day 1365: Breaking The Tape First

"Don’t you realize that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize? So run to win!"

This is not a sports blog, but I can't resist.  Yesterday, something amazing happened in the sports world and it couldn't have happened at a better time, a better place, or to a better athlete.  Yesterday, on April 21st, 2014, marathon athlete Meb Keflezighi, at 38 years old, won the Boston Marathon and became the first American winner in 31 years.  Why was this victory so sweet?  Sure, it was because he won on the first anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings.  Yes, it was great that he is an old guy as 38 is over the hill for marathoners.  And for sure, the American win is not the norm. But, his win was more than that.  I happen to serve on the board of runcoach with Meb and I have heard him talk of overcoming injuries and working his way back to his top form.  Marathoners are much like we are in business.  We get a couple of great moments a year and the rest of the time we are up early, logging the hours of training and doing our best to balance the rest of life, fueling ourselves for the next bit if competition.  And when we start to feel the pains and hurt, it takes time to get over them.  We'd be well served to bask in the win of Meb yesterday and remind ourselves that winning only comes because we put in the hard work, understand what it takes to win when we need to, and shut out the rest that keeps us from getting to our peak form.

Meb is also a faithful and strong believer.  He doesn't go out on the road alone.  Like Meb, we all race for the prizes of life, but also like Meb we know that the ultimate prize comes from the race of life that we need to finish well!  God wants us to run strong in all that we do.  He also wants to be there with us in the victories and the losses of life.  There are many races that we will run today and if we bring Him with us, our day will move along with wins along the way.  Consider this as you head into the office, ready and raring to run!

Reference: 1 Corinthians 9:24 (New Living Translation)