I'm going all out in my training for my marathon next May, so I want to make sure I enter my training in good shape. As a result, I've decided to throw some speed workouts into my regular running regiment. And what better speed workout than running hills?
I have to be honest here...I haven't "run hills" since my 2000 cross country high school season. The reason: I have never really been a fan. Having asthma doesn't help, but honestly, I'm just lazy. But, I have decided to push myself and train properly. So, I can't skip running hills.
I did my first hills workout a couple of weeks ago. Within 3/10 of a mile from my house is a 1/4 mile hill with a pretty good grade. For those of you who might not be familiar with hill workouts for runners, a 1/4 mile stretch is ideal. Running hills is pretty much what it sounds like...you run up the hill at a good pace and then jog back down. You can repeat this as often as you like. For my first one in 10 1/2 years, I opted to run the hill 3-5 times. And even though I wanted to quit after 3, I pushed through and completed the 5.
So, when I went out for my second workout last week, I was feeling pretty confident. I decided to just do the 5 again. It didn't take me very long to realize that 5 wasn't going to happen on that particular day, however. I had been doing intense workouts all week and my body was getting mad at me. I was afraid that overdoing it might be unsafe for me and could lead to over-exhaustion or injury. So, on my second trip up the hill, I decided to cap this one at 3 and run a little extra normal running after to complete my workout for the day.
Halfway up the hill the third time, I wanted to start walking. "My lungs will feel much better is I walk," I thought. There was probably some good logical truth in that thought. But thankfully the opposing thought spoke up, "You know, what you do on July 14 will impact what you will do on May 27th next year." That thought really stood out to me. After pushing through the remainder of that final hill, I contemplated that thought further. The more I chewed on the thought, the more it made sense.
Running is full of teaching moments for me. And the cool thing is that it's not always just about running. It's usually applicable to life as well. This was one of those moments for me. I mean, when expanded a little, this thought really does apply to life in general. Let's take a closer look and let me know if this makes sense to you too.
The decisions that we make today affect the decisions we will make tomorrow. This can be either good or bad. For example, if I decide to cheat on a test today, I'm more likely to cheat on my next test as well. This is what I like to call the law of depravity. The more we open ourselves up to doing something, the more we're likely to do it without even thinking about it. On the opposite side of that is this example: if I choose to live with integrity today, I'll be more likely to live with integrity tomorrow.
As I was thinking about this thought, the analogy of a tree came to mind. All big, strong trees started as tiny little seeds. If you look at a seed, it may seem quite inconsequential, but it's not. In the same way, one decision made today could seem completely inconsequential to you, but the reality is that it might turn into a big, strong tree someday. This is why every decision in our life matters, whether with regards to our jobs, school, families, faith, etc. It may seem like a simple little choice, but each choice also represents a direction that your heading.
We will all inevitably make bad choices, but even that lends to another choice: how we respond. We can also thank God for his grace that He offers us when we make choices we shouldn't. But we still have to choose to change.
I want to challenge you to take a little extra effort and time as you make your choices today and see if it doesn't benefit you more in the long run (no pun intended).
I can promise you this...I was really happy with myself for making the decision that I did the other day to keep running up that hill. That decision didn't just mean that I got a better workout on July 14th, it built character toward my marathon on May 27th as well!
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