All runners experience one of those days. You know, when one routine run seems monumentally hard to complete. The reasons for the difficulty are varied, but sometimes, it's simply just one of those days.
I think my last two runs were one of those days. But it could be also because I was battling a bad cold. On t2 back to back days, I cut short my 10-mile runs to 3 miles - taking breaks in between, sweating hard after the first mile, and exhausted half-way through, unable to find a second wind, and feeling really weak. I really couldn't run through the tiredness which on good days I could mentally trick my body. But the last two days, my mind actually got the better of me to just stop or else.
Was it one of those days? Perhaps. Was I feeling sick? Yes. But the experience made me realize that this is how it feels - what my late wife felt when she was battling metastatic breast cancer. She would do her best to do walking workouts with me while praying the rosary. But every so often, she would complain of tiredness up to a point that she couldn't go on and would request to turn around and go back home. I still vividly remember the last time she went on the treadmill. She walked slow for about 10 minutes then she said she couldn't go any longer.
I bear her pain and the countless of people who are sick and suffering. I pray to be healthy and give thanks for my ability to run. May my runs be a humble offering of prayer that the sick may find consolation, peace, and healing in this time of suffering. To my wife, I love you and thank you for your courage to fight.
Beautiful post. I prayed for you on my morning run today! And I asked Jinky to help me!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your faithfulness. Jinky's first anniversary of her death is coming up on March 18th. I am sure she has a special place in her prayer for you!
DeleteI wish I had words for you, I really do. In 2004 I lost my love to breast cancer, so I am aware of your pain. Some things are given to us to keep, some are only shared with us for a while. God took my wife home and left me here. He shared her with me and I am thankful. All things here are temparal, only God lasts. God bless your heart and your legs, may you run your race to the end and there see your wife once again.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much, Billy . It helps me to connect with people who's gone through a similar experience. Thank you for your inspiring and thoughtful words of encouragement. I will keep your wife in my prayers as I run. I know we will all reach the same finish line. For now, I will keep running; and I will not rest until I rest in Thee. God bless!
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