believe the answer lies in our understanding of patience. I have usually thought of patience as calmly waiting for something, but we won't accomplish much in life if we just wait for things to happen. We have to work hard and get dirty and sweaty if we want results. Is it possible to be patient while putting forth maximum effort? I think it is. My half marathon in May 2014 was a disaster, but I believe patience was a key factor in my success the next time out. It takes a lot of patience to wake up early and run several times a week. It takes patience to keep your feet moving on a long run when your body is exhausted. It takes patience to train for four months to get ready for a race. It takes patience to choose to run rather than pursuing other interests. It takes patience to work through the sore muscles and injuries that slow us down. It takes patience to pick ourselves up and keep going after we have experienced disappointment.

So what does patience really mean? I think when we are patient we hope for better things in the future. We recognize that great results are not obtained without great effort, so we continue to work hard day after day, keeping our minds focused on the ultimate prize. Regardless of what we want to accomplish in life, it will likely take hard work and patience.

So, run hard. Keep your head in the game. Don't give up. And if you experience disappointment, keep working hard and strive for improvement, believing that better things are ahead. As Paul admonished, "[R]un, that ye may obtain" (1 Corinthians 9:24).