#running marathon

[runnersrunning-blog1]

Yeah! 💪   How bad?!

[canvas4everyone]

2 miles sounds simple… until you’re halfway in. The training isn’t just miles, it’s rhythm. Long runs teach patience you can’t fake. Speed days feel weird at first then they click. Rest days matter more than you think. What will your finish feel like, really? Want to build your first plan from scratch?

[madewithonerib]

1. Begin the day with GOD

I know it sounds simple enough & it’s going to be one of the first suggestions you’ll find in any article like this, but that’s for good reason.

If you or I are going to stay focused on GOD, we have got to include the things of GOD in our daily lives!

You’ve probably heard that when something is repeated in the BIBLE it’s something to pay attention to, right?

How about something that’s repeated 10x in one teaching?

That’s how many times JESUS used the word “abide” or “remain” in John 15:1-11!

JESUS said in John 15:4, “Abide in ME.” HE repeated that in 2 other ways in John 15:5-7 while also providing a stark warning & a vast promise:

“Whoever abides in ME & I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If anyone does not abide in ME s/he is thrown away like a branch & withers; & the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, & burned. If you abide in ME, & MY WORDS abide in you, ask whatever you wish, & it will be done for you.”

Staying focused on God requires abiding in Him.

I know your mornings are rushed, but if you create the discipline to spend the first minutes of your day 

     reading the WORD of GOD &      talking to HIM about the day ahead,

you will have a greater focus on HIM throughout the day.

If you don’t know where to start, try reading John 15:1-11 each morning for a week.

It won’t take long & the passage is crazy profound.

2. Remain in prayer

Do you want to create & develop the habit of a prayerful life?

1 Thessalonians 5:17 makes one simple yet bold command: “pray without ceasing.”

This is a habit worth developing & isn’t as difficult as you might think. Plus,

     prayer has a way of changing lives.

     [genewhitehead.com/this-prayer-will-change-your-life]

When you see or hear a news report that bothers you, pray for the people & the situation. When you come across someone that annoys you or tries your patience, silently pray for them.

     When you hear of someone facing some problem,      large or small…pray for them.

We had a friend that taught her children about staying focused on GOD by offering up a quick prayer every time they heard the sirens of a police car, ambulance or fire truck.

GOD doesn’t need your eloquent, long-winded pious sounding discourses, laced with “thees, thous” & “almighties.” HE wants your heart, & often in prayer that sounds as simple as “GOD, help!“

3. Limit the distractions

In the post 3 Ways to Having More Faith, I wrote that we have to keep a clear space between us and GOD.

You can’t keep your eyes on what you can’t see, physically or spiritually.

In Joshua 3:4, the people of Israel are commanded to keep a distance of 2,000 cubits between them & the ark of the covenant.

     That’s about a half of a mile & the      purpose was so the people of Israel      would always be able to see the ark      in all types of terrain that they      were traveling through.

In our spiritual lives, when we fill the spaces with all kinds of conveniences & distractions, it becomes very difficult & even impossible sometimes to see where the LORD is leading us.

We can overcome this by limiting the distractions, the busyness & our own lack of discipline by making a conscious effort to keep our LORD in the #1 spot.

4. Serve GOD

In Matthew 6:24, JESUS teaches,

     “No one can serve two masters,       for either s/he will hate the one & love the other,       or s/he will be devoted to the one & despise the other.

      You cannot serve GOD and money.”

You’ve heard that verse. You’ve probably also heard the term mammon in place of money at the end of it.

Though “mammon” was a word that primarily represented money & possessions, it was also used to refer to lusts of all types.

     [genewhitehead.com/7-sins-lust/]

If you’re serving GOD with your resources of time, energy, talents, & with your money, then staying focused on GOD will naturally follow.

5. Remove sin from your life

This could have been the first point in the list.

What I mean by this is to remove the habitual, continuous sinful habits & patterns from your life.

     Hebrews 12:1 says, “Since we are surrounded by      so many examples of faith, we must get rid of      everything that slows us down, especially      sin that distracts us.”

If there is something, someone, some place or anything in your life that leads you away from GOD in any way, or that keeps you out of prayer, away from fellowship with other believers or distracts you from reading your BIBLE, you have one option:

remove that thing from your life Staying focused on GOD or growing in your spiritual, prayer, or Christian life in any way with any habitual sin in your life is next to impossible.

     Kill the sin or it will kill you      spiritually, physically, or both.

