Training in or out of season

Regular training requires zeal and dedication to sustain it. One’s passion for running will certainly bring him/her to a point where running will not only be a sport or form of exercise but a way of life. A runner continues to run with or without a race at hand. He would continue to conquer hills, hit the pavement for a long run and trek the trails in order to maintain his fitness level. These trainings would prepare him for any up-coming race. A long break in training would certainly slide back one’s fitness level at a point where it will be harder to run again.

In our Christian life, lack of zeal and dedication in doing the will of God would certainly put us away from Him. Like a passionate runner who runs with or without a race at hand, our constant participation in the works for God will draw us closer and closer unto Him. Training ourselves in hearing His voice and understanding his words will bring us to a level of complete trust and obedience unto our Lord Jesus Christ. And when trials come our way we can triumph over it. But if we allow ourselves to be away from Him especially for a long time, it will become harder for us to recognize His voice. It will be harder to walk in His ways.

Let us continue to be in fellowship with our fellow believers so that we can encourage and support one another. Like runners who draw strength from fellow runners. Let us run the race of life with endurance and passion to finish the race. Let us run side by side with Christ.

“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.” - Hebrews 12:1-2

How you look at the hills

For most runners, the hills post the greatest challenge during races. Technically, a hill is a slope or gradient in a road that commonly intimidates runners. It may vary in form from a long and gradual incline to a short but steep ramp. Running hills could be tough and may require great power and strength in legs and core muscles. This can be achieved by having constant practice in running hills and an extra core and leg training exercises.

But do we really have to fear running on hills? For some runners, running on hills can be fun, for other races or tribes it is a way of life. For the thrill seekers, hills gave the adrenaline rush needed, thus inventing sky running (race to the top of a mountain) among others, as an adventure or extreme sports. We don’t need to fear on the hills. It’s just how we look at it.

In life, we are also faced with many hills. It could be a long and lingering ailment or an unresolved problem or it could be a short but painful experiences. These things we cannot avoid in life but we can be strong in conquering it. Like a runner who constantly practice running on hills, dealing with our problems and not avoiding it will give us strength emotionally in handling those difficulties in life. We become a stronger person after each victory. Problems in life need not be feared. It’s only how we look at it that makes it difficult.

Seeing our problems or difficulties as an opportunity to see God’s power and His great love for us can make any problem insignificant. Like a good coach, God allowed us to have problems to strengthen our faith in Him. Let us look back at those victories we have in conquering our hills in life together with Jesus and be confident that there are no greater hills that we cannot overcome if we get our strength from Him. God bless us all!

Need a coach?

During my early days in running, I got the privilege of training with Team Baldrunner and its elite team of coaches at the ULTRA. It was when more and more people are getting serious into running not only for physical fitness but also as a sport. Running clinics and group trainings was a common event then. Other runners would even have their own personal coaches to further improve their performances in running. A coach plays an important role in an athlete’s quest of being the best in their chosen sport. A coach guides its athlete in every step of the way, teaching them the basics to a more advanced techniques. He designed training schedules that would bring his athlete to his/her peak condition on game time. He even asked his athlete to do drills that sometimes seemed irrelevant to the sport but later would proved to be beneficial for the athlete. A coach can only be able to do these things because he himself had done it. He had been through all these and had become victorious.  All these things we follow because we believe that our coach knows what he is doing. Others even followed without asking the rationale behind doing those drills during training. All these we do because we have full trust and confidence to our coaches.

In the race called life, we can also have one true coach and his name is Jesus. Jesus had live among us. He experienced what we are experiencing right now. Jesus had been showing us the way to be victorious in every trial or problems we have in life but have we listened to Him? Have we put our full trust and confidence in Him that we fully obey Him and be victorious in every trials and difficulties we have in this world? Or you have yourself or others to follow? Why don’t you try Jesus. He can be your life’s coach! God bless us all!

Getting inspired before a marathon

Hearing good motivational speakers in a conference would always get you inspired. During the GIS Users Conference that our agency participated in as an institutional partner, I got a chance to listen to one of the guest speaker whose topic was “Dreaming Big”. It was a motivational topic that aims to inspire GIS practitioners to explore on the vast array of GIS applications and the great potential that system and technology offers in improving life. Though it was not the first time that I heard of such kind of talk, it caught my attention as the speaker, Mr. Alex Araneta, started to relate it to running. He showed a familiar video of a father and son team, the Team Hoyt, who together finished marathons, ultra-marathons, ironman and more. They have accomplished it in a not so ordinary way. The father has to push his son, a quadriplegic, in a special wheelchair. There were three lines that capture the essence of the video.

The Dick (father) is the body
The Rick (son) is the heart
Do not run alone!

And towards the end of his talk, he shared that he together with his wife have ran and finished their first full marathon in February 2010 during the Hong Kong Marathon. We can dream big and be able to realize it not only alone but with other people who have one goal and one vision that we have. Let us not run alone! Run with our loved ones, friends and other runners who have the same passion in running as we have. Swthrt and I will be running at the Condura Skyway Marathon on Feb 6 2011! See you there!