The Race

By:  Amanda Carter, MA, LP

​“I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.”
2 Timothy 4:7

On the morning of July 4th, my husband and I got up in the wee hours of the morning to make our way to Buckhead in order to run the Peachtree Road Race.  We have made this an annual tradition, us and 35,000 of our closest and smelliest friends. 

I’ve noticed we have the same “mood” surrounding the race each year…meaning the night before we ask each other ‘Do we really want to get up at 5 am?’, then when we hear our alarm go off there is a strong inclination to just turn it off, roll over, sleep in, and have a lazy holiday. 

However, once we arrive at MARTA, we see other runners with their bibs on and some in super fun red, white, and blue attire.  Our moods begin to improve a bit.  When the race begins, there’s lots of music, laughter and fanfare.  Many people are on the sidelines cheering runners in their own unique ways from offering water, holding encouraging signs and billboards, and – our favorites -the priests throwing holy water on you and shouting, ‘Blessings’! 

All this energy helps us keep up the momentum towards the finish line.  We start to pay more attention to our surroundings and less attention to the sweat dripping down us. Then, when the race is finished, we wait in line to pick up the coveted Peachtree Road Race t-shirt - the PRIMARY reason we got up at 5 am. Well, the t-shirt and the brunch we eat as soon as the race is over.

And - you know what - the t-shirt and the brunch are much more appreciated having successfully finished the race instead of staying in bed. 

Whether literal or figurative, we all have our races to run.   And, truth be told, most of us have thought about turning that alarm button off and just sitting the race out because somewhere along the way the race gets hard.  Certainly, just like in a physical race, we need to be wise and take rests, notice the things that keep us “hydrated”, surround ourselves with encouragers, but it is important to not quit! 

Every day, each of us does ‘hard things.’  We just forget about those, and then when some big thing or race pops up, we think we aren’t prepared.  We don’t have what it takes…

But, most of us are stronger than we think we are; we may just need someone to encourage us to keep going.