Gents, Take a Walk...

I'm more of a weight lifting girl. I enjoy the group fitness class, bodypump, and like to think cardio is overrated. The other day I timidly ventured into the impressive cardio section of my gym. There's probably fifty machines all lined up into organized rows of ellipticals, stair steppers, stationary bikes and then, to the right, treadmills. I don't get a good workout on the elliptical, the stair stepper hurts too much, and the stationary bikes are in the front row - and I hate the front row. So that leaves me with the treadmill. I consider it my enemy and my friend.

I've never been much of a runner. Sprinter, maybe, but not an endurance runner. I can still recall my sixth grade field day. Students signed up for different events like the 100-yard dash, long jump, and obstacle course (I got 1st place!). I'm not sure why my parents let me do it, but I signed up for the endurance run.

The horn blew to signal the start of the race, and I sprinted off ahead of everybody. I never thought to pace myself. My athletic dad never mentioned that idea. So I sprinted the first lap before doubling over, close to the barf-stage, to catch my breath. I never caught it. In fact, I'm surprised I didn't pass out. I walked, hand clinging to my cramping side, the rest of the way to cross the finish line. I still won.

That's my most vivid memory of running. I haven't done it much since. I just recently started jumping on the treadmill with the intent to learn, and I humbly started with 2-minute intervals. I was embarrassed at first, using my peripheral vision to measure the progress of my fellow gym members, noticing that the girl next to me had been running for thirty minutes straight. What?! Compare two minutes with thirty minutes - I'm not feeling so great.

But I'll tell you this. The more I do it, the longer I can run. Of the thirty minutes I spend on the machine, more of it is spent running and less walking. And the longer I run, the more I like it. I'm beginning to feel more athletically impressive. I ran six minutes straight the other day - I'm on my way to the Olympics, baby!

It reminds me of a verse in James 1: "But be doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves." Sometimes doing what's right is hard. Being obedient to God maybe mean sacrifice. It means going against our human nature, and maybe even suffering a little. But I'll bet the more we do the right thing - the more we practice our spiritual muscles - the easier it gets.