I have said this before but it was driven home for me during my race, and during this Year of Memories, that the community that convenes around races, both large and small, is a glimpse into heaven, a moment where you can tangibly feel the support from total strangers who are there and cheer because you are there. They don’t seem to care, why you’re there only that you are. I can even be seen by the people that finish before you, which for me is a significant number, they stand around and cheer you on, “You got this, looking great, keep going!” as they walk to their cars, shiny medal around their neck and finisher’s t-shirt draped over their shoulder.

As I ran the marathon, I began to see it as a metaphor for life. When you begin the race there is a lot of excitement and energy. For me, I have to try and pace myself or I will run out of energy before I run out of race. As you get into a rhythm in the race, or in life, the spectators, the energy, the support gets less and less, until, at least at the Portland Marathon miles 14-18, you are by yourself on the course, just you and your thoughts. Your brain and body are yelling at you, “WHAT THE HELL WHERE YOU THINKING!!! SHOULD HAVE TRAINED MORE!!! THERE IS NO WAY YOU’RE GOING TO FINISH THIS!!! JUST QUIT!!!”

Then you reach “Check-Point Charlie” and you head up the hill to cross the St. John’s Bridge, at the top of the hill is a band playing music and there are people dancing and you think, “I can do this!” You cross the bridge and there are literally a hundred people standing there cheering for someone. They have signs, they have cowbells, they are smiling. Now I know they are there for someone in particular but that doesn’t stop them from cheering everyone else on.

This is when the race gets serious, or at least it did for me. Miles 17-20 were a gut check and when I got to mile 20, I was checked out. I had a blister, my IT band was screaming at me, my blood sugar was dropping, my hips were sore and all the Body-Glide I had used at the beginning of the race had either washed off from sweat and rain or been rubbed off by shear pounding. Let’s just say I was hurting.

With each successive mile I realize the importance of utilizing quality the gear. The problem is that quality costs (and sometimes it costs a lot). A few weeks ago a friend let me know about a new website that offers quality outdoor gear at highly discounted prices. Like Woot they offer products at a discounted price for a certain length of time. The deal ends when time expires or when items have sold out. The nice thing about The Clymb is that they deal exclusively in outdoor goods and products. Recently, they’ve carried running shoes, clothing, hydration packs, and things of that sort.

I neither own shares in the company nor have any stake in their success or failure as a company. I share this information only so that other runners may get the gear that they need and run in the out-of-doors without having to pay an outrageous price for quality gear.

To sign up and become a member of The Clymb, simply follow the link: Register for The Clymb.

Perfect weather. Fun course. Hundreds of thousands of spectators. Fall colors. I completed the Twin Cities Marathon at its finest on Sunday.

I’m glad I ran the race. In so doing, I proved to myself my first marathon wasn’t a fluke. But, honestly, this one was also incredibly painful, vastly time-consuming, and perhaps not fully worth the trouble.

Folks say I’m supposed to be on cloud nine for days after completing a marathon, but I’m just not feeling it. Or, rather, I’m feeling something else. Let me explain.

After my first marathon, I felt an enormous sense of accomplishment. Before running, I wasn’t totally sure I could finish. I had only run a few half marathons before, and 26.2 miles seemed like an eternity. But I finished (pretty slowly, 4:57), and I could claim I had run a marathon. That newness, proving to myself and the world that I could do it, was a huge motivator.

At the Twin Cities, though, I didn’t have quite as much of a drive. The novelty had worn off. I knew I could finish, and barring huge complications I’d do so faster than before. I did want to run. There wasn’t any question about my intentions (partly because 2.5 years ago I had planned on the Twin Cities being my first marathon, but the Sunday schedule had made that difficult). But intentions aren’t everything, so though I was glad to be doing it, I found I lacked the competitive-streak that many runners have.

I had a goal time (which I barely missed, at 4:31), but I’m not too upset about it. The most annoying part, actually, was that for the last five miles I was so nauseated I could barely run. I wish I could have made myself throw up, but I wasn’t in control of my body enough even to manage that! At the finish, after calmly collecting my medal and T-shirt and meeting my kind fans, I had to lie down for 20 minutes or so. Every limb went numb for a while. Every position, sitting or lying down, was agony. I was hurting, bad, real bad. (Megan was concerned, real concerned.)

My body doesn’t like marathons. I can get through them. I could run many more. But they feel far from marking health and wholeness. After 20 miles or so, it just gets silly.

