Our younger son Michael just completed his first 70.3 Iron Man, an athletic event which includes a 1.2 mile swim, a 56 mile bike ride and a 13.1 mile run. This particular Iron Man event was the second largest one in the world, with over 3,500 athletes participating. After making the decision to enter, he told many of his friends. Many competitive athletes know if they verbalize their goals they will be more accountable. They are definitely locked in. With his commitment in place, he began training. Serious physical training was essential, but with this being his first Iron Man, he knew he would need to glean knowledge from seasoned veterans. A dear friend of the family gave Michael informative books and magazines to read. But more importantly, he gave him words of wisdom and a promise that he would be praying over the entire Iron Man journey.
Michael didn’t jump right in and tackle the full 70.3 miles. He gradually started to take on more distance while decreasing his time. He was careful to feed his body proper nutrition and to rest in order to recuperate physically and mentally. He set goals for himself. He achieved those and moved forward after hitting each benchmark. He realized the importance of pacing himself. He knew daily and weekly schedules would be vital. His sweet wife, Renee, was there to offer encouragement and research proper nutrition for this type of event. As husband and wife, they discussed the importance of sacrifices that each of them would have to make over the next few months. Competition would be within himself, not so much against others. He decided not to compare himself to others and become frenzied, but to focus on his goals.
It has been great to talk with Michael over the past four months of preparation. He knew he had strong support system from family and friends. On the day of the event we got up very early and traveled to Augusta, GA. to see him compete. Although we couldn’t see every mile of the race, we were there at benchmark spots to yell words of encouragement, display signs, hand him bottles of water and take lots of pictures to capture those memories. Folks that could not attend pledged that they would be praying for him throughout the day. Countless spectators offered words of encouragement and shouts of praise to thousands of participants they had never seen before.
Michael’s main goal was to finish the race.
He would indeed give it his personal best.
How did he do?
He finished the 1.2 mile swim in record time. He decreased his time from 45 minutes to 31 minutes. He came out of the water with a smile on his face ready for the 56 mile bike trek. All was going well, until the last 12 miles of the bike run. His rear tire went flat. Unfortunately, no one was there to help him repair it, so he biked the last 12 miles with a flat tire, which meant he had to put all of his weight on the front tire. Needless to say, his legs took a beating on those 12 miles. Once he completed the bike trek, he had to face 13.1 miles of running. Obviously cramping set in, but he persevered. While he had set a personal best of finishing in 6 hours, he knew he would have to settle for a much longer time. He refocused and ran across the finish line in 7 hours and 20 minutes. We were so proud of him. He had finished the race, differently than he had planned, but with a sense of accomplishment. He didn’t quit, he didn’t look back, but pressed ahead toward the prize… the finish line.
A Spiritual Journey
As I looked back over the Iron Man event I realized how many things parallel our spiritual lives.
We must make our decision to follow Christ. No one else can make that decision for us. Many of you can remember that decisive moment. You ran to tell others and they rejoiced with you and surrounded you with lots of prayer support and words of encouragement. If you were wise you found an accountability partner. I still call on accountability partners for many areas of my life. They help keep me in line. While Michael trained four months for this event, our training will take a lifetime. We must spend time in His word and seek His wisdom. We need to feed our bodies daily, always being sure to rest in order to more fully develop our relationship with Him.
There will be moments of great sacrifice. You will have “flat tire” situations in your life with no one around to rescue you. Will you press on? Will you persevere? We must be like the dying seed, that sheds the outer skin and blossoms a new from within. Count on others to offer words of encouragement. Seek out faithful prayer warriors and offer to stand in the gap for others in need. And remember, sometimes we finish parts of our lives differently than we had planned. Sometimes we will feel beaten down.
How will you refocus? How will you finish your race?
If you want to finish the race…give Him your personal best.
Phil 3:14
I press toward the mark for the prize
of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus.
Michael and Renee
