C.: Well, it’s Sunday, and Ralph is still on tour with Beauty and the Glowfish, so I must fill in for him at The Kennel tonight. I have time, though, to read one chapter of my best human friend’s autobiographical book about training for and competing in an Ironman distance triathlon. I’m on chapter eighteen, my favorite chapter in the whole manuscript. It’s called “And They Shall Mount Up With Wings As Eagles. It’s a short chapter, so I’ll have plenty of time to read it. You may read along with me if you wish.
CHAPTER 18: AND THEY SHALL MOUNT UP ON WINGS AS EAGLES
1930: Run course; mile 17:
I hit the ultimate runner’s high at the last mile marker. Now, this is no longer fun. Fourteen hours is still within reach, though. I just need to gather all my energy that I have left. I’m too nauseated to eat anything else. I should be sure to keep hydrated properly, however. I need some inspiration. Quoting my “life verse” should help that, as well as thinking about my first (and only) first-place finish in my division on a run course…
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"And those that hope in the Lord shall renew their strength. They shall mount up on wings as eagles; they shall run and not grow weary, they shall walk, and not be faint."
- Isaiah 40:31
This is my favorite inspirational verse in the whole Bible. I read it before every race, run, or ride I do. I even have a tee shirt with part of the verse printed on the back. I’ve been told several times when I wore it to a race that it encouraged the people who saw the verse printed on my tee shirt to finish the race, even when some thought that they couldn't go on and finish.
That’s the main reason I wear it; to encourage others, as well as me.
That tee shirt became a self-fulfilling prophecy on an extraordinarily beautiful spring day in Brazos, at my favorite run. This run, of course, is my favorite distance, ten kilometers.
I started the run at a 7:45 per mile pace, nothing spectacular, but good enough to stay in the top 20, even though my shoelaces came untied twice. One-half of the way through the run, another runner alerted me that my right leg was bleeding. It seems that my $150 knee brace was rubbing a cut on my leg, prompting a steady flow of blood to trickle down my leg and bloody my shoes and socks. At mile five, a deputy sheriff, who was riding support on this run, radioed the paramedics at the finish line that there was a bleeder coming through. That is, if I even finished the run.
It wasn't nearly as bad as it looked, but I simply didn't have enough time to stop and pour cold water on it to stop the bleeding if I wanted to hit my goal. I continued on, with bloody socks, shoes, and all, and finished the run at an 8:05 pace. It wasn't a spectacular time, but it was good enough for me to take first place in my division for the first time in my life.
I suppose it would be more dramatic to say that I dove for the finish line and touched it with one finger, à la Bill Bell at the Hawaiian Ironman, or that I mimicked Julie Moss in the February 1982 Hawaiian Ironman distance triathlon, and crawled across it on my hands and knees. The truth is, however, that I planned my race and raced my plan and, for once in my life, it was enough. Not just for my first division win but, for once, I knew that if I could do the whole race over, I wouldn't have changed anything, except for my shoelaces, no matter how much I worried, planned, or trained. For once in my life, I truly soared like an eagle, and it was enough!