As best as I can tell, I trained for the Twin Cities by running around 350 miles in preparation. That’s a lot of Saturday long runs, a lot of time away from Megan, a lot of NPR listening. I’m glad I did it — I can say I’ve run two marathons now — but I think the cost-benefit analysis has flipped for me. I never got the high from this second one that I did with the first. I’m not much concerned with beating my 4:31 time. I don’t see the wisdom of investing the time and complications for training.

I love running. It keeps me healthy and sane, and serves as a great spiritual practice. But I plan to retire from marathon running. Half marathons, 10Ks, etc. are lovely. Who knows, maybe I’ll do a sprint Triathlon one day. But, marathons just make me sore.

So I started running, I started small, a half mile every couple days and little by little I increased my distance. Well, as of today I have lost 55 pounds and currently run 8 miles a day during the week and 10 miles on Saturdays. I NEVER thought I would become a runner, I had tried countless times to get into the routine of running daily but had failed miserably, but this time was different. This time I had a reason to run.

Last week I completed my first race a 10k and the whole time I was running my mind was thinking back to the past year and all that it took to get me to that place. Then as I was coming down the home stretch I looked up and saw my son standing there, cheering for me as I crossed the finish line. It was at that moment that I realized: HE IS WHY I RUN.

I honestly believe the reason I was able to stick with running and loose the weight that I did was because I knew WHY I was running. That was the key to it all. So how about you, why do you run?

Rob Schwinge is a pastor in Wyckoff New Jersey. Check out his blog: www.alittlebitdifferent.org. FUN FACT: every Friday on the blog is “Fat Pastor Friday” where he gives tips on weight loss and healthier living.

As I’ve described my fitness and weight loss struggles to some of these friends, I have heard from a couple that I should try going gluten-free just to see if it made a difference. They suggested that I might feel better and it might make the difference as far as weight loss went. “I’d never be able to do that,” I decided.

This past week, however, I gave it a shot. “I can do anything for a week,” I reasoned. I knew a week wasn’t going to make a huge difference, but I was curious. If it went well, I would stick with it longer.

Monday morning, I headed to the kitchen for breakfast. I had coffee, a scrambled egg and some oatmeal. That was easier than I expected!

I headed to the grocery store. I had done a little bit of research to make sure I knew what I was looking for. I decided not to buy a lot of gluten-replacement products, although I know they would be a good option if I decide to adopt this lifestyle. I just decided to look for food that naturally didn’t contain gluten. Carrots and hummus, apples, chicken, potatoes, Chex cereal, Greek yogurt, lettuce, cheese, Luna bars for after my work outs (they may contain traces of wheat because of where they are processed–and I know if I had to be gluten free for health reasons, I would have to skip them, but I decided in my case I could take the chance), a few other protein and veggie options. I carefully read every label, because one thing I’ve learned is that the ingredients are sometimes not what’d you’d expect.

The week went rather smoothly. Here’s what I discovered:

1. For me, gluten is apparently not an “essential.” I didn’t feel like I was missing anything from my diet. It didn’t leave me feeling “empty” or weak, like when I fast other types of food that my body is used to eating (sugar, for example).
2. It’s surprising what you can still eat while on a gluten-free diet. In my cereal purchases at the grocery store, I had included Cap’n Crunch for the kid. Turns out, Cap’n Crunch is gluten-free! That was a nice mid-week treat!
3. Restaurants are tricky. Some things clearly contain wheat or gluten. Other things aren’t so obvious either way. My husband and I celebrated our wedding anniversary this week by going out for dinner. I never read a menu so carefully and asked so many questions!
4. Several of my friends have gone gluten-free or know people close to them who have, because a small plea for advice on facebook yielded quite a lot of first-hand advice!
5. After a week, I feel good but not really any different. I didn’t notice any changes in my digestion. I am a couple of pounds lighter, but my weight does tend to fluctuate by a couple of pounds anyway.
6. I realize that there are people who live on a gluten-free diet by necessity and I realize that this must be very hard. Always in the back of my mind, I remembered that this diet was not permanent and that if I messed up or ate something with gluten unaware, it would not hurt me.
7. The youth-ministry diet is full of gluten! It would be tricky to fast it while at camp or on mission trips or overnights with the group! At least if I ever have a student or volunteer  in this situation, I’ll have a better understanding about his or her diet needs.
8. Because I was being so conscious about what I was eating, I ate a much better diet all week. I packed my lunch carefully with a good balance of protein, carbs and veggies and fruit. I ate more fresh and whole foods because I knew their ingredients without checking labels (which were not always available!). I would say that this was the key and the most important thing about my gluten-free week.

