Track and field, a gift but not a god: How to restore the joy of running by keeping track in its proper place
Mary Margaret Flook, Staff Writer
I do not run to give me an identity; rather, I run because I’m free.
Middle school athletes, high school athletes, collegiate athletes, pro athletes, injured athletes and retired athletes all have at least two things in common.
All of them are made in God’s image and all of them are broken.
Something drives you to take the first step of every workout. Something pushes you to the finish line when you feel like you have nothing left in the tank. Your legs feel heavy, but you keep running. What drives you is often what guides you.
There is nothing like the anticipation as one waits for the gun to go off. There is nothing like crossing the finish line.
Yet, when every stride is finished, and every breathe exhaled, who are you?
Running is a beautiful gift. But when that gift becomes a god, it is no longer beautiful. Running can become a heavy weight that slows your stride and fills your heart with pride.
Whether you are currently a high school runner, a collegiate athlete, a running club member or a dedicated solo runner, you can run in freedom. Yet, running in freedom does not mean the absence of struggle; rather, running in freedom is recognizing the victory you can have in Christ over the struggle.
Here are four ways you can take to keep running in its proper place, which will allow you to enjoy the beautiful gift that running is.
May your joy and passion for running be restored by letting go of its hold on your life.
- Repent.
The first step is to repent.
Running may not seem like a spiritual exercise, but the motivations you have to run can be sinful.
Think about the reasons you run. Running to glorify yourself, or to impress someone are sinful reasons to run.
If you elevate running above God, or other responsibilities that you have faithfully committed to, than you are not running to the glory of Christ.
Briley Arnold, a former track and field athlete who ran for North Greenville University’s Track and Field team, spoke about how running was an idol in her life.
She said she idolized getting better, and she wanted praise from people rather than from God.
“It was another thing I could work for and get that little boost,” she said. “I would say I could reach people through this, but it was really selfish,” she said.
Arnold did reach people through track and field, but she also learned the importance of getting rid of idols.
She said, “My mood would be very much dependent on how I did.”
When asked about how she stopped idolizing running, Arnold said she had a dream. Arnold said it was not about running, but about other things that she was idolizing. In her dream she had many things such as a husband, and fame, yet she did not have God. She went on to say that if she had everything in the world, but did not have God, her life would be trash.
Arnold has since graduated from NGU and is working at Ride Nature Florida, that seeks to impact the world “through action sports outreach, evangelism, and discipleship.” In particular, she has found a passion for skating.
When speaking about idolizing track, Arnold said, “It seriously was a struggle until I stopped.” She said how even now after finishing track, she still struggles, “Now it’s skating.”
Her advice to those idolizing running would be “to continually ask the Lord to give you the right desires.” “Quitting isn’t the first answer ‘cause you idolize anything in your life.”
She said it’s about, “praying and seeking the Lord through it and getting to know His heart. It is continually asking yourself your intentions, why you do what you do, and asking the Lord to change that.”
Think about unhealthy reasons that you run, and where there is sin, repent. You may run because you feel empty without it. Has running taken the place of God in your life? Ask God to convict you of ways where running has become too big, and God has become too small. Only when running is in its’ proper place can it fully be enjoyed.
Runner, repent from your sins.
2. Rest
Athletes are constantly trying to measure up to expectations from others and from themselves.
Often you may run to rid yourself of guilt or feel better about yourself. When you succeed, you feel valued. When you fail, you feel ashamed. It is a constant cycle of highs and lows making you feel worth more after a personal best and worth less after a personal setback.
To enjoy the gift that running is, one must run from a place of rest.
Jessica Beard, a 400m athlete for team USA, offers advice to someone who may be struggling with finding their worth in track.
Beard had lots of successes as an athlete. As a high school athlete, she won multiple state championships, as well as district, region and junior national titles. She went on to Texas A&M university where she ran for four years winning multiple NCAA championships in the 400m. She won the Bowerman award in 2011. Following college, she became a professional athlete for adidas for 10 years, followed by a year of running for her own brand, Tummy Tuesday.
Yet, she finds her worth in none of those things.
When asked what she would say to someone struggling with finding their worth in track she said, “They have to redefine their worth and that worth has to be in something that cannot be diminished. God can’t be diminished.”
She goes on to say how medals will diminish. They get placed in a box and collect dust. People forget performances that are no longer relevant.
So what does it look like to rest in God? According to Beard resting in God is in the midst of chaos, circumstances, tribulations, and tests. It is about the peace that comes from the Spirit.
