If you’re not a runner, right now, if you haven’t trained your entire life you’ll need to start slow. A great app to start running is named “Couch to 5K” (C25k) and is designed to effectively help anyone start getting their body in shape to complete a 5K race. C25k’s training regimen starts with short distances and plenty of time to complete them. It would be dangerous for you to dive into a 50-mile ultra-marathon if your body is not ready to endure the rigor, your mind unaccustomed to the pain and suffering you’ll endure, and your disciplines for breathing, hydration, and energy consumption unproven. There’s never shame in getting off the couch, and most people will not be competing at the level that is required to complete the Spartathalon. What level you compete on doesn’t matter as much as the fact that you prepare and find your pace: to complete the race that you’re running.
If you have or do in the future, run a race you’ll notice that even though the race starts with many people bunched at the starting line that crowd quickly thins out into a line. An inexperienced runner will often start fast, getting in front of the others, but soon will slow as the reality of their exertion catches up to them. Once their initial burst of energy is spent they are soon passed up by runners who know their place and keep it consistent throughout the race. An experienced runner knows what his or her body is capable of doing, they know that showing up to the race and doing their best gives them a chance to win. But, that win is not in direct contrast with everyone else in the race. These runners will maintain their pace, which will stay the same throughout the race. Once this experienced runner finishes, according to their capabilities not those of other runners, they will learn of how they placed among the crowd. They will start at roughly the same pace as their finish, and most importantly they will always finish, and not fall out from exhaustion. As you run, your pace change and grow faster but it is important to be prepared for the race, including the distance, hills, and other obstacles, you are running.
Jesus talked about spiritual stride in his parable of the sower (Mark 4:1-9), in this parable he described seeds being strewn about. The seeds that fell on a rocky path, were immediately destroyed, like runners who jumped into the race without training realizing their folly stopping or even being medically evacuated from the course. Other seeds landed on rocky showed great speed in sprouting, But, because they did not have roots, those quickly sprouting seedlings could not survive the scorching sun, the pain, and suffering of the long run; like those runners who sprint at the start to get ahead but quickly lose steam and are passed up again by slower runners. There’s another subset of seeds Jesus describes as falling in a patch of thorns; thorns only produce pain and suffering. In the context of the race, these are those who find themselves embedded into a culture that strangles their ability to even run: not knowing how to eat right or drink enough water, they instead take a stance of disdain for the race itself; and encourage others to be “a zero miler”. At last, Jesus described the runners of the race in his parable; the seeds that fall onto good soil. He puts these all together even though they have different results; they all finish the race and are applauded even if they finish at different times. Again, the bottom line is this: It does not matter so much as to how fast you are, as much as it matters that you know your own pace; and prepare yourself to run and most importantly to finish the race. It’s going to long, arduous, and filled with obstacles; but when it ends the rewards will be amazing.