For more information about gluten-free eating, consult these resources:

• An article about going gluten-free for a month as an experiment
• Mayo Clinic Health Information about gluten
• List of gluten-free/casein-free foods from TACA

Written by Becky Durham

A few years ago, my pastor at the time would often talk about how the gospel was good news in wholeness. Rather than seeing God’s presence amongst us as something mostly ethereal or spiritual, we focused on the “earthiness” of God. To this day, I still gravitate to the notion that God cares as much about our diets, our exercise, our relationships and our overall health at least as much as our church attendance or scripture memorization. Yet, here I find myself, seeking employment in a church denomination that I love, but that so often seems to not get this point.

We’ve all been there; the crudely painted Sunday school classroom in the basement or back hallway of our church. Posters hang on the walls depicting faith as hip and rebellious. The few kids that come to the group gravitate to the Wii or Xbox set up in the corner, or perhaps the cool youth pastor with the goatee and guitar. Some of the more edgy pastors may even have been hired because they are “tech savvy”, in that they have a facebook and twitter account, and can navigate a blog. After 20 minutes of video games and snacks, the group sits down on frayed couches to learn about a God that is usually either distant and stern, or intensely personal and buddy-buddy. With one, the kids leave feeling that this God has nothing to do with their life or their experiences, and is something which is easily left behind once they are on their own. With the other, the various members of the group try to “out spiritualize” one another with fantastic claims of personal religious experience, which may or may not be authentic. Either way, the young person often leaves feeling empty and isolated.

I don’t mention all this to be critical of the church and its various attempts to reach young people. The intentions are usually very good. Thank God that there are so many people willing to work with our youth, and so many churches who recognize the value of supporting young people. The truth is, young people are really hard to reach, and the gospel which is presented to them is often foreign to their personal experience.

The point is, I think the gospel we present to our young people ought to be one which is simultaneously eternal as well as present and functional. We need to talk about God’s love demonstrated through the live and sacrifice of Christ. Yet at the same time, we need to talk about the importance of eating healthy, exercising on a regular basis, and proper sleep hygiene. The reality of forgiveness and the role of the Holy Spirit should go hand in hand with valuing mental health and seeking professional help when it is needed.

I don’t know what the answer is. I think one of the big questions the church is going to have to wrestle with in this generation is how to keep young people actively engaged in the church community. I do however believe that we will not be successful in accomplishing this unless we are able to imagine a more whole, “earthy” faith life that engages the body and mind as well as the soul.

Yes – it’s true. You too could be JUST as happy as the people above while wearing your brand new #RunRevRun performance micro-fiber running shirt! Sorry for the delay after hinting about making shirts months ago, but things have been busy. I went ahead and used Zazzle to make and sell the shirts, frankly because it was easiest. I created three products to choose from (but if you go to the site, it looks like you could choose any other shirt you want as well):

• Men’s Shirt - $35.95
• Women’s Shirt - $35.95 Sorry everyone, apparently Zazzle doesn’t have any of the normal women’s running shirts in stock. But it looks like the Sleeveless one is okay, but just not the normal running shirt. They’re going to get back to me on when it will become available. If you already ordered one, I’d go ahead and cancel the order – because they also gave me some 30% off coupons that people could use. If you want a 30% off coupon, Adam has 30. Email him for more information.
• Women’s Sleeveless Shirt - $33.95

$5 discount here: I just found this link that you can use to click through to Zazzle that wil save you $5/shirt. Once you get there, just search for runrevrun and then select your shirt. To take advantage of that, click here. I realize the shirts are still a little expensive, but it’s because they are made from the performance micro-fiber material. The nice thing about Zazzle is that you can play around with it and choose to put the design on another style of t-shirt if you’d like.

The one unfortunate way that Zazzle seems to operate for creating/selling shirts, is that they required me to add a 10% markup for each shirt. I couldn’t really find a way around that. I will be using that money for the domain purchase and hosting that we use for #RunRevRun – assuming that’s alright with folks.

I hope you enjoy your new #RunRevRun shirts!

This afternoon, as I was putting the finishing touches on my message for Sunday, I received “severe weather” announcements from The Weather Channel on both my DROID and iPad. The announcement: It’s a scorched out there; lock your pets and elderly in an air-conditioned room; and cease and desist from any strenuous physical activity.

The announcement was neither new or surprising. I received similar notifications on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons. Wednesday I ran. Yesterday I did not.

Given that I was up much of the night working on a paper and working on the ceremony for my brother’s upcoming wedding, every fiber of my being rejoiced when I saw this severe weather announcement. “No one will care if I don’t run,” I said to myself. “No one will think less of me. It’s a scorched – surely I can afford to take another day off,” I assured myself.

