The marathon prequel run

My idea of a marathon prequel run was just to run close to half the distance of a marathon. I thought that by running half the distance, I would give myself the confidence that I could complete at least 21kms and so completing the actual marathon would be more imaginable.

So last sunday morning, I ran from my home to my pastor's home which was approximately 23kms. It was exhausting (although I only felt truly exhausted the next day). It was exhausting because firstly I did not hydrate myself properly before the run and by the time I reached about 10km, I could feel my throat drying up. For the next 13kms, I was swallowing my own saliva, praying for rain (it turned out to be a warm and sunny day), and thinking about the possible ways I could get water. Secondly, the route was hilly. Close to half the run had me going up-slope.

 (On hindsight, I could have prepared myself better by drinking more water the night before the run.)

Somehow after the run, I could still go to church and help out with the usual stuff, participate during service, fellowship with people after service. Then after church, I went on to hang out with a few friends, had dinner then went home. It all seemed fine until the next day when I woke up and I realised that I was feeling completely flat out - physically and mentally kaput. Things that happened on Sunday became slightly blurry in my mind. It then occurred to me that probably shortly after the run, I was completely drained; but maybe  what kept me going was that bit of adrenalin from the run, a bit of euphoria from achieving my goal and mostly a force of habit.

The truth is, there are many things in my daily routine that I can do without much thinking - cooking, eating, going to the bathroom, driving to work or other regular places, making casual conversations.. etc. These are activities that I have done over and over again so much so it's like a reflex. I just do it. It gets scary when I reflect upon that and I realise that I sometimes pack my schedule with one thing after another, as a result more often than not I simply go through the motion. It could be work, going for meetings, calling up my parents every week, weekly bible studies, or even my daily devotions.

Coincidentally my pastor was preaching about the greatest commandment (Mark 12:29-31) on sunday. The greatest commandment is this: (v30) Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. I could not possibly do that if I was simply going through the motion. Therefore once in a while, I need to slow down or stop myself or even take a step back, instead of just doing it; otherwise I might miss the most important thing in the world.