It's OK to Walk
Part 6: Ten Things I Learned About Spirituality After Running Ten Marathons
I just finished my tenth marathon! Over the next ten days I am posting a short reflection about each one, specifically what that marathon taught me about spirituality. Yes, I made an epic video that includes all ten. But let’s take them one at a time. Ready for marathon #6?
My sixth marathon was The Trail Marathon — north of Detroit, out near Pinckney. Two laps around the same course. Lots of hills. I finished the first lap right around a 2-hour pace and thought, sub-four again, let’s go.
I did not go sub-four.
Early into the second lap, someone cheering on the side yelled, “You’re the first place marathoner!” And I immediately knew that was bad news. It meant I’d gone out too fast. Those hills I’d run once, I had to run again. And my legs were done.
So I walked. A lot. And not the casual walk I’d done in earlier marathons when I needed a breather. This was a my legs are not cooperating and walking itself is a struggle kind of walking.
And here’s what I want to say about that: it’s okay.
We have this compulsion — in running, in faith, in productivity culture, in all of it — to always be going, always pushing, always doing more. I remember in high school and college thinking if I wasn’t doing two devotional times a day, I wasn’t doing enough. There’s this constant pressure to be running at full speed all the time. To out pace every earlier version of myself.
It’s not sustainable. And it’s not honest.
There are seasons when you run and seasons when you walk. There are seasons for intensity and seasons for rest. If your pace never changes, if you never slow down, if you never allow yourself a different gear — that’s actually a sign something’s off.
What pace does this season of your life actually call for?
Marathon number six. Spiritual lesson number six. It’s okay to walk.