Evendays

Sherri from TN knows Wife loves to run. Two running magazines were included in a recent care package, one on ultra-extremist-crazed marathoners and the other for avid runners.

Little known running fact: Some runners have to be told to stay in bed till at least 5 am. It’s not healthy for you to start a run at 4 am after just a few hours’ sleep.

There is normally nothing for me in these magazines. But then I turned to the “Finishing Kick”, the last column in Running Times (November 2006), where Rachel Toor penned a sweet article: Your pace or mine? Leading others to their goals can be better than reaching your own.

Toor’s a member of the Clif Bar Pace Team. She purposely runs marathons slower than she’s able, carrying a wooden dowel with a balloon indicating her projected finishing time. Marathoners can then set their pace to one of the pace runners (3:10 to 5:30) and have a more enjoyable marathon experience (if it’s possible to use “enjoy” and “marathon” in the same sentence).

She writes of the fun she’s had helping runners meet their goals. She tells of the kisses, hugs, even communion between those who cross the line together. And she always waits at the finish line for those who fall behind, congratulating them when they finally finish the race.

Have you noticed that people who live significant lives often imitate Rachel Toor? They will set a pace, not a torrid one, but just right so that they can accompany others and help them achieve their goals. They’ve found the balance between personal drive and real, honest, humble service.

Running 26 miles in less than 4 hours is not my idea of fun. But staying with others and enduring with them until the finish brings more joy and is, according to Toor, more compelling than a Personal Record or a Shiny Metal Object.

If in our own service we do not make the podium, but we accompany others to the finish line… I think God sees that as significant.