Day 74 – 9 Miles and Muscle Trauma

I hit a wall at 6 miles, just 12 days ago, and could not go further.  So I waited, staying with the 6 miles, until several days later, I was able to run seven. Then, about a week later,  I ran 8 – it was a battle mostly of the mind.  How true that is in our spiritual lives as well – “Be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind,” Scripture tells us.  But it was also a matter of patiently listening to and preparing my body through committed regular exercise and drinking more water, as well as changing the way I eat (I’m still working on that one!)  Having made 8 miles last Saturday, and having had the best homemade chicken pot pie on the planet the night before ( made by Eileen Sheppard, a member of my congregation – she also makes the best Filipino egg rolls) and therefore loaded with wonderful carbohydrates, this past Thursday I decided to go for 9 and I did it!  Talk about exhilaration - wow!  I had plenty of energy for the run – thank you pot pie!- but around mile 8 my legs, particularly my right leg, began to seriously fatigue.  I was determined to make 9 despite the pain in my right knee and thigh – it wasn’t too bad – so I pushed through.  It took me two hours and I was running behind schedule,  so I did not walk it off as long as I should have.  Instead, I walked around for a minute or two, hopped in the car, and started my day of sitting in front of a computer, writing and preparing Sunday’s worship bulletin.  By evening, I was in pain and my right leg was so stiff I could hardly move it.  I researched what to do on-line and talked to my runner husband and the answer was ice and rest and stretching.  Yesterday, I wanted to run (that in itself is no small miracle – remember – I started this whole thing hating running!) but my body and the experts all said no – rest, ice, stretch; rest, ice, stretch.  I was impatient and discouraged, but I listened.   Today I was feeling a little better – not so much pain but still very stiff. So, I ventured out slowly – very slowly – walking first, followed by slowly jogging a mile, then walking when my shins started to join the chorus of stiffness, and then listening until I began to feel muscles loosen enough to jog slowly again. By four miles most of the pain and stiffness had subsided and my impulse was to keep going, but my growing body wisdom said no – give you body time to recover; allow it to heal and ease back into distance.  So I did – I stopped after four miles. Today the stiffness is much reduced and I am better – still a little stiff, but much better.  I came back to the house and tried a trick my soccer playing son taught me – I immersed myself in a bathtub filled with ice and water – burr! But wow did it help my leg muscles.  

I am learning that just as we have to listen deeply to our bodies in learning to run, so it is in our spiritual life and our work of accompanying marginalized communities and persons in their journey into hope – we have to learn to listen deeply to the movement of God’s Spirit and to the community we seek to accompany.  When we try to force our own agenda and timetable on that life and work, we often cause injury.  God’s ways our not our ways and sometimes the movement of God does not proceed at the rate or pace we want. We have to learn to be patient.  We also have to allow ourselves and others time to heal and not try to force a schedule on them or ourselves that does not honor the journey that has preceded our entry into the work and allow that journey to speak to us about how to be present with those who have suffered marginalization and trauma in a context that brings its own wisdom and insight.  Our task is to learn to listen deeply and then to honor what that listening tells us, despite the pressure from our performance driven culture, that infects even the church, to show results.  The result is the journey itself – a journey into relationship with the God WHO IS, with others, and with our own selves.  Oh, that we would learn to honor and celebrate that journey with its deep wisdom and rich grace, rather than numbers that can be quantified and displayed on a chart.  In this run toward hope, what is important is my relationship with running, my body, those for whom I run, and the God who runs with me – be it nine miles or two.  It is in the end, all about a relationship.  I invite you to run with me toward hope as we learn to  build relationships that honor one another and the God who made us all and is ever-present to us –  if only we would learn to listen for the breath of the Spirit within us and the world.

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