Chicago Marathon 2009 - unedited

Now that I think about it, I don’t remember what the inspiration was for me to set a goal to run in the Chicago Marathon in 2003. I was not a runner. I never competed in any type of sports activities in school. I had only just recently even started working out. Maybe I thought that it was a fun way to lose weight. But that was the inspiration for me to start running and working out in hopes to prepare myself to run. I have been running regularly ever since, even became a part of my local runner’s club.
I have not lost much weight in 6 years, but running is still a big part of my life. Last Sunday I volunteered to help with the marathon. As a pastor, showing up for duty at 4:30 am, when I have church at 10 is pretty ambitious. But volunteering on race day is the only way to get a free Chicago Marathon jacket. My duty was to be a part of a human chain, standing in front of the top 100 runners in the race until the starting buzzer starts – and then to get out of the way. That was one of the most amazing experiences of my life. It was my job to stand at the starting line, at the very front of the mass of 34,000 runners. If the runners are not coordinated and controlled, the start of the race will be a major trampling experience. If we don’t stand our ground then we will get trampled by the runners, as they scramble to get ahead. And yet we were given the job of channeling the energy of this huge human desire to race and to win. After the buzzer, all 20 of the human chain stepped aside and starred in amazement for 30 minutes as the mass of adrenalin snaked forward past the start line. As the race progresses for 26.2 miles- many of these people will start to drop out of the race, some injured, some discouraged, some disqualified. But at this moment, there destiny didn’t matter. At this moment they were all winners eager to begin the race.
When it was over, I told a friend that volunteering at the marathon was a holy experience which I will have to participate in for a very long time. A fellow runner, she quipped that it is much more important to train and participate in the race, then it is to volunteer. I explained that she doesn’t understand. The Chicago marathon starts on Friday morning as the runners start to arrive in town, some from Chicago, some from across the country, some from around the world. All in ordinary clothes, living ordinary lives, preparing themselves for an extraordinary race. It is not physically possible for the human body to run 26.2 miles. After 20 miles, your body depletes every possible energy reserve that it has. You have to use the determination of your mind to complete the last 6 miles. And yet something in their spirit has told them they are up for the challenge – so they show up: pick up their registration material, attend the expo, eat pasta, meet other runners, and show up at the starting line in unpredicatable Chicago weather; prepared for the challenge. To step into that experience at any point is enough inspiration to believe that you can achieve anything that you set your mind to.
And yet, if I had registered to run, I would have honestly been at the very back of the line, cold, scared, praying for just enough strength to finish at some point in the day. As a volunteer, I was at the very front of the starting line. A place that I would never get on my own. I was in front of the top 100 race qualifiers. Most were either males on a college track team, or very petite internationals – I don’t belong to either group. I got the chance to channel the energy of some of the best athletes in the country, so they would be able to lead 34,000 runners safely across the start line.
I made it to church on time at 10:00 am. During the benediction, I told the congregation about the experience. In many ways, the benediction is the start line of the race of our Christian journey. The light of Jesus Christ goes before us, and after the benediction we are told to go forth our into the world. Imagine what would happen if when we are given the go ahead, we too ran out of the church with the energy of a marathon runner? Determined to run the race of life and win. How would we transform the world in God’s name?
In 1 Corinthians 9:23-25 Paul says Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. In Paul’s advice to us, he uses the metaphor of running a race in spreading the Christian faith. For Christians, every day is intended to be a marathon.
Peace,