"to run my own race"

Like a lot of you I watched the Boston Marathon yesterday. Oh, I so wanted Ryan Hall to win. In a post race interview Ryan was asked what his strategy was for the race. His answer was, "to run my own race". Later that day during my run I thought about his comment. I thought about the verse that heads this blog and Hebrews 12:1
Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us.
The Christian life, described as a foot race, a race to be run with strenuous effort and single-minded aim. God has given each of us a race to run. I cannot run your race and you cannot run mine. This is our own personal race, no one can run it for us, we must run our own race... Running my own race requires steady, intense concentration or focus. I cannot afford to become distracted by things off to the side of the course or look at what the guy is doing in the next lane.
I was on the edge of my seat watching the women's race of the Boston Marathon. What a dramatic finish! Not once did those three women stop fighting to win. I love the scene of Kara Goucher taking off her gloves, symbolic that she was in a fight. Even when it was obvious she had been out kicked she didn't quit, she ran her own race right to the end.
I thought about how my reaction to trials and afflictions so often leave me unsteady in my race. Rather than run I retreat. The sword of affliction raised buckles my faith...
We as Christians run for imperishable crowns. Might we today run our own race, boasting only in the cross, magnifying Christ and glorifying our Creator.

KEEP YOUR EYES ON THE FINISH LINE!

Ran---4+miles
Course---Hills
Time---40:00(approx.)