Eating the Elephant

To many people who have never run more than a mile or so, running 5 or 10 miles seems like a ridiculous amount of running.  When they hear you have run a marathon, they are baffled at why you would ever want to run that far.  That is, if they even know a marathon is 26.2 miles. After telling some people I just ran a marathon, they reply, "You have! How far was that one?" thinking any foot race is a marathon! I suppose it is true to some extent.....Any amount of mileage one sets out to conquer that seems a huge undertaking, is a marathon.  Because, according to the legend of the marathon, the Greek runner, Phillippides, ran 75 miles of rough terrain from the city of Marathon to Sparta to seek help from the the Spartans only to run the 75 miles back to report they could not come to help. The Greeks miraculously won the battle losing only 192 warriors to the Persian's 6,400. Phillipides, after running the 150 miles, fought in the battle, and then, was chosen to take the news of the victory to Athens! So he raced 25 miles to Athens and after shouting "Rejoice, we conquer!" he collapsed and died. A marathon represents commitment to a purpose and finishing what you set out to do with all your focus on the goal. Now I have never done what Phillpides did...I am not sure I could.  I have run four marathons in four consecutive days, three around Lake Tahoe followed by 107 mile drive and no sleep to run a trail marathon in Susanville, CA. I also have run two marathons on two consecutive days around Lake Tahoe to be followed by a 72.2 miler all the way around  the lake a few hours later, totaling 154.6 miles in about 28 hours. Even these are not to be compared to the feats of people who have run the extreme weather conditions of the Badwater Ultra, a 135-mile race from Badwater in Death Valley (elev. 282 feet below sea level) to Whitney Portals on Mt. Whitney (elev. 8360 feet) or Pam Reed, who in 2005, was the first person to complete a 300-mile run without sleep. Then there is Marshall Ulrich, at the age of 57,broke two transcontinental speed records when he ran 3,063.2 miles in 52.5 days from San Francisco to New York. Every person has a different reason for choosing to embark on these types of adventures.  Often it is to test ones limits, or support causes for diseases that have taken loved ones or even threatens the life of the person running. Many times it is to overcome weaknesses of character.  Every race is conquered the same way, one foot in front of the other, quitting never an option. " How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."  What elephant are you facing today that seems so enormous you think you can never get it all down? God wants to do for us  what we can  never do in our own strength. He wants to make us better people than we can ever try to be and do things we never dreamed.We only have to take one bite at a time and one step at a time to "press toward the mark for the prize of the calling of God in Christ Jesus." Phil.3:14 "Rejoice, we conquer!"