Revelation in Running
I have experienced God in a Protestant Church setting and often it has been profound. However there is something about running for over 8 hours which strips the soul bare and encourages communication with the Almighty.
Episode 1
My first attempt at running over 100K was at a 12hour track race in Bunbury. Then the only organised opportunity to run such a distance in WA. Ten days earlier I was out on a regular short training run when I rolled my ankle. As I walked home lamenting the poor timing, God spoke “ You will run 107K, Nathan (my brother-in-law) will run 96K”. This came to fruition on race day.
Episode2
Running around a track is great to test yourself but my heart lay on bush trails. My first 100K trail run was from Mundaring to Jarrahdale, largely unsupported and carrying a pack. Having basically exhausted myself the previous day umpiring footy I arrived atop of the first hill at 18K “spent”. After a conversation with God around 60K where he encouraged me to continue, I enjoyed finishing in the dark after 14 hours.
Episode 3
Since my childhood marvelling over the 1000K Sydney to Melbourne footrace I had longed to run great distances. In 2005 I read about 100 mile trail races. I dreamt for 2 years, then I began. At 70K 100 miles seemed a long way off. My wife ran out to meet me and after praying for me I was transformed. The rest of the race was a joy, and I won.
Episode 4
The Mandurah Relay for Life (R4L) was a training run for a cause (Cancer Council) where my “team” consisted of 1 runner. I started from scratch walking every 7th lap not so much for the Godliness of the number but because I was counting laps on a cricket counter and there are 6 balls in an over. After a long while in the hot sun I decided I would be content with 100K and wouldn’t complete the 24 hours.
After many hours I became somewhat of a spectacle. “Who’s the 1 man team running the whole way?” One teenage girl decided she would run a lap with me. She had never run more than 5K before but over the course of 2hours we ran over 12K together, and shared life and faith.
Episode 5
Narrogin Relay for Life was special because after some trying times I was looking forward to a more hopeful future. I also put on my 1 man spectacle and met some great people whilst walking through the early hours of the morning. I was grateful that after being injured and unable to run all week I managed 118K of running and walking.
Episode 6
Mundaring to Jarrahdale Round 2.
I’ve read and re-read my training diary to see why this run went so well and there are reasons both physical and mental why I ran 3 and a half hours faster than the previous year. However the memory that reminds me there was “something else” going on is from the 22K mark. I felt the beginnings of fatigue in my legs and thought “ This is going to be a long day” but almost instantly it melted away and the race was almost effortless. (Well relatively) I later learnt one of my students had prayed for me throughout race day.
Episode 7
By June this year I had improved enough to be targeting a 100K time of 9hours 15 minutes. However it wasn’t my day and I felt tired and unmotivated from early on. I wanted to pull out or at least walk but God kept telling me “Don’t quit” and I was grateful when I finally finished my 100K from Mundaring Weir to Northam under 10 hours for the first time.
Conclusion
This like the bible is a far from all inclusive “highlights package” of God’s interaction with man (one man). There has been other God moments in my life but as a wise philosopher once said “He who suffers remembers”.
Episode 1
My first attempt at running over 100K was at a 12hour track race in Bunbury. Then the only organised opportunity to run such a distance in WA. Ten days earlier I was out on a regular short training run when I rolled my ankle. As I walked home lamenting the poor timing, God spoke “ You will run 107K, Nathan (my brother-in-law) will run 96K”. This came to fruition on race day.
Episode2
Running around a track is great to test yourself but my heart lay on bush trails. My first 100K trail run was from Mundaring to Jarrahdale, largely unsupported and carrying a pack. Having basically exhausted myself the previous day umpiring footy I arrived atop of the first hill at 18K “spent”. After a conversation with God around 60K where he encouraged me to continue, I enjoyed finishing in the dark after 14 hours.
Episode 3
Since my childhood marvelling over the 1000K Sydney to Melbourne footrace I had longed to run great distances. In 2005 I read about 100 mile trail races. I dreamt for 2 years, then I began. At 70K 100 miles seemed a long way off. My wife ran out to meet me and after praying for me I was transformed. The rest of the race was a joy, and I won.
Episode 4
The Mandurah Relay for Life (R4L) was a training run for a cause (Cancer Council) where my “team” consisted of 1 runner. I started from scratch walking every 7th lap not so much for the Godliness of the number but because I was counting laps on a cricket counter and there are 6 balls in an over. After a long while in the hot sun I decided I would be content with 100K and wouldn’t complete the 24 hours.
After many hours I became somewhat of a spectacle. “Who’s the 1 man team running the whole way?” One teenage girl decided she would run a lap with me. She had never run more than 5K before but over the course of 2hours we ran over 12K together, and shared life and faith.
Episode 5
Narrogin Relay for Life was special because after some trying times I was looking forward to a more hopeful future. I also put on my 1 man spectacle and met some great people whilst walking through the early hours of the morning. I was grateful that after being injured and unable to run all week I managed 118K of running and walking.
Episode 6
Mundaring to Jarrahdale Round 2.
I’ve read and re-read my training diary to see why this run went so well and there are reasons both physical and mental why I ran 3 and a half hours faster than the previous year. However the memory that reminds me there was “something else” going on is from the 22K mark. I felt the beginnings of fatigue in my legs and thought “ This is going to be a long day” but almost instantly it melted away and the race was almost effortless. (Well relatively) I later learnt one of my students had prayed for me throughout race day.
Episode 7
By June this year I had improved enough to be targeting a 100K time of 9hours 15 minutes. However it wasn’t my day and I felt tired and unmotivated from early on. I wanted to pull out or at least walk but God kept telling me “Don’t quit” and I was grateful when I finally finished my 100K from Mundaring Weir to Northam under 10 hours for the first time.
Conclusion
This like the bible is a far from all inclusive “highlights package” of God’s interaction with man (one man). There has been other God moments in my life but as a wise philosopher once said “He who suffers remembers”.
posted by dave at 5:29 PM
1 Comments:
thanks for sharing those episodes...and also some of your motivations for ultra running...both myself and Cool runner mjail especially would say we saw many hints of the mysterious fingers of God encouraging us in the City to Surf Marathon, especially for mjail...
Every now and then I see things happen in all parts of my life which make me want to thank God for being involved in all aspects of my life when I am willing to obey and even when I disobey the Master Creator. Its wonderful and amazing that God cares about each person created in His image, and all of creation. Running can certainly be one of those areas of life where the extremes of endeavour often show us the interface of the spiritual world which is often hidden from us, but is always there no matter where or what we are doing. Thanks God!
thats my thoughts anyway...
well done on the 100k efforts, and the many runs you have done in recent years,maybe also surfing, music could be similiar in some ways...
I particularly thought your 2nd in the Kep "100km" was very good...
Post a Comment
<< Home