Today, I am 24 days out from the Austin Marathon extravaganza. My training has begun to taper back (so I don’t get injured at the last minute), which is good because I’m beginning to get bored (ususally a precursor to burnout). Yesterday I ran in the frigid drizzle to prove my commitment….sort of. I ran because I didn’t really feel like it. I’m to the point that I think I could go run my 13.1 miles today and do OK, so my tendency is to coast. Slack. But training for this thing is not something I do because I feel like doing it. It’s something I have committed myself to. It’s something I am doing because….if I don’t do it now, I may never do it. I will wait another year, another season, and buy into the lie that "I’m just not a runner."  The cold, hard fact is that I am NOT a runner. But I have already put my hand to the plow.

I called my buddy, Lance, who’s a strength trainer for the UT program here in Austin, and asked for advice last week because of the way I was feeling. His words of wisdom were this: "Trust your training".  That’s it? Years of college and all you got is ‘trust your training’?  "Yup. Stick to the schedule. Don’t waver from what’s tried and true. Train correctly and you’ll run successfully."

Trust your training. I think that would be good theology as well. Christ gives us a plan for a new kingdom: "Preach the good news. Love your enemies. Bless those that persecute you. Feed the hungry. Walk with Me…" But I get tired…sometimes bored. When the excitement and novelty fades, it feels like we do the same thing over and over and over…especially if you’re running alone.

And my tendency is to coast. To not love so much. Not bless as much. Not feed…or walk…as…much. Paul (I haven’t gotten over it yet..) admonishes Timothy to ‘train yourself to be godly’, literally to "sweat yourself to godliness".

So I beat my body (1 Cor 9:27) and make it my slave. I’ll trust my Trainer and his plan and see how it goes…