What Lies Beyond the Finish Line

Is the goal just making it to the finish line or is what lies beyond what counts?

For my sister, who was well-trained but held back to run with her son, it was an exhilarating, leisure eighteen mile jog through the mountain. For me, who was under-trained, it took everything I had to finish.

This was my first race in three babies. I thought I needed a goal to push myself toward in order to get back in the game. I was all too happy plopping myself on the couch with my cup of coffee in the morning and had little to no motivation to step out of that comfort zone. So, six months ago, I signed up for the Bighorn Mountain Wild and Scenic Trail Run on a whim -- and then rebelled against the training.

My sister, Sarah

However, in the last couple of months, I had to determine if I was serious about following through or if I was going to back out. But, I'm just not one to back out. And I sensed there laid a bigger goal somewhere in this for me -- yes, bigger than finishing a 30k trail run -- a greater accomplishment I was hoping for.

So, I ran my first twenty minutes about seven weeks ago and it took everything I had mentally and physically. In six training runs, over six weeks, I worked up to running eight miles, advancing a mile or two each week. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough for me to go for it and on Saturday I ran nearly eighteen miles -- twelve plus miles through the mountain and down the canyon and five miles on the never-ending road to the finish line.

About half way through, I felt ready to be done. I was soar and tired and, at times, nauseated. But I kept going. I had to in order to finish. If I had stopped to pity my weariness, I knew it would have only gotten worse, so I pushed through it; something I had not been in the practice of doing for some time. 


And I felt that amazing feeling of pushing through the hard to cross the finish line.

But if I'm going to run this race, the truth is, I'd rather be well-trained. I'd rather be trained so that I do not become weary so quickly, so that I am strong when I am climbing the hills and resilient when dodging the stumbling stones; so that my body knows better what to expect and I know how to give it what it needs.

And if I'm going to be motivated in the training, rather than rebelling against it, I have to be willing to see beyond that finish line. I have to see a greater goal and outcome for the bigger picture.

I have to recognize that this race is all a part of a process and that this one challenge will make me stronger if I simply don't give up.


And the better trained I am when it doesn't seem to count, the better able I'll be to overcome the challenges that do seem to count. 

Running through the canyon

Because it all counts, how we live this life. And our perception of the hurdles depends on our training for the prize.

The better trained we are, the smaller the challenges will appear. 

The five mile stretch to the end after the mountain

This morning, I was crazy enough to put on my running shoes and hit the pavement for a short twenty-minute run, partly to work out the soar muscles in my quads, but more so, because I had an itch -- an itch to keep going.

And that, my friends, was the greater goal for me and bigger accomplishment.

Because what I really want, more than crossing that finish line, is what lies beyond it.


Counting with Ann gifts of gratitude:


mountain top beauty
pushing through the hard
a support network to run with
hearing, "there's mommy!" as I entered the park to the finish line
soar quads to remind me of this accomplishment
the desire to keep going
daughter's ballet recital
family who pull together for one or two people
watching my husband run in from his 50k

Sharing with A Holy Experience, Finding Heaven, The Better Mom, The Wellspring,  Graceful, A Pause on the Path,  Works for me Wednesday, Women Living Well, Getting Down with Jesus, and Raising Arrows