Run Your Race
one step at a time
Hi friend. Following the example of my future son-in-law, I made a list of goals for 2025 and one of them was to get back into running. I ran my first adult step at age 41 in the wake of my mother’s death, starting with the Couch to 5K program and building up to a half marathon. I found I loved running, and no one was more surprised than me! Recently, I’ve dealt with a pervasive hip injury but gave myself the goal of completing a 5K to get back in the swing of training. This week I’ll be running that race, so I thought I’d share an excerpt from an episode of Raised Catholic (episode 46 – Run Your Race)1 which contains some metaphors from running that might be a real help to us as we walk or run out our spiritual lives. I pray it’s a blessing to you.
From Raised Catholic, episode 46:
“… Running gave me a place to grieve my Mom, to work out the pain of losses that I could not communicate with anyone, and to meet goals that surprised even myself. It is not an overstatement to say that running transformed my life. And running also gave me a place to meet with God, in a very real and even mystical way, and today we will be talking about running as a metaphor for the living out of our faith lives, and whether you run – like with actual sneakers, or not, I do hope that this episode will give you encouragement for living out your beautiful life with intention, because even though the world is crazy and there’s so much to be done, and it’s so easy to be overwhelmed and distracted, running your race in a spiritual sense, well, you could say that’s the whole reason that we’re here.
There are many references to running in the Bible, but in his writings, the apostle Paul most commonly used running as a metaphor for the spiritual life. In the first letter to the Corinthians, he entreats them, not to walk or meander or jog through life, but to run hard. Paul says,
“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like someone running aimlessly; I do not fight like a boxer beating the air.”
And in his letter to the Hebrews, he tells them not to be distracted and to keep going. Here, Paul writes:
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us.”
Well, friend, there’s a lot there. First off, there is a race marked out for us, individually. I really believe that. Each of us has unique challenges and gifts which make our race a solitary pursuit that is ours alone. You may have companions or even competitors on your course but, in the end, one can only run her own race. As in real life running, there is coaching and advice that’s available, thank goodness. We can consult books and experts, but your training, your time, your intention, and preparation; these are all interior and self-oriented decisions and actions. It’s up to you how you will run in your body, and your results are your own – not your priest or your spouse or your sweet grandmother who ran her own race of faith years ago. You.
Does that seem overwhelming today, friend? Gosh, I hope not. When running a long race like life, speed is not the goal. Rather, it’s intentionality and time that leads to endurance that results, eventually, in efficiency and speed. As a runner, the decision to put on your sneakers and run is the hardest of the choices you’ll make. And the decision to authentically engage in relationship with God is the same. It starts with a choice. When we make the choice to orient ourselves toward Him, it’s the biggest step we can make, and He will help us to do the rest, I promise. I think of the Prodigal Son story here – this kid who was a carouser and had misspent everything his father had given him had made a kind of defeated decision to go home just so that he could eat something. And when he was a long way off, his father, who had been scanning the horizon for his son, started running toward him, which was an extraordinarily counter-cultural thing for a father of that time to do, by the way. It would have been thought utterly undignified and even degrading for a father to move toward a child in that way. But He did run. He celebrated his son’s return with a ring and a party. And in the race of faith, this is a great image for us to keep in mind. Our race of faith starts with a turn toward God, and God runs toward us.
When I had finished my first 10K, a friend suggested I add five minutes to my long run each week and she said that before long I’d be running a half marathon. Well, I thought she was crazy, but she was right. Keeping my pace slow on those long runs enabled my body to gain mileage and before long, my pace naturally increased on its own. In the spiritual life, training can feel similarly clumsy, but putting in the time with God consistently will reap benefits. Maybe it will look like a return to prayer, meditation, or study, or the choice to go on retreat. What once feels unfamiliar, scary, or like effort and drudgery and even frustration in a prayer practice can come to feel as natural as breathing, as putting one foot in front of the other. When we decide to run our life of faith, it is amazing how far we can go.”
Raised Catholic Rewind:
“Long Run”, an essay written by me in 2017
“First Spring Run”, an essay written by me in 2014
Raised Catholic episode 85: Contemplative Summer Week Seven - Contemplating the Body - transcript with link to episode
“Relay”, an essay written by me in 2021
What I’m recommending/reading/watching:
Practice: ask the Holy Spirit to pick your playlist on a walk or a run - let your ‘liked songs’ run on Spotify and hear God speaking to you through them.
Podcast: Jesuitical: A Podcast for Saints and Sinners from America Media
Podcast: Faith Adjacent: Conversations verging on sacrilege.
Prayer:
Oh God as the world continues to spin wildly, help us to know that our task is one step at a time. Jesus, help us to run this life of faith well. For us, our dear ones, and everyone in the most need we pray in your name and wrapped in the mantle of our Mother Mary, amen.