Running the Marathon

It’s been said countless times that life is a marathon, not a sprint. When staying focused on GOD, this becomes especially evident.

     Hebrews 12:1 tells us that “We must run the race      that lies ahead of us and never give up,”

     & the next verse tells us how to do that:

     “We must focus on JESUS, the source & goal of       our faith.” [Hebrews 12:2].

     Taking these 5 steps & making them daily habits will      deepen your spiritual life & they will help when      staying focused on GOD.

[healthylivingholly]

Let's Talk About Goals, Baby

Let's Talk About Goals, Baby. An inside look at my thoughts on resolutions & my goals for the New Year.

Hi Everyone! I am back to chat about 2019 goals, intentions, resolutions — whatever you want to call them. I feel like there is a lot of chatter about resolutions vs goals for the New Year. I think resolutions have a negative connotation nowadays that hint towards the person not being able to keep that resolution past the first few months of the year. However, in my mind a resolution is kind of…

View On WordPress

[taiter42]

Me and my mate Hamish, I'm on the right right. I felt fairly rough at this point. About an hour I'm the medical tent after the finish. Didn't hydrate or eat at all right. Oh well you live and learn. This was a couple years ago. Haven't finished that rough ever again.

[ftcpops-blog]

March 7, 2016

I’ve skipped a few entries, but here goes nothing. This is pretty much just for my personal reflection as I have no actual followers :-) Today’s run was an 18-miler that started at 4:30am. What made it cool was that last night (around 6pm) I ran an 8-miler. So in about 12 hours, I ran the full marathon distance (or close enough). My legs were definitely feeling it around mile 22 (cumulative distance) and I just couldn’t make them go any faster.

My achilles tendonitis is really starting to take its toll. Every step is very painful. Tomorrow I start PT and am hoping that they can work a miracle. I have plenty of time before my race, so I think I’ll be okay for that, but I’d love to be able to train without so much pain. 

I’m still feeling pretty good. I think my new shoes Brooks Defyance 9 contributed to my achilles pain. It’s so different than the Defyance 7 and 8 that I’ve been running in. So I made the switch to the Saucony Kinvara 7 and am hoping that it helps some.

Next week my “long” run drops back to 13 miles. I’m still “about” a week ahead in my training plan (it’s a miracle I didn’t get sick all winter long), so I’ll take another easy week after that with a short run of 13 miles. Then I’ll tackle my first 20 miler, then back to 13, then a second 20 miler. After that, it’s taper time. I’m REALLY looking forward to that! Getting up at 4am to run for 3 hours is for the birds. The sunrises are quite spectacular. This morning, the sky was deep purple turning pale red and a very crescent moon was maybe 10 degrees above the horizon with Venus just off to its side. The moon was a beautiful maroon color.

Today’s pace was awful (about 9:48 mm). I have been averaging around 8:50 mm for 8 miles and less and around 9:23 mm for 9-17 miles. Today was horrible I think due to the fact that I ran last night and my achilles pain. Looking forward to tomorrow’s cross-train day and an easy 5 on Wednesday.

Happy running to you all and I wish you injury free training.

[acyclistinjapan]

re-learning how to run

http://steppan73.livejournal.com/11129.html Also yesterday in the afternoon I did some running. Actually yesterday was probably to be considered the first real session post-injury, as on Sunday it was really more just like a test. So yesterday I run 30 minutes. It was a little bit like re-learning how to run: think how to breathe, check the pace, control all the muscles… The calf was in a bit in pain, as most of the muscles, but it felt like a “good” pain… just soreness after two weeks of “rest”. The pace obviously was not yet as it was pre-injury but little by little with the kilometres it lower to an acceptable one… even if it was just 5km. I run 5.70km in 30:04 5:31, 5:19, 5:16, 5:00, 5:07 Yesterday morning I did a century ride with my road bike but my legs were very tired. In the afternoon I managed to run but today I decided to rest. I will try to have another running session tomorrow of 30-45 min and possibly a 1-hour session on Sunday. Then next week I am thinking to put to rest the road bike and just do some jogging every day. I still have to decide whether to jog 20-30 minutes every morning or to do two 20-minutes jogging’s session, one in the morning and one in the evening…

[praxime-blog]

Learn now how you can benefit from seeing you not only as a runner but also as an athlete. Which is the right mindset to make progress and avoid plateauing?

Learn now how you can benefit from seeing you not only as a runner but also as anathlete. Which is the right mindset to make progress and avoid plateauing?