Running is amazing in so many ways. I face the challenges of life in the same way I face the challenges of running. In reality, running has, in so many ways, taught me how to live. I think the author of Hebrews would agree (Heb. 12:1-2).
Here's a fact about running you might not know. Can you think of any other sport that allows amateurs to compete on the same playing field as the elite athletes? I can't. This doesn't happen in professional football. This doesn't happen in professional baseball. This doesn't happen in professional basketball. Running is the only sport in which you can say that you completed the exact same 26.2 miles as a world-class athlete. That's what I did, for example, at the 2019 Chicago Marathon along with about 46,000 other runners.
Brigid Kosgei broke the then-world record in a race in which I participated!
Kosgei smashed Paula Radcliffe's record by an astonishing 81 seconds.
I used to think that a runner's pace was the same as his or her effort. I was wrong. It just so happens that the effort put out by all long distance runners is about the same. What's different is the pace. Most people who run 26.2 miles in 5 hours are just as fit as the elite runners. We're just slow. Actually, when people ask me how long it takes for me to complete a marathon, I usually say, "About 6 months." The race is merely the culmination of weeks and weeks of training.
Running -- what a sport!