Today I’m linking up with Lisa-Jo at The Gypsy Mama for Five-Minute Friday.
Join me!
The rules: Write for five minutes. No editing, revising, overthinking, or backtracking. Just write.
Today’s Topic: Race
I’m a runner.
The kind that gets up early (too early…before-coffee-too-early) to put in her miles before the routine of life starts.
It’s all part of how I am, how I function, how I get ready for the race.
If we’re being honest, I’ve usually got some kind of ACTUAL race looming on the horizon. Part of the reason is, I need a tangible goal to work toward…it’s too easy to slack if there’s nothing to push for. A 5k here or there to keep me motivated.
Though I am planning to run the Chicago next year…WHAT am I thinking?!?!
Ok, ok, back to racing. 
I’m really talking about the race of life.
When I first began seriously running about a year and a half ago, there was so much pain. I was running on a body with 40+ pounds of baby weight and one that was really not in shape, either. UGH.
There. Was. Much. Pain. Involved.
Ugh. Again.
But it was necessary pain…the kind I had to learn to push through and keep going in order to reach my goal. GoalS…there were a lot.
I relate that so much to life now…that pesky baby weight is gone and I’m in much better shape than I’ve been in, in…well…two decades, probably.
But that’s not the point.
The point is that, much like a race you run, there are lessons learned along the journey…lessons in discipline and perseverance and dedication. Those lessons can’t be learned until we are stretched and pushed to limits.
There are days when I don’t want to keep going in life, days when I wish with everything in me that there was no pain or heartache and that I could splash a few rainbows on the walls and cartwheel my way through days, but that’s just not how it is.
This race that we’ve each got to run…it’s there for a purpose to teach us the lessons He has for us.
All the while remembering that the prize at the end is pretty sweet.
I am so not a runner… no desire to even try, even if I know it’s good for me! But I am so thankful for the lessons learned in my daily race…
Thanks for sharing your five minutes today!
Thanks for stopping by!
Visiting from the 5MF! What a beautiful story of perserverance and pushing through pain. I admire runners. I can’t even walk without pain! Have a great weekend!
Thanks for stopping by, Barbie! Hope you have a great weekend, too.
So the baby weight came off? Hubby tells me just to embrace it for now because it is more important the baby is healthy. But I’m around 30 lbs over what I was, and I’m not sure my body will be the same again…an arm injury keeps me from the elliptical, but I’ve been doing some walking and running. (Some is the operative word, I need to be more faithful…ugh.)
It did come off, but my daughter was 15 months old before I got serious about working hard. One thing that helped motivate me to run was to make a long playlist of my favorite songs…I looked forward to hearing them. Sometimes it’s the little things.
Good luck! Hope you are doing well. 
After just running my first marathon I say…Go for it! It is an amazing experience.
I think I’m in…everyone who’s done one says it’s awesome.
Congrats to you!