Ground to Gain

So here's the deal. I've had a thought brewing, but don't know where it'll end up.

I've tried to start running. I know, I surprise even myself. Give this girl a mountain to climb. A trail to hike. Ultimate football to play. Any other activity. Running? Nope. This girl doesn't just flat out run. My body rejects it(seriously, no joke). But, all that to say- I've been trying little by little to convince myself. And it's been interesting. The last run(really, this girl can't actually call it running either), okay, jog, I go jogging. But in any case, the last time I didn't know how far I'd gone, I just went until I couldn't. You know what happened? I ended up taking the longest jog I've ever done(don't get impressed yet). I had no idea how far I had gone, but I wanted to see how far I could get. And it made me think about how it pertained to my life. Because who doesn't love a good analogy-not I!

When we run forward with no hinderances, we run and don't give up, we see results. When there's nothing in our way and we don't put limits on ourselves, when we run with endurance, we will eventually see the reward. Sometimes I don't know where I'm going, how long it'll be, or how I'll do it, but when we don't tell ourselves we can't or that we've gone far enough, we haven't measured ourselves against an unnecessary limit, or said that that's far enough-- we might be surprised where we end up. Or how far we come.

Today, I was at it again. But this time with my two trusty roommates who have running skills. We ran, we jogged, the great part was that one of them was behind me and one in front of me. And the times I wanted to give up, slow down, they were there. I tried to keep up and was encouraged to do so on both sides. How important it is to take part in good community. As iron sharpens iron, so others can encourage you to press on. When you have others who are running the race of life with you, you have an example to follow, you know it's possible, and they can keep going when you otherwise might give up. Community is key, folks. In all areas of life. We need others to come alongside us. We need to be strengthened, encouraged, and challenged. Seek those people out.

Then set goals. Today I reached my driveway and was .2 miles away from beating last week's length. I couldn't stop there. I just couldn't. I knew I could do a little bit more and have a new goal for the next time. Push yourself, set goals(and write them down), work towards them, and overcome.

...and no, it wasn't an amount that you should be impressed with. 3 miles. I went three miles today. But for me, that's not too shabby. For now, I'm not going to look at someone else's PR or best time. For today, I'm going to celebrate the small victories. And press on for more. Who knows, maybe it'll be next time, maybe it won't. But I've got ground to gain, and I'll keep at it.