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.