How To Run Well...Continued from page 3

The story is told of a high school freshman runner who was elevated to the varsity track team when two all-conference senior runners had to be scratched from an important late season meet due to injuries. The coach expected nothing from the untested freshman, asking only that he give it his best in the 3200 meter run. The gun sounded and the field was off in a flash. The lead runners maintained a strong and steady pace through the first 400, 800, 1200 meters.

By the halfway point at 1600 meters, the field had spread considerably. But none was so far behind as that lone freshman. The leaders lapped him while he had over 1200 meters to go, then all the other runners lapped him and finished before he reached his final 400 meters. Still the freshman runner, clearly exhausted but ever determined, struggled on. When he finally trudged across the finish line, he fell to his knees dehydrated and gasping for breath. One track official came to give aid and asked, "Son, when you fell so far behind, why didn't you just quit?"

The boy replied, "Mister, our two best runners got hurt. Coach asked me to run. I ran. Coach asked me to give it my best. I gave it my best. Coach didn't ask me to quit." That's running the race with perseverance!

Proper Goals

Before focusing on the "how-to" matters of running, Bill Rodgers encourages beginning runners to consider the "why" and "what" issues. Why do you want to run? What do you hope to accomplish? These are goal-oriented questions. As Rodgers notes, "There are infinite reasons to start running, but you'll increase your chances of sticking with it if, at the outset, you can determine what your short-term and long-term goals are."6

At this point you may be thinking, "Running goals? That's easy for Bill Rodgers to talk about. As for me, right now, I doubt that I could run around the block without getting winded." That may be true. But did you know that before Bill Rodgers resumed his running career in the early 1970's, after not running for a few years following college, Rodgers also struggled? He had become a smoker and his initial goals during those first weeks of winded, short distance effort involved walking, jogging, walking, jogging and smoking fewer cigarettes. However with good preparation and proper goals, with exceptional discipline and expert coaching, in April 1975 Bill Rodgers won the prestigious Boston Marathon.

Few of us will train to attain the stringent qualifying standards required of those who run this world-renown 26.2 mile race. However, each of us is given the privilege and opportunity to run the race of faith every day. Each of us will be more apt to progress in our Christian faith and service if we are striving to reach particular goals, than if we are running aimlessly. Paul referred to his own running by "forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus" (Phil. 3:13b-14).