Having discovered running and achieved a fairly good
result in Taunton 10K it wasn’t too long before the idea of running a marathon
arose and back in 2011 I began the training.
All went well for some time and I was building up both my distance and
my pace until one day when extreme pain in my foot brought my training to a
sudden halt. It wasn’t until the end of
last year that I began to run again. I
took it very gently to start with just doing the local Parkrun on Saturdays (an
informal 5K race) and a little bit of practice in the week. Then I began to build up the miles and began
to dare to think about a marathon again.
That was until a ten mile run that finished with the dreaded foot pain
returning.
I took a week off running and visited a man called Rob
who analyses people’s running technique and helps them run efficiently and also
in such a way as to minimise injury risk. A physical examination and some video analysis
soon revealed that I have really bad running technique! I have poor posture and massively overstride
and heel strike putting huge stress on my poor feet. Looking at the evidence set before me I was
amazed that I have managed to run as much as I have and haven’t sustained more
injuries. I’m now on a month’s intensive
stretching programme before I return and relearn how to run.
It’s a strange feeling discovering, at the age of forty
one, that I need to learn how to run. Surely
running is a natural thing that we should just be able to do without instruction?
In the Bible it says this: “There is a
way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs
14v12).
It would seem that human wisdom alone is
not enough and that we need God’s wisdom to live well.
We can also read this in Proverbs: “Trust
in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will
make straight your paths.” (Proverbs 3v5-6)
Sometimes it is not easy to admit that
our own wisdom is in fact foolishness; but failure to do so can mean we become
stuck in a cycle of frustration and living in less than our potential. Just as my old running technique led to
repeated injury and I needed to humble myself and be taught new ways, so we
need to humble ourselves before God and learn his ways.
It is a bit of a challenge not running
at the moment. I’m missing taking part
in the Parkrun, especially as I was getting faster and had just managed tenth
place. There is a part of me that says
my old running technique can’t be too bad as it was achieving good
results. Again this is the deception of
pride that would have me prove myself right and strong enough to do things my
way rather than submit to instruction and learn new things.
So, the running shoes are sitting unused
and I’m doing lots of stretching exercises that make me look more like a ballet
dancer than a runner. It’s a lesson in
patience and humility but that’s good because, as my family will tell you, there’s
plenty of room for growth in both of these areas – especially as I can run
faster than any of them!
