Breathing and Thinking :: Thinking and Breathing
I ran my first "long run" a few days ago. I had just driven 5 hours back from St. Louis, had two coffees and half of a bagel (I have a toddler who insists on eating half of every breakfast I make for myself). I decided to take it easy to avoid the inevitable headache from the clear lack of water and food I had consumed that morning.
Less than two minutes in, I acquired an incredible stitch in my side. I needed to focus on something other than my aching right side and my overwhelming urge to quit a mere 0.2 miles in.
My mind immediately flashed back to when I was younger, running with my mother for the first time. She would tell me to concentrate on my breathing. One breath in for two steps. One breath out for the next two steps.
In, in, out, out.
This doesn't quite make my side stitch disappear, but it does take my mind off of it and allow me to think about other things. I thought about how the previous night I had attended the wedding of one of my high school friends. I thought about how different I was back then. I thought about how poorly I treated people back then. I wasn't kind with my words or actions. I wasn't careful to honor and bless or love and cherish those around me. I was rude, careless, arrogant even.
I then spent quite a bit of time asking the Lord for forgiveness and thanking him for the grace and mercy he shows me.
These moments remind me that this half marathon, and all the time spent training for it, the hours alone, it is all so much more than just running. So much more than just putting one foot in front of another.
In, in, out, out.
Every step a step of obedience.
Less than two minutes in, I acquired an incredible stitch in my side. I needed to focus on something other than my aching right side and my overwhelming urge to quit a mere 0.2 miles in.
My mind immediately flashed back to when I was younger, running with my mother for the first time. She would tell me to concentrate on my breathing. One breath in for two steps. One breath out for the next two steps.
In, in, out, out.
This doesn't quite make my side stitch disappear, but it does take my mind off of it and allow me to think about other things. I thought about how the previous night I had attended the wedding of one of my high school friends. I thought about how different I was back then. I thought about how poorly I treated people back then. I wasn't kind with my words or actions. I wasn't careful to honor and bless or love and cherish those around me. I was rude, careless, arrogant even.
I then spent quite a bit of time asking the Lord for forgiveness and thanking him for the grace and mercy he shows me.
These moments remind me that this half marathon, and all the time spent training for it, the hours alone, it is all so much more than just running. So much more than just putting one foot in front of another.
In, in, out, out.
Every step a step of obedience.
Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. But I discipline my body and keep it under control. For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it.
- 1 Corinthians 9:25-27, Hebrews 9:11 -
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