Ragnar, the GRE, and Spiritual Stamina

Holy cow. (never say that in India by the way). I just ran a 195 mile relay in Las Vegas called the Ragnar. Me and a team of 11 other runners were sponsored by the company I work for (Qualtrics), to go and represent them. I used to be a sprinter/hurdler (see above - sorry about the whiteness of the legs) and I am slowly converting to distance running. The race started in the Valley of Fire State Park in Nevada and ended on the other side of Las Vegas at the Red Rock Casino. It was quite the race. I only ran about 18 miles of it, but that is longer than I have ever ran before. We started at 7:30 AM on Friday and ended at about 2:00 PM the next day (about 30 hours of strait running). Two of my three portions of the race were in the middle of the night. (Not a huge fan though it showed me that I am capable of running 6 miles even at 4:00 AM!). I really enjoyed the experience, but ended up being very sore and tired at the end. My friend Esther on the other hand, was fresh at the end of each of her legs (portions of the race). I was amazed that she was fine and not limping around like I was at the end. I felt like I was like 80 and needed a wheel chair (please don't take offense if you

are 80+ and reading this!). It got me thinking, something I never do (ha)...that it was such a lesson for life. Esther runs everyday probably like 4 to 5 miles a day. It was just a normal thing for her to run 18 miles in a couple of days. I wasn't used to it. I did not have the stamina. I used to be able to run a 400 meter dash like a champ and be done, but running 8 miles uphill and in the middle of the night can really get to you if you are not ready. There is no "winging it". This is the same with life and spirituality. I am preparing to take the GRE on December 4 and I can't just show up and expect to get a good score. I know that I will have to practice daily - a daily 4 mile run so to speak.

Spiritual stamina is also the same. You can't just fake it when you need spiritual stamina. You need to build it up so that when the temptations come and when things are hard unexpectedly and you have to "run in the middle of the night", you can finish that leg of the race. This life is like a Ragnar. Long stretches of hard, dedicated and focused running. But it is possible!