Miles To Go

Lift up your eyes and don’t stand still
People of the world
And people of the will
Move on and on and on down this road.

Don’t give up and don’t give in
Someday we'll be strong again
But there’s still miles to go.

- Dave Barnes

8 kilometers. 4.96 miles. 40 minutes, 41 seconds of my life. Less than one-fifth of a marathon.

What happened last Monday? I don't usually run any farther past the 3.1 mile barrier than I have to to reach my front door or the car... but the evening of 7/16 was different. Something pushed me past my limits. A divine wind? Too much energy? An unexpected shot of adrenaline? Whatever it was, I felt compelled to go an extra 3K after I had completed my usual 5K. Afterwards, I felt drained... but I felt like I had accomplished something. I felt good about myself. And then my put-it-all-in-perspective brain kicked in: "You'd have to go FIVE TIMES as far - and then some - to finish a marathon."

I used to have a simple goal: to run a marathon. That was it. No formal training regimen. No timeline. No waypoints. Nothing to hold myself to. Monday night, my mind turned on a dime... from the pride and sense of accomplishment at having run 60% farther than my usual distance to the realizations that a) I had only run 18.93% of a marathon, and b) a goal can't really be a goal until there's a plan and some action taken towards accomplishing it. My dad has said the same thing about prayer: What is a prayer, really, if there isn't any action behind it? Can your friend be cured of cancer if you pray for it to happen, but don't encourage her to see an oncologist? Maybe. If you pray every day for your college loans to be paid off, will 25,000 bucks eventually fall in your lap? Might happen... although a tight budget or a money management class could be more sensible answers to the same prayer. And the lost teenager who just keeps making bad decisions? We can all pray for him, but who's taking him under their wing, getting him some help, showing him the right choice?

So... without any formal training, I might be able to finish a marathon tomorrow. But I think I'm going to start by setting a deadline, finding a training regimen, and taking the actions necessary to give myself the best chance at accomplishing the goal. I may have to finish a few 5Ks, 10Ks, and half-marathons before I'm ready to run those 26.2 miles, but eventually I'll get there. And if I have to stop along the way and pray for the strength to achieve the goal, I'll know that my prayers and my actions are one and the same.