This weekend I ran in the Long Beach Half Marathon. I was training for it but I don’t think that I took it seriously enough. I got through the first half pretty good, and around mile ten I really felt the pain from all of the running. Around mile 11 or 12 I walked a lot and I barely jogged past the finish line.
A few other from church ran in it as well and did an awesome job, I was impressed with the dedication and strength everyone had and gained from the training. We were trained by a volunteer from Sandals Church who enjoys those kinds of things.
While we trained, we would meet weekly and discuss things we were encountering and apply Gods word to our training. We would run, stretch and finish in prayer. One thing that was said in our email conversations was “Just like our base we have built up in training for the marathon, so is our base built up with God. Even if we fall away from him for a little while or miss a little bit of training, it is still some work but easier to get back into our training or relationship with God again.
I never thought that I was capable of running such distances or ever thought that I would want to run more than a mile, but after joining the Ripped group, I learned a few new things about myself. I currently am studying abroad in Mexico, but when I get back in town I would like to join the next ripped group and maybe train for a full marathon (that’s 26.2 miles).
Thanks Tony for your knowledge that you shared with the training and guiding us along with our walk. Thanks to everyone who was encouraging and helped me to push myself further than I thought my body was capable of.
I strongly recommend staying in shape and even if you don’t think you can, push yourself and stay on track and you will be able to do it.