Things I Learned from the Mile

Happy end-of-summer to you! School has begun, the days are getting a little bit shorter, and the fall decorations are out in stores, meaning that the most wonderful time of the year is finally coming. I hope that you had a wonderful summertime with your family and friends, and were able to make lots of great memories. 

​Did you get catch any of the Olympics this summer? This year there was MUCH to comment upon throughout the games. But I mean did you get to watch the athletes compete? Those people have been working tirelessly since they were small children, and it is a sight to behold - so many of them are incredible at their sport.

There’s one particular swimming event that you may not have taken the time to watch - the 1500 meter freestyle. It is one of the longest and in some ways least-thrilling races to watch, at least compared to a sprint or a relay, and is affectionately known in swimming circles as “the mile“.  Even if you didn’t watch it, you might have heard of a woman who truly is the G.O.A.T. in this race, Katie Ledecky - she is amazing! Most races at that level are won by hundredths of a second, but the next- best people in the world can’t even come close to her. Watching her reminds me of that wonderful movie Chariots of Fire and the line given to Eric Liddell,  "I believe God made me for a purpose - but He also made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure." 

Let me give you a little bit of perspective about this race, as I was intimately acquainted with it in my younger years. I am not sure that there is any young swimmer anywhere on the face of the earth in any generation that dreams of being a miler. To be good at it means that you don't have the fast-twitch muscles for the sprint races that are so exhilarating, and over-with so quickly. I distinctly remember when I realized that was all the college coaches were really looking at me for, and let’s just say it was a season of tears! It is a very long race, and everyone who attempts it has to be sure their head is firmly in the game before they dare to put their body into it. It is long, it is tedious, it is painful, some would even say it is boring, but it is so good.

Teenaged me in the natural habitat of my youth

I never realized just how often that race was going to help me in life after competitive swimming. But the race of life for most of us is long and often difficult, sometimes tedious, and sometimes quite painful. It turns out we are all going to face the mile, in one way or another. So let me share with you a few of the things I learned from my swimming race that have been such a help to me. 


1. Lots of practice gets you ready for the race 
I have a somewhat regularly recurring dream. I, in all of my middle-aged glory, show up at college swim practice, where my coach Jim gives me the rundown of what practice will entail. It is funny to me how my dreaming brain can still vividly remember some of the most grueling sets that used to be an every day part of life for me and my fellow distance lane friends. But in my dream, I am fully aware that I am now in my 50s, and have had children, and my hips…! Not to mention that I just have not been working out like that, and not in a long time! In my dream, I am caught out, and am shown to be unprepared for the practice, let alone for the race.

But, if the mile taught me anything, it taught me that lots of practice does get you ready for the race. The first time I swam the mile in early high school, I thought I was going to die before the end, and was actually surprised when I survived. When I was older, I moved into the distance lane, where we trained all year for those long distance races. Even though the race itself never got any shorter, my preparation helped me be well-prepared to meet it. This is true in life: when we keep ourselves healthy and ready - spiritually, emotionally, physically, mentally, socially - we are better suited to meet the difficulties of life with grace and margin. 


2. You can do hard things 
Swimming the mile taught me that I can get up on a starting block, take a deep breath, and eagerly dive in when the gun goes off to give my all in a race that I know is going to make me throw up. And do you know what else? I know that I can finish it, and go on to get up on the block that evening and do it again.

Difficult things happen. Hard things are sure to come. But God made us strong, and the scripture clearly tells us that He absolutely never gives us more than we can bear. Sure, some things are harder than you can even imagine - much harder than a long swimming race. But you can do hard things. You can go through the ugliest, unprovoked, undeserved, unimaginable things. In fact, going through difficult things make us able to minister to others in a way that we never have before. God is so brilliant, and uses all of the difficult things we encounter in life in this broken world to refine us like pure gold, and to make us into the men and women He created us to be.

​3. Other people are also in this race 
Swimming is so nice because everyone gets their own lane, with thick dividing ropes in between to keep things orderly. Most of the time I am actually racing myself and my own best times even more than I am racing others. In fact, until the relays roll around, many swimmers often forget that it is actually a team sport. At any given swim meet, I might be fighting that mile with all I've got, but there are 7 other women in the pool doing the same thing. And there were a few other heats of racers. And the men's events are soon following. I am not the only one struggling through this tough race. 

This is true in life, as well. We get so busy racing in our own lane that we too-often forget to look around and see that others are toiling, too. Others are struggling, just trying to make it, and maybe going through something hellish right beside us. When I've been through hard things, I can encourage others through their tough time. When I'm going through tough things, I can remember to have grace with others around me, knowing I'm surely not the only one. Lots of grace and forgiveness can be one of the most beautiful parts of family and community, if we will let it be. 

4. You need some help to get through 
Milers often joke that you have to pay your own coach and your own mom to stay and watch you race. The swim meet planners know how long and boring that particular event is for spectators, so they always put the preliminaries right at lunchtime. This means that anyone swimming the mile really does have to ask someone to please eat quickly so they can count for you. Yes, someone has to be your helper and run a counter for you so you don't forget what lap you're on! In a 5o meter pool, the mile is 30 times back and forth, in a 25 yard pool, it is 66 times back and forth. Without help, the swimmer is likely to lose his or her place! 

I am grateful to have learned early that we just can't do life alone - we need one another. We can watch out for our family, friends, and neighbors, and lend (or receive!) a helping hand when it's needed. Jesus reminded us that any time we do something for others, especially for "the lease of these", it is just like we're doing it for Him. Life is healthiest when we don't all wait around for someone else to help. 

5. The middle of the race is actually where the race is lost or won
​My college coach taught me this profound way of approaching the grueling mile. Before I swam for him, my method was just to try make it to the end. That is not a very helpful method at all. This great coach helped me understand that the race can be approached by dividing it into thirds - beginning, middle, and end. This made it seem much more approachable, as I could do three 500s all day long! Further, he helped me understand that anyone can start well, and many can rally and really try as the end gets very near; but very few can be focused enough also to make the middle 500 count. 

I have found this principle to transfer in so many areas - faith, relationships, health, exercise, work, learning, ministry, projects, and on and on. Too often we lose heart or lose focus, and don't realize it until it is too late. The end seems just too far away, and we quit trying. We might still finish the race, but we left behind the opportunity for real excellence all the way through. I think this is what the writer of Hebrews was encouraging in chapter 12, "And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart."


Be encouraged today!  The Lord of heaven and earth loves you and is cheering you on, and has sent His Holy Spirit to help you. May His presence and nearness be so real to you today in all you do. 

Happy blog anniversary to all of us! I'm so grateful to God for you, and am very excited to begin a sixth year together. Stay tuned for some good things coming...