Finding Joy in Life’s Race

By Tera Dick

Last year I ran my first marathon. It had been a bucket list item of mine for as long as I can remember, and it definitely challenged me. Not only the race itself, but the training regimen as well. It was long and tiring and painful. Yet at the same time it was strengthening, satisfying and rewarding. Isn’t that how life is sometimes? There are times that can feel hard and exhausting and also moments so satisfying and rewarding that it seems worth all our effort.  As women we expect so much of ourselves! How can we find joy along the way? This marathon experience taught me six ways that we can experience joy along the race of our lives.

Remember Your Why

When you decide to run a marathon, you decide at the same time to sacrifice time and energy and sleep. I knew when I pushed the “register” button online that I would have to make time in the early mornings to get in many of my runs. There were definitely days when my alarm went off at 4 AM and I wondered, “what am I doing?” In those questioning moments I remembered my “why.”

Why was I getting up early? Why was I pushing up this never ending hill? As women there are times when we have to make sacrifices. Maybe we’re sacrificing our education plan to serve a mission, or our free time to serve people in our community. Maybe we’re sacrificing our bodies to carry a baby for nine months. If we can remember our “why” during those times of sacrifice we can find the strength and determination to continue on.

Take Advantage of the Downhills

Oh, the joy of running downhill! You can just relax and gravity does most the work. You can make up lost ground and time from previous up hills and you can store up energy and lung capacity needed for the climbs in the future. Take advantage of those downhills. Speed up, open your stride, breath freely. There are times in our lives when things seem to go pretty smoothly. Take advantage of these times. Try to accomplish a goal you’ve wanted to work on, take up a new hobby, spend more time learning. Don’t get caught up in trying to do it all, but just choose one extra thing to spend time on. This will help you for #3.

Slow Down on the Up Hills

When I ran up hill, I would try to push hard and keep up my momentum, but ultimately my speed would decrease and my lungs would burn and my legs would feel more and more fatigued. But I soon realized that if I just kept moving forward, one foot in front of the other, eventually I would get to the top of that hill. And it was okay if it took me a little longer to get there. When the pressures or challenges of life seem to pile up and it feels as if we’re running uphill for miles on end, it’s okay to slow down a little bit. It’s okay to take things off our plate or say “no” or take an extra 3 months to paint the downstairs bathroom. There are times and seasons, up hills and down hills. It doesn’t mean that we’re slowing down forever, just for this season, just for this hill.

Taking Counsel From Others

When I went to pick up my marathon packet, one of the race coordinators stopped to chat with me for a while. When I told him it was my first marathon, he smiled a big grin. “Oh, the first one is so fun.” He gave me advice about muscle recovery afterwards (who knew walking downstairs backwards would be so helpful) and talked with me about the course.  As he began to walk away he said, “Just have fun.”

I met a woman on the bus who talked to me about her many other marathon runs and how she trained for them. I ran into a couple of runners at the store who suggested the best flavored gummies to bring along. Listening to these people didn’t diminish the work I had done to get to this point. These were people who had run marathons before, some of them had even run this very course. They had more experience and more knowledge that I did. Not all of their suggestions would work for me, but their intentions were good and much of their advice helped.

Sometimes it feels like we have to be perfect wives and perfect students and perfect in our church callings and perfect mothers and perfect ministering sisters and perfect friends. Most of the time we don’t even have the experience or knowledge to be perfect in these categories but we feel like if someone gives us counsel or advice then they know we are lacking. It’s okay to not be perfect. It’s okay for someone to know we’re lacking. Their experience may be able to help us along our path, and one day we’ll be experienced enough to help someone else along theirs.

Run Your Own Race

When we were finally lining up at the starting line, I strategically placed myself about 2/3 of the way back. I knew full well I wasn’t going to be breaking any records or going out at the pace of many of these runners. But I wasn’t there to run their race. I was there to run mine. Some of these runners had qualifying times to try and make, some had personal times to beat. My goal? To finish the race.

All along the course runners would wave and cheer and give each other encouraging comments, even as we passed each other or got passed by someone else. And at the end as we soaked our feet in ice water and chatted, we were happy for each other. We all have different strengths. We have different weaknesses. We have different experiences. This race we are running is our own. It’s not a competition with each other, it’s a competition with ourselves. Are we running a little better than before? Are we trying to reach our personal goals?

Notice the Beauty

When running, it can be easy to focus those 20 feet in front of you and keep your eyes locked in that spot. I remember one early run I was expecting to experience the intense darkness on previous morning runs, but as I walked out my front door, the sky was bright and my path was lit. I looked up and noticed the biggest, brightest moon I had ever seen. It was breathtaking! I started to pay more attention to the beauty around me: starry skies, tall grasses, towering mountains, red and orange sunsets. And who would have guessed that a “finish line” sign could be so beautiful it would bring me to tears. There is beauty and wonder all around us, even in the hard and challenging times. There are things to notice and things to be grateful for. Beauty in nature, beauty in relationships, beauty in progress, beauty in accomplishment, beauty in strangers, beauty in God’s love.

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