6 days and counting until the start of the 2007 Marine Corps Marathon. I made plans to sign up for this race over a year ago when I first decided that I wanted to run one of the big marathons and that I wanted to make my wife's dream of visiting DC come true. The MCM opened registration on May 9. At that point I was just days away from completing my second marathon. I had to be among the first who completed the online registration for the 2007 MCM.
So it's been another season of getting ready for a marathon. I have logged over 1,000 miles so far this year (which looks like a lot, but it averages out to 25 miles per week--light by most marathon training standards). I have trained in such a way as to be able to use the same pair of shoes for the MCM that I used in May for the CellCom Green Bay Marathon.
This week I will obsess over every little detail (I am embarrassed to admit that I clipped my toenails for the last pre-race time 4 days ago, I have been refusing to play basketball with a bunch of high school kids because of injury risk, and I am sure that my carry-on will be full of running gear that will be packed "just in case"). Yes, I have checked www.weather.gov's forecast for the DC area (they say 50 and clear at the race starting line). The race doesn't have CliffShot's until mile 13, so (of course) I'll have to bring several of my own to get me through mile 13.
And now, the goal. My marathon PR is 3:34:48. I hope to run the MCM in 3:30. I really don't care if I go slower, though.
I will be starting at the Pentagon--the world headquarters of the greatest military in the world. If the Capitol is the US's "brain" (insert joke here), the Pentagon is its heart. I will run past the neat white dominoes of Arlington Cemetery and the 250,000 men and women buried there. You name the monument, I'm running past it--including a finish at Iwo Jima, the Marine Corps monument. My real goal: to soak all these monuments in, reflecting on God's grace to this country with every step. I am brought near tears just reflecting on this now (I will also run past a reflecting pool . . .).
I can't wait to experience each of those monuments in greater detail with my amazing wife and children (and my wife's amazing parents--my father-in-law is running the MCM with me!). This little trip has become less about the marathon and more about sharing life as a family and being together. Our hearts are tied together, and I can't wait to learn more about God's grace with each step we take together.
In six days the marathon will be history. Just another website with my name and splits on it. The significance of it will be simply how it fits into the story of God's grace in my life. I hate to be so cliche, but as running becomes history, it has significance only as it aids me in telling "His story" with mine. Nothing else.
So what have I learned? That my goal has absolutely nothing to do with running. I want to be a Christ-follower in a way that leads my wife and kids to Him. I want to be healthy as long as possible. For me to live is Christ, to die is gain. For me to go on living means ministry to the people around me as I follow Christ.
I'd love to keep experiencing marathons around the country (world?) as a part of my family vacations. The truth is, I already feel incredibly selfish in thinking this way.
Is there another marathon in my future? I hope so. I'm not going to say "next year I'll go to this city or that" and run their marathon. But I will say, if it is the Lord's will I will do such and such.
But what if I could take my next vacation to a place that is all about my wife's dreams? Now that is a goal to shoot for!
1 comment:
I think I was in tears every day about something when we visited DC, so be ready. You'll visit the WWII memorial, and see the old men with their wives and adult children and grandchildren, standing silently in front of all the stars that represent casualties...or stand in utter silence and watch the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknowns and pass a funeral procession for a soldier from Iraq on your way out...or stand in the old House chamber at the Capitol and think about President Lincoln addressing the Congress during the Civil War...or stand in the chamber at the Supreme Court and both rejoice at the times justice has been served and grieve at the times it has been blind, like Roe v. Wade...or stand in front of George Washington's tomb at Mt. Vernon and marvel at the sacrificial, servant leadership that set the example for others who would come after him. So be ready, and bring kleenex, and praise God for his blessings on our nation, and have a wonderful time.
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