Chicago Marathon 08
This past Sunday I participated in the Chicago Marathon with Team World Vision. World Vision is a huge organization that does a ton of work in developing countries as well as here in the United States. You may know World Vision through their child sponsorship program. The project for Team World Vision this year was to raise money to build wells that would provide, I believe, 60,000 people
clean drinking water in Zambia. So, it is pretty important and meaningful work. Sunday I ran/walked 26.2 miles for 4 hours and 20 minutes. My goal was 3 hours and 10 minutes and did not include much walking. I'm a pretty competitive person but I openly share my time with no reserve because there were many lessons to be learned for me and much growth that occurred in my heart. This was quite humbling but because I was running this year for a greater purpose than just attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I finished the race without dropping out. If it wasn't for Team World Vision backing me, I would have dropped out even before the race began, which at the end of the day doesn't really matter a whole lot if I dropped out, but I think there is something very important to finishing what you started.
A few weeks ago I contacted Michael Chitwood who is the director of Team World Vision and told him that I have been experiencing IT Band Syndrome (runner's injury...basically tendinitis in the knee) and wanted to drop out of training. I thought I could give my marathon slot to someone else. (Chicago Marathon sells out every year) He wasn't listening to that...he just told me to take two weeks off and start back with the training slowly. I really didn't want to hear that but I banked on his optimism and the thought that God could be glorified through whatever time I finish in. So, I took two weeks off and started back slowly. When training for a marathon, training programs usually suggest at least 1, 20 mile run prior to the race. My program suggested 3. The longest I ran during my training, due to my injury, was 15. You see IT Band Syndrome is an overuse injury and I just wasn't giving it enough time to heal. There is the first lesson, patience! When you are a runner, it is hard to stop, especially when you are in the main part of your training. Also, the injury started in the first place because of increasing my miles too quickly. Once again, an act of impatience because I wanted to move along in the training at a faster rate than suggested. If you are a runner, please take seriously the fact that you shouldn't increase your mileage more than 10% per week. So, learn from my mistake in this area, trust me.
Overall, I feel the biggest growth that occurred for me, a super competitive person is just simple humility and that whatever I do in life I should be doing for something greater than myself. This time it was pretty clear, I was running to raise money and awareness for children and their families that don't even have clean water near their home. There are two verses that come to mind when thinking about what I learned. The first verse comes out of Matthew 25:40 and it says, "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' The next verse that comes to my heart through this adventure of running a marathon and helping the "least of these" in Africa is from Philippians 2:3 and it says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Whatever I do in life, my prayer is that I am able to apply these principles to everything that I do. This year, in the Chicago marathon, I didn't qualify f
or Boston, I didn't impress any human by my time, which deep down inside I like to do, but, I did labor for the "least of these," and I did grow just a little more in being able to labor not out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. For that I am thankful and praise God for this wonderful experience. If you would like more information about Team World Vision please go to http://www.teamworldvision.org/ or like to donate on my behalf to the project, please go to http://www.firstgiving.com/briangannon12. Thanks for reading!
clean drinking water in Zambia. So, it is pretty important and meaningful work. Sunday I ran/walked 26.2 miles for 4 hours and 20 minutes. My goal was 3 hours and 10 minutes and did not include much walking. I'm a pretty competitive person but I openly share my time with no reserve because there were many lessons to be learned for me and much growth that occurred in my heart. This was quite humbling but because I was running this year for a greater purpose than just attempting to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I finished the race without dropping out. If it wasn't for Team World Vision backing me, I would have dropped out even before the race began, which at the end of the day doesn't really matter a whole lot if I dropped out, but I think there is something very important to finishing what you started.A few weeks ago I contacted Michael Chitwood who is the director of Team World Vision and told him that I have been experiencing IT Band Syndrome (runner's injury...basically tendinitis in the knee) and wanted to drop out of training. I thought I could give my marathon slot to someone else. (Chicago Marathon sells out every year) He wasn't listening to that...he just told me to take two weeks off and start back with the training slowly. I really didn't want to hear that but I banked on his optimism and the thought that God could be glorified through whatever time I finish in. So, I took two weeks off and started back slowly. When training for a marathon, training programs usually suggest at least 1, 20 mile run prior to the race. My program suggested 3. The longest I ran during my training, due to my injury, was 15. You see IT Band Syndrome is an overuse injury and I just wasn't giving it enough time to heal. There is the first lesson, patience! When you are a runner, it is hard to stop, especially when you are in the main part of your training. Also, the injury started in the first place because of increasing my miles too quickly. Once again, an act of impatience because I wanted to move along in the training at a faster rate than suggested. If you are a runner, please take seriously the fact that you shouldn't increase your mileage more than 10% per week. So, learn from my mistake in this area, trust me.
Overall, I feel the biggest growth that occurred for me, a super competitive person is just simple humility and that whatever I do in life I should be doing for something greater than myself. This time it was pretty clear, I was running to raise money and awareness for children and their families that don't even have clean water near their home. There are two verses that come to mind when thinking about what I learned. The first verse comes out of Matthew 25:40 and it says, "The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.' The next verse that comes to my heart through this adventure of running a marathon and helping the "least of these" in Africa is from Philippians 2:3 and it says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves." Whatever I do in life, my prayer is that I am able to apply these principles to everything that I do. This year, in the Chicago marathon, I didn't qualify f
or Boston, I didn't impress any human by my time, which deep down inside I like to do, but, I did labor for the "least of these," and I did grow just a little more in being able to labor not out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. For that I am thankful and praise God for this wonderful experience. If you would like more information about Team World Vision please go to http://www.teamworldvision.org/ or like to donate on my behalf to the project, please go to http://www.firstgiving.com/briangannon12. Thanks for reading!
posted by Brian Gannon at 6:10 AM
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