Endurance
Ask athletes in almost any sport and they’ll tell you endurance is one of the most crucial components to being successful. These athletes will also tell you it takes time to build endurance. Yet this key ingredient is often overlooked and underrated…until game day. For it is on game day that a deficiency in endurance is revealed. So what exactly is endurance? Perhaps Webster’s can be of service…
En-dur-ance:
1.) permanence; duration
2.) the ability to withstand hardship or adversity; especially: the ability to sustain a prolonged stressful effort or activity
3.) the act or an instance of enduring or suffering
In the spring and summer of 2009, I had the privilege of competing in a number of races in the Trail Runner Magazine Trophy Series. I learned by firsthand experience the need to build endurance for these events, ranging from 3.1 miles to over 22 miles on some of the most rugged terrain in the U.S. and Canada. During one long stretch from early May to mid August, I dealt with a couple different nagging calf strains that just didn’t seem to go away. As a result, I began doing some therapy with my good friend Kevin Lewis, a licensed Athletic Trainer in our area. Over time, we noticed gradual improvement and healing which I was so thankful for.
During this tough period of time, I was still able to run races but not at 100% strength, constantly aware that my calf strains could flare up at any time. Specifically, I noticed a gradual decline in my endurance as a result of my need to rest the calves in between races. As my friend George (a 70 year-old running legend) says, “There are no miracles in running!” In other words, if you haven’t deposited the necessary mileage into the bank, you can’t expect to make a large withdrawal on race day. As a runner, it’s absolutely critical to get mileage under your belt if you want to have any chance of finishing well. Grueling uphill & downhill trail races have a way of revealing weakness in a hurry. I’m painfully aware of this reality.
Endurance is also one of the most underrated ingredients in the spiritual life. In Hebrews 12:1-2 we read, “Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.”
Some of our choices in life serve to ‘injure’ or slow us down when we should be thriving rather than merely surviving. Jesus told us He came to give us life…and life to the FULL. (John 10:10)
My friend George’s wisdom for running holds true in many ways for our spiritual journey. Our life in Christ is more like a marathon rather than a sprint. We build endurance through grueling times of prayer, taking in a steady diet of God’s Word, giving & receiving encouragement from our fellow ‘Christ followers in training’, and recognizing the need to ‘throw off’ the things hindering our progress. By making these necessary ‘mileage deposits’, we can be certain the Lord will multiply our investment and ensure the withdrawal of endurance when our faith is put to the test. James 1:3 states, “…knowing that the testing of your faith produces endurance.”
Finally, as a competitive athlete, it’s important to keep my eyes on the prize. In those times when I was tempted to drop out of a race or the Trophy Series altogether, visualizing myself holding the trophy and getting a write up in Trail Runner served to inject a fresh desire and passion to continue to the end. As a follower of Christ, we are sometimes tempted to give up and drop out of the Race altogether. During these times, it’s absolutely critical to do the following…
Fix our eyes on Jesus…the Grand Prize of all prizes.
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