She said, “It’s not something that I can force or something that I can just magically make happen. It’s something that occurs when I fellowship and commune with God.”
Often it can be hard for an athlete to run from a place of rest when they fail to meet expectations that they have placed on themselves.
Beard had a similar experience. She found it difficult to keep doing the right thing when she was giving her all and yet not seeing the results that she wanted to see. It took Beard seven years, from 2011 to 2018, to achieve a new personal best in the 400m. During that time Beard was able to analyze and ask herself if she was being the type of steward that God wanted her to be or if she was simply going through the motions.
When asked who Beard is without track and field she said, “Without track and field, I am Jessica Beard. Track didn’t make me who I am. I am who I am because of who God is.”
She explains how her identity, her legacy, her purpose, was established before track and field. “I am who I am because of that purpose that God has given me.”
“Track is just an avenue, it’s just a vessel that God used me to glorify Him. And also, in a lot of ways, based on the things I’ve experienced, to enjoy life on this side of heaven.”
When asked about what resting in God practically looks like, Beard said that it is a constant dependency on God. Often she finds that when she has strayed away or is struggling it is because she has taken the drivers seat and tried to make something happen instead of simply trusting God.
Runner, you must rest in Christ. Run from a place of rest.
3. Renew
Romans 12:1-2 says, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.”
The mind of a runner needs to be filled with truth.
Renewing your mind takes place by the power of the Holy Spirit in the life of a believer and through His Word, the Bible.
Without Christ it is impossible to receive the things of the Spirit of God (1 Cor. 2:6-16). Unbelievers’ hearts are hardened to the gospel. They cannot see the light of the gospel.
“And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” (2 Cor. 4:3-4).
When an individual comes to know the Lord by grace through faith (Ephesians 2:8-9) that gospel is no longer veiled to them.
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Cor. 4:5-6).
Once an individual is saved by putting their trust in Christ, that person begins to be inwardly transformed. Believer’s minds begin to become like the mind of Christ (1 Cor 2:16).
Christians should seek to have the mind of Christ (Phil 2:5-11).
For more on what it means to renew your mind click here.
What a glorious truth it is to know that your mind does not have to be this dark place of fear, anxiety, doubt, shame, guilt and worry.
Practically speaking this may look like writing out scripture on notecards and taking it to practice with you. It may look like memorizing scripture to repeat during a hard workout.
Your body is a living sacrifice to God in everything that you do. Instead, of viewing running as a way to glorify yourself, what if you let the truth of God penetrate your heart to use running as a gift for Him.
Running can be a way to meet with God and a time to practice renewing your mind. Nick Schuetze works with Athletes in Action and helps athletes experience the love of Christ through his gift of running.
He says, “I find it easy to connect with God when I’m running alone.”
He explains how running is a familiar place and a place where there is less distraction.
He said, “Distraction is probably the greatest enemy of our faith in our culture today. That and a lack of rootedness in the Bible and belief that it is fully God’s words and correct in its original meaning.”
Running may be that avenue where you can set aside all distractions and go and be with the Lord as you jog down a trail or around a track.
Runner, renew your mind.
4. Refocus
What if instead of running being a tool to elevate yourself, it became a mission to praise God. What if instead of running being your source of identity, it became an avenue to show others where your true identity really lies. What if a failed race became a witness to your teammates that you find your ultimate reward in Christ, not in track. What if a victory was not to elevate your name, but to elevate His?
Dave Calvert, the assistant cross country and track and field coach at Pfeiffer university offers some advice when it comes to having the right focus in track and field.
Calvert said, “It comes down to, “What is your purpose in running?”
Calvert explains how for some their purpose is statistical. They want to hit a certain time or win for winning’s sake.
There is nothing wrong with striving for goals. Yet athletes much remember that satisfaction does not lie at the completion of a goal.
Calvert explains how there are great athletes who have accomplished great things who aren’t Christians, but in the end, are they satisfied. The next day they are taking out the trash.
Calvert remembered a time when he was coaching high school and his team won a track and field championship. It was a great moment, and Calvert was honored. Yet shortly after he was in the hospital with kidney stones.
Earthly success is fleeting.
Calvert says to take the focus off yourself, take it off the coach, your teammates and put it on the Lord.
There is not a higher cause to run for, than for the Lord Jesus Christ. He does not guarantee earthly success when you decide to give Him your gift of track. He does not promise a personal best when you decide to start running for His glory instead of your own. In fact, many times running for Him may include failure.
Yet, God Himself is our reward. May we fix our eyes on Him alone.
What if running is more about your race of faith than about your race of fame?
