In a normal week, I squeeze in three to four early morning workouts featuring a lot of weight lifting and CrossFit-style activities. Since breaking my finger, those aren’t working out so well. So I hit up my old standby… running.
My running career began when I was in middle school, when I trained for my first 5K’s. Later, I ran cross country in high school. Over time, I got pretty quick. I broke below the 20 minute mark in 5k(3.1 mile)races. In my favorite race of all time, a predominantly uphill run, I placed first overall on my team. I even beat out ALL the boys. It was the fastest I’ve ever finished a race. I’m stupid stubborn about running uphills.
Fast forward more than a few years, and running is not so much fun. My everything hurts, especially in the chilly mornings. Our new home measures the exact length of a 5k to the local YMCA and back though, which is too coincidental not to take advantage of, so I had to try it.
It’s literally the hilliest run–up and down, up and down–but I’ve made it multiple times now and surprised myself by completing it in under 26 minutes.
I haven’t trained for running, I’m relying on my past experiences and overall fitness to do this. While thinking about it the other day, I realized that the scripture from Proverbs 22:6 “Train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it,” holds true!
My mom was my running coach. She would lovingly encourage me to keep putting one foot in front of the other. I still hear her voice as I climb every hill, “Just don’t stop, baby girl. Keep climbing. You’ve got this.”
As a runner herself, I remember how desperately I wanted to out pace her and how hard she made it for me to do so! My mom is taller than me, but when I was in middle and highschool I was 5’4” to her 5’10”(all legs!). The first time I ever beat my mom was a strictly uphill race called “King of the Hill.” I’ll never forget her face at the finish line; pure exhaustion, mixed with surprise and pride. She was proud, but also shocked that I’d done it! But I know how I won; she didn’t have a sweet voice in her head telling her to keep going like I did(and she didn’t have a weird obsession with running UPHILL). Her discipline was the reason I’d won.
When we are disciplined in love to push toward success, it never leaves us. My parents expected me to succeed. They prioritized hard work, consistent discipline, and taught me from a young age to be adaptable because life throws curveballs. They gave everything for my sisters and I to have opportunities for success. That training and sacrifice makes me put one foot in front of the other every. Single. Day.
Today I’m praying for all the parents out there. What you do matters. How you encourage your kids toward success with love and discipline will stick with them. It’s a promise I’ve lived and I’m trusting in for my own little running buddies. “Just don’t stop. Keep climbing. You got this.”