Yesterday Katrina and I participated in a fun run event held in Subic Bay Freeport Zone. We joined Subic International Marathon last year and is looking forward to making it an annual habit.

We registered for a 5k run, which I thought would be smooth and easy since it's only 5k. We've been doing 5 kilometer fun runs for a long time, and I manage to always keep a steady pace and finish it still running. It was a beautiful day, the Sun was up, and Kat & I were pretty excited since this is the first fun run we joined for this year. I was nervous though, since I suffered a painful abdominal cramp while running 6 days prior to yesterday. I don't get cramps at all when running, neither do i worry about side stitches coming up. And so i was afraid that i might not be able to reach my time goal, or finish it running.

The run started and i was feeling easy, 5k is not that long, surely i'll be able to finish this. But about a hundred meters away from the turning point my body started heating up from head to toe, and i knew that the abdominal cramp was about to come. I thought i needed water because my body was so hot, so i increased my pace a bit to get to the water station faster. Through all these Kat and i were running together. After hydrating, we went back to running. My body loved the water, and thought i was finally feeling better when out of nowhere the cramps came. I tried to push it off my mind and endured a little bit more, but it became unbearable and caused me to breathe heavily and so i told my friend to go on and run without me. I slowed my pace and eventually stopped running. I was so sad that moment, so tired and in so much pain.

Kat was around 25 meters away from me, and I was walking. I told myself that I will run whenever she gets to 50 meters away just so I can still feel motivated. But pain prevented me from doing that, it took around 15 minutes for the pain to become tolerable, and Katrina was already out of sight. I then decided to finish the race in a walk-run fashion. However I was still feeling very defeated, thinking “This used to be easy, why can’t I finish on time?” then to pull me down even more, a song titled “Many the Miles” by Sara B played as if mocking me with the lyrics “How far do I have to go to get to you? Many the miles! Many the miles!” Hahaha. Why did I ever put that on my running playlist?

Good thing though about a kilometer away from the finish line, I saw a friend of mine named Liam he was 10 years old. I met him when he was 8, he was a skateboarder back then, turned biker when he was 9, and now he’s into basketball. He told me to never give up, and asked me what maybe the cause of the cramps, i told him that I don’t know. He made me laugh and smile with his statements, and I once again felt motivated because of his encouragement. I asked him if he can help me finish the race, and he said yes, so we ran. I never got to thank him though because when we entered the field he took a shortcut to the finish line, and he was already out of sight hahah. This kid always pops out in situations similar to this.

I still finished and had Kat and my dad waiting for me at the finish line. As I continue to reflect on what happened, it challenged me even more as a runner, to do better and run smarter. I thank God that I have a lesson out of this again. This week wasn’t the best week ever, my priorities are a mess, I was doing badly in school, at home, and in training. I hadn’t given much time to God nor did I acknowledge him in all my plans this week. I was so lost in my goals and the things that I want, and I was losing strength spiritually. And so what happened yesterday was a reflection of what’s happening within. It was clear to me that I do not have the strength to do anything at all, whether it be physical, mental or spiritual apart from God. From Him I draw my strength in everything, and without Him I will always be bound to fail. 

So God used what happened to remind me of who my real source of Strength is, and who deserves Glory from everything that I do. And so I can still say that it’s been a good learning experience. I have a 10k run to look forward this February and I can only hope to do better this time. J

"So take a new grip with your tired hands & weak knees. Mark out a straight path for you feet , so that those who are weak & lame will not fall but become strong." (Heb 12:12-13)