I am not a runner. I am not a morning person. Despite these facts, Sunday 9 October 7:30am finds me at the start of 10km Gun Run.  Honestly, I’m slightly terrified.

Rationally, I will probably finish well within the maximum time & not collapse in a heap over the finish line.  Emotionally, I have knots in my stomach & lies in my head. They say ‘I’m not the athletic type; too fat & unfit.  Why am I setting myself up for failure, I’ll never make it.  Well, I’ll show them!  I may well be least fit person I know, but I have worked hard towards this goal & am learning perseverance every time I lace up my takkies & head out the door.

I ask myself why on earth I am doing this?  Truth is; so I know I can.  Not that I can run 10kms, that is neither here nor there to me (I really am not that athletic).  It’s to embrace the lessons of committing to something beyond myself, & seeing it through.  As people I do think we want to grow, to learn & improve.  I for one do not have a history of proactively seeking these things out, but I’m working on that.  I am learning to love healthy disciplines, realising that they can be the friend & servant of the things I dream of, not the stifling enemy.

I’m doing this race to know that I know that hard work pays off, & that I am more capable than I realise.  To remember that there is potential in me to do things I’d never dreamed I could… and then to keep chasing those things.  I’ll end with a quote that constantly challenges and encourages me.  It calls me to keep running, & proactively pursue growth & change.

“Physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.” (1 Timothy 4:8, The Bible.)