Running - for people who hate to run

If you'd asked me a year ago to ride a horse or take a martial arts class, I would have been jumping up and down in excitement. If you'd asked me to go on a bike ride with you, I would have been on my bike in a heartbeat.

But if you'd asked me to go for a run, I would have looked at you like you were speaking Gaelic. "Run? Me? No thanks."

And while running still isn't my favorite thing ever, I do go out 3 times a week an run, and I can honestly say that I enjoy it. I love pushing myself just a little bit harder each time, and I love being outside in general. So today I'm going to give you a list of things that helped me start running:

Bluetooth Headphones - I can't say how valuable these are. You can find a decent pair for $10-$20 online, and it takes away a lot of hassle - no more tangled headphones in your bag or pocket, and you won't get the chord caught on everything you walk past (unless that's just me that happens to).

Arm band - For holding my phone/key/money if I'm running to a store, since most workout clothes don't have pockets, and I wouldn't trust these things not to fall out of a pocket while I was running.

Geeky shirts - For Christmas my best friend got me a shirt that says "if I'm running zombies are chasing me", and I bought myself a tank with a Charizard that says "installing muscles, please wait." It sounds silly, but I love putting these on for my workouts. And if I'm going to wear the workout clothes, I might as well do the workout too, right?

Zombies, run! - What can I say, I'm a gamer, and I love stories. This definitely covers those bases, I'm currently using the couch to 5k version since I can't run very far yet. Since each week changes and I get an item after each "quest" (run) it feels like leveling up. Once I finish the last week I'll switch to the original app and run 2-3 times a week with that.

Great music or a podcast - something that you will enjoy listening to while you're out running. 

Good shoes - whether you run barefoot or in shoes is a personal choice, but if you do wear shoes make sure the ones you have are good - you won't want to run ever again if your feet or shins hurt when you get going.

Other ideas - 

Audiobooks - I haven't used them running (the Zombies, Run! apps don't work with Audible or Overdrive), but I know other people who use them for runs and I use them during times when my hands are busy, but my ears are open. The two apps I use for audiobooks are Audible (obviously) and Overdrive, which is less well known but free. Overdrive is an online library access site for eBooks and audiobooks, but because it is tied to your library available material does vary quite a bit. 

(WheezyWaiter talks about using audiobooks in his runs, and recently read/suggested Ready Player One. I highly recommend it as well - great book, and Wil Wheaton's voice is perfect)

Get a dog - Rescue a shelter dog. Just make sure your furry friend can keep up before taking him for a long run! As always make sure you have the time and money to care for the dog you get, but if you can you can improve your own health while rescuing your new best friend from a life behind the bars of your local Humane society, like this gentleman did - saving both his life and the dog's. (Fair warning - you may want some tissues for the video.)

Love thy (white/Christian/American) neighbor

Toward the end of his masterful book World War Z, Max Brooks "interviews" a Cuban who describes a flood of refugees running to Cuba during the crisis, fleeing to an island refuge away from a mainland overrun with the undead. We hear a lot about refugees these days, but we never think that the refugees might be "like us." In the case of World War Z, they are us.

In the nightmare going on in the real Middle East currently, there is a massive flood of refugees, running to anywhere that might take them - Greece, Germany, Jordan, anywhere they can go to escape the hoard that has taken over their homeland. They are fleeing for their lives, most have left nearly everything they own, and many have lost loved ones along the way, as the video below by John Green describes at one point (video credit to the Vlogbrothers)

These are people like us, often with cell phones. Some have claimed that these phones proove that things aren't that horrible for the refugees, but most these phones are no longer on a network, since these refugees have had to spend whatever they had to try to get to safety (which often isn't so safe, as the iconic image of a drowned 3 year old child that brought the bulk of western attention to this crisis in the first place shows). They keep these phones charged, not for making calls, but to see the pictures they have of the loved ones they've either left behind or lost along the way. To them, these phones and photos are items from a previous life - one of comparative prosperity and peace, rather than chaos.

Once these people get smuggled out of their home country, they have a long, dangerous journey ahead of them, boarding rafts that are not seaworthy to reach lands that may or may not accept them. After all, they're not "like us"

Running the race - finish line

This is where I usually take my runs for a couch to 5k program I'm using right now (Zombies, Run! 5k). 

The training is there to help me get to the point that I can run for more than a few paces without keeling over and huffing and puffing, which I couldn't do before I started this. I'm on week 5 now. But running here (which happens to be right next to my house, and the safest place I could wish for) definitely reminds me of something every time I visit:

Eventually we all reach the end of our race. Whether we do a good job or not, whether we try hard or not, all of us reach the end of our race. But like in any race, just because you finish, doesn't mean you do it well. And "well" for one person may be ENTIRELY different from "well" for another.

I could try to run a 5k right now, or could have tried several weeks ago before I started running 3 times a week. If I'd tried then, I would have been walking nearly all of the race, and my time would have been horrible. (Hence the training) Even now, if I tried I'd only be able to run about half of the race with frequent walking breaks.

And when I finish the last week of the program, even though I'll be able to run the entire race, I'll never be as fast as a lot of other people who run because it's their favorite activity in the world. But for me, someone who has never been a runner and is currently trying to get in shape to take care of my body and to have a basic level of fitness for other activities, running a 5k will be phenomenal. But more importantly, running that 5k will mean I have enough stamina to go back to other things I love, like climbing and martial arts, though I'll still have to run regularly if I want to keep the endurance.

Paul told us that in a race, everyone runs, but only 1 person comes away with the prize. Run in such a way as to be the winner in your race. For different people that race, and the prize, look very different. (1 Cor 9:24)

For me, running the fastest 5k isn't my goal, nor is it the end of my race, and in truth I don't know what the end of my race even looks like. The true end of each of our "races" looks very much like the picture above - but let's run in such a way that at the end we can say "I ran my best race, and now I go to claim my prize." After all, what's left here on earth doesn't matter much anyways when your body's permanent residence is 6 feet under, so make your race a good one.