Gone Mental - Now Spiritual

Previously I've looked at some basic mental attitudes and strategies to get you through the relatively easy portion. ( hopefully at least half!!! )

Now, how do you hold on to your sanity as you attempt to push your body WAY beyond what it is agreeing to??

1) You need a higher purpose.
2) That purpose has to mean more to you than temporary physical pain.

DISCLAIMER: I do not endorse doing permanent injury for the sake of any sport. You take all responsibility for pushing past temporary pain and causing permanent injury to yourself.

Many runners, simply love to run. And that love of running turns into a talent for long distance running. But, in order to continue on despite even temporary agony, you need more than a love of running; you need to believe there is a higher purpose for finishing the race. Something that continues and even grows stronger in the face of pain, when love of running has become a string of profanity in your memory.

For some that higher purpose may be strictly glory and fame, but honestly I have never met anyone like that. For some it may be a simple exercise in determination or self affirmation. Some people do see a metaphorical higher purpose like the race representing life's struggle that we are all faced with together on our collective journeys.

For myself it has elements of the above, but more importantly to me it is an expectation - an expectation that as I become weak, God becomes stronger in me.

Let me try to explain.

As I become physically, mentally, emotionally and yes even spiritually weakened, ( by 6, 12, or 24 hours of running) God is there in a way that is not possible when my defenses are at full strength and all my favourite comforts and distractions are freely available. I hear Him speaking to me, causing me to reassess my priorities in life and appreciate all the little things.

Just as Isaac Penington advises in "Letters on Spiritual Virtues" I subscribe to the philosophy that when and if you are seeking God, you should "Keep yourself where you have felt the Lord visit you in the past." and that has been good advice in my experience.

I recognize that this is still not a complete answer to "why bother?" or "what makes that sufficient motivation?" but the reality is it gets much more difficult to convey beyond this point. I continue on....

The main motivation beyond this initial simple answer is a desire to be changed - changed by God, not by myself. It is my expectation and experience that this becomes increasingly more likely as my physical strengths are sapped completely away from me over the hours and miles.

My character flaws become more obvious to me and are easily scrutinized and let go. The things I have that I need to be more thankful for also become that much more obvious and important to me. The result is that as I let myself be torn down, God is able to put me back together is a way that is not perfect but is a bit closer to His intention of how I should be.

With only 4 full days to go before the death race, I think I have finally been able to turn some of the key driving elements into words. As I do so I realize that just like in appreciating a sensitive physical phenomena, setting up a measurement construct to monitor or measure that phenomena will negatively affect the thing being measured.

I expect to be changed by this experience. Please don't try to measure that.