Little legs + short stride x (45 years + 9 months + 12 days) = S.L.O.W. (Serious Lack Of Wind).

     Along about mid-March of this year I decided to start running to train for the Camp Luz 5K which was in June. I was painfully slow at first (I caught a breeze from a passing tortoise). Five weeks of training and I ran my first cross country 5K in a little more than 12 minutes a mile. Not fast by any means. But I beat the guy pushing his daughter and tiny dog in a stroller.

     Over the summer I ran at 6 am; wearing my bright yellow safety vest, carrying a spray bottle of pepper spray, and with a couple of dog biscuits in my pocket for the neighbor’s dog. And there was that triathlon I did in July (ran 5 miles, biked 10, splash boated a ways) to raise money for my kids’ mission trip (see their blog on the right side). I don’t particularly like running and I’m not training for any races. But its exercise and it gets me outside. And my chiropractor is proud of me. I keep waiting for something called a runner’s high; the only time I’ve experienced it is when I set foot on my driveway and stop running.

     But I’ve never gotten any faster (the formula in the title is my excuse). I have some Facebook friends who are runners. They post their run length and time…and it all taunts me because I am so much slower than EVERYONE. (Except that tortoise; I have passed it by.) It’s downright depressing. Then I remind myself that I need to stop comparing myself to other people.

     There will always be someone taller, stronger, prettier, smarter, faster, wealthier, more clever, more artistic, with more/less stuff, happier, better at math, better at remembering song lyrics, etc., etc. That is a partial list of comparisons I have made in my life. I’m sure there have been more, but I can’t remember them…

     I am God’s work(wo)manship, and He don’t make no junk. So, my little legs and slow running time are of no consequence. “I yam what I yam.” Popeye (possibly quoting Paul of Tarsus…look it up, 1 Cor 15:10).

At least I’m moving.

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace. Acts 20:24