This is Your Reminder to Keep Running Well

My junior year of high school recently came to an end, and these past few months were my best track season yet. Junior-year track left me with so many stories. Every single race taught me something new, but I want to begin my first “track recap” post by sharing my experiences in my first 1600-meter races of the season.

If you’ve been following my story, you may remember my personal reason for why the 1600-meter has always been a bit of a battle. Back in the spring of 8th grade, when my iron-deficiency anemia had grown severe, I would try running the 1600 at league meets… and I finished last every time.

By the spring of freshman year, after a successful season of cross-country, I decided to attempt the 1600 again. I set a time goal for myself, and although my freshman-year races were at times nearly two minutes faster than my 8th-grade ones, I never made that goal.

Come sophomore year, I ran the 1600 and missed that time goal by less than 3 seconds. So close, yet so far.

This year, I was determined to finally break that goal. I opened the season with a 1600-meter race at an invitational. I was placed in the elite heat, but I was still carrying the burden of my 8th-grade experiences. I didn’t want to get last place again, and in a pool of elite runners…

That’s what happened again.

And I finished nearly 30 seconds away from my goal.

I was beginning to lose hope. After two years of trying, I began to think that reaching my goal would be impossible.

But I wasn’t about to quit the 1600.

Over the years, I developed a reputation for my persistence. You could say it came naturally to me.

A teammate asked me once, “Lana, how do you keep going when you’re in the middle of a race or one of your long runs, and you just want to break down and cry?”

I didn’t know how to answer her.

Stopping in the middle of a run had never seemed like a real option to me. Quitting had never seemed like a real option. Sure, I’d had more than enough moments of breaking down and crying. But when all the tears were cried, I would go right back to trying again.

In this case, I tried another 1600 just a few weeks later. It was my second meet of the season.

And suddenly it happened. I couldn’t believe it. I made my goal. Four laps, a matter of minutes, and I made it, just like that. Just like that, I ran 30 seconds faster than I did at the meet a few weeks before.

But two years had been leading up to that moment. Two years of long laps on the track and long minutes on the trails, all to end up there. There on a random track surrounded by mountains, medal in hands, heart full of joy and sweet relief.

Those two years were worth it. They taught me that hard work takes you places. It’s overstated, I know, but it’s also true.

And sometimes it doesn’t feel real. Sometimes running around a track feels like just that–running in circles. Running in circles and getting nowhere.

It’s easy to forget that while you’re running in circles, you’re also training your body to put out a stronger performance in the future.

But when that future comes, it’s the reminder that you need.

Spiritual growth + Galatians 5

Hard work takes you places.

While that’s just a part of ordinary life, I see it as a part of spiritual growth as well. Spiritual growth requires persistence. It requires hard work. And the hard work reaps results, as said in Galatians 6:9:

“And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

~ Galatians 6:9, ESV

The previous chapter of Galatians (chapter 5) provides a clearer context for this call to persevere. Here, Paul is addressing the church in Galatia, a church that had lost sight of its responsibility to represent Christ. The context explains the conviction in this question:

“You were running well. Who hindered you from obeying the truth?”

~ Galatians 5:7, ESV

This same question applies to any Christian struggling to continue the race of the Christian life. In some ways, I see it as an inverse of my teammate’s question. Instead of “How do you keep going?” it asks “Why did you stop?“

The NIV translation further establishes the race analogy:

“You were running a good race. Who cut in on you to keep you from obeying the truth?”

~ Galatians 5:7, NIV

Here, the phrase “cut in on you” reminds me of those moments on the track when your rival passes you. When this happens, you have to decide how you respond. Your rivals may try to keep you behind them, but you still choose your own pace.

In the same way, you can still choose to keep your mind on Jesus and what He says, as we are reminded in the next verse:

“This persuasion is not from Him who calls you.”

~ Galatians 5:8, ESV

God calls us to something greater. He persuades us to keep going.

The end of the chapter tells us how to persevere:

“If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit.”

~ Galatians 5:25, ESv

Keeping in step with the Spirit. It’s like having a runner just a few steps ahead of you on the track, keeping you on pace, or on the trails, showing you the right direction.

For guidance, God has given us prayer and His Word. With these, consistency reaps results, just like running every day.

Amid the busyness of junior year, I went through some phases of neglecting prayer and Bible reading. What changed my life during my freshman year became tossed aside by my own ambition, and I felt the emptying results.

When track started, I knew something would have to change. I made my morning Bible-reading into a priority again. I started praying myself to sleep again.

And I began feeling closer to God again, just like that.

Change happened, all by doing a small thing, but by doing that small thing every day. Consistency matters. Think about the work that God has set before you, and do that every day, rain or shine.

At the beginning of last season, I went running in the rain.

A random stranger sarcastically shouted at me, “It’s a great day for jogging!”

When we persist through trials, people are going to question us. But their questioning doesn’t mean that we should stop. Their questioning can’t cut in on us. It can’t keep us from obeying the truth.

On a later day, the rain cleared up and I went for another run. A young couple with their dog (I’d passed them on previous runs) told me that I was doing a good job. “We even saw you running in the rain the other day,” they mentioned. “You’re so dedicated.”

When we persist through trials, people also see commitment. And it’s inspirational.

Every storm has to end at some point. When you get to see the sun shining on those glistening puddles, you’ll be grateful that you chose to keep running in the rain.

Right now, you might be asking, “How do I keep going?”

Or you might have been asked, “Why did you stop?“

Put the questions aside. Leave your burdens behind.

Because this is your reminder to keep running well, my reader.

Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed the article and the photos (from my road trip to Santa Clarita and Santa Barbara for a Bible conference!). If you want to receive notifications about my next post, subscribe to my mailing list here.