Slowing Down For The Long Run

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“Slowing Down For The Long Run”

Psalm 46:10 NIV

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

 

I know that I have shared in the past year that I got back into running April 2024.  It’s been a great experience as I’ve learned more about running than I ever have before.  For about the first year, I was focused a lot on shorter distances and increasing my speed so that I could improve my 5K time and 1 mile time.  After a while, a running friend of mine recommended that I try slowing down my pace and try running more. 

 

It took a while to adjust, but I found that as I started slowing my pace and increasing my distance more and more, I started enjoying my longer runs even more.  I’ve also learned that depending on the distance I run, I either go faster for shorter distances and slower for longer.  When I practice my 1 mile, I’m usually running very fast so that I can improve my time. When I run the 5K, I have to pace myself a little more, but still decent speed.  When I ran the half marathon in October of this year, I had to really train to pace myself at a specific speed.

 

If I started my half marathon at the speed I run my 1 mile, but mile 2, I would be done and have no steam left to finish.  That would be crazy!  I’d have to take a while to rest before starting up again.  When I started my half marathon, I had to look at my watch a lot to make sure I was keeping a good pace, but also I was running with a pacer, so that helped.

 

So many of us are living our daily lives running at break-neck speeds!  We live in a culture of go, go go!  It feels wrong to slow down because we don’t feel productive.  What if we applied the long race pacing mindset to our daily routines?  Instead of rushing from one thing to the next, what if we were more intentional about slowing down and enjoying life more? 

 

We were never meant to live life as fast as we are living in our modern age.  So many of us are going so fast and then we burn out and wonder why.  We rely on drinks and meds to give us energy and don’t think twice about the possibility of slowing down to a slower pace.  You might say, “Zach, I get what you’re saying, but I just can’t slow my pace down.”  Well, that’s a choice you have to make.  It’s going to take adjusting and some routine adjustments to make this happen.

 

As we close out another year of life, let us begin the new year with a mindset that we are going to do better about slowing down the pace of our lives.  Instead of full-blast mode from the time we wake up till the time we go to bed, let us be very intentional about slowing down and taking the time to really enjoy the moments God gives us each day.  This is the mindset I have on my long runs now.  I just enjoy being out in nature and taking in the beauty of the long time I’m on my run. 

 

Let us make it a goal in the New Year to slow down our daily pace for the long run!