Two years of running and six months of training came to a head at this moment. I have run in sub-zero temperatures and on days when the temperatures have been in the triple digits. I have woke up early, stayed up late, and run between meetings at times just to ensure I got a run in.

I have exercised great discipline and I’m not about to blow my training just because I don’t really want to run and have been provided with a convenient excuse.

This is one of the times when running has helped to put matters of faith into perspective. Scripture describes the life of faith as a race.

Those who run the race are to run in such a way as to win the prize.

Most start out well. They leave the starting line with gusto.

Some drop out very quickly.

Others run a disciplined race. They rely on their training. With determination they stay the course and maintain the pace.

But about mile twenty, the thighs begin to burn. The salt of one’s sweat makes one’s eyes feel as if they are on fire.

In moments such as these any excuse to slow down or duck out seem welcome.

Many embrace the convenient excuses and duck out or slow down.

But those who run in such a way as to win the prize persevere. They eschew the excuses. They dig deep. They embrace the pain and endure the heat. And they run.

They run because their wind at their backs and the sweat upon their brow reminds them that they are free… That they are alive… And that in the end it will all be worth it.

Are you running in such a way as to win the prize? Or do you, knowing that it’s a scorched out there, take the convenient out?

… I guess it is time to lace up the shoes, grab a water bottle, and worm up a sweat…

Post written by Josh Rhone

Originally appeared over at joshrhone [dot] com

I know, though, that it’s easy to get used to a work out routine and it becomes less effective. I was discussing this with my chiropractor (who is also a personal trainer) several weeks ago.

“You should do intervals,” she said.

She explained how to do it–intervals is mixing high intensity bursts of activity with lower intensity activity.

Here’s how I do it on my particular elliptical machine:

I start at the warm-up level.

Minutes 1-5:   CrossRamp (CR) 11  Resistance (R) 1

Minute 6: CR 12 R 2

Minute 7: CR 13 R 3

Minute 8: CR 14 R 4

Minute 9: CR 15 R 5

Minute 10-12: CR 16 R 6 (fast)

Minute 13-15: CR 13 R 3 (two levels above where I started)

Minute 16: CR 14 R 4

Minute 17: CR 15 R 5

Minute 18: CR 16 R 6

Minute 19: CR 17 R 7

Minute 20-22: CR 18 R 8 (fast)

Minute 23-25: CR 15 R 5 (four levels above where I started)

Minutes 25-30: CR 11 R 1 (cool down)

(Often, at minute 25, I keep going until I reach 40-45 minutes, but my trainer assures me that when you do intervals, the workout is more efficient and 30 minutes is plenty.) Note: every elliptical machine is different, so you have to figure out how it best works for you.

By the way, there’s a pattern–it’s not like you have to take a chart to the gym. Just warm up, increase each minute, keep your top level for a few minutes and then decrease to a step up from your warm-up and repeat. You can do this with any machine at any level that works for you. The point is to have intervals where you’re working on increasing your speed and level, work hard/fast at the increased level, then have a resting period.

She said that the good thing about intervals for her is that she doesn’t have to work as long, but she gets a great work out. She also told me to watch  my heart rate–that it would definitely be higher with the increased intensity and bursts of activity (she’s right). Plus, for me, it keeps my brain more active as I track the minutes and the levels and I do not get as bored.

It’s made my elliptical work out challenging again. I can feel my body working hard to achieve each new level. I can challenge myself to move faster at the lower levels as I increase. My average heart rate is at the optimum cardio level through most of my work out.

Don’t get me wrong, the gym does have some quirks. The bathrooms stink like a mix of body odor and dank wetness. I inevitably gag just a little bit whenever I walk into the men’s room, especially if someone is- ah- taking care of business. Also, the temperature can become a nuisance in the main workout room in the summer, as there is no AC. There is a very nice woman with cancer who comes to work out every day, but who calls ahead and has the staff turn the heat up so she can be comfortable. Of course I always find the temperature too warm in these cases, but I realize it’s a special circumstance, and I am more than willing to let it slide.

No, I am more than happy with my little local gym. However, the main issue I have deals with gym etiquette. You see, there is a male staff at our gym that constantly comes into the workout room and flirts with the female patrons. So as not to embarrass anyone, I will call this staff Glen. Every day, Glen makes his rounds amongst the elliptical machines and treadmills, stopping and literally staring at the young or attractive women who are working out. Glen’s plan, it would seem, is simply to walk up to his target, stare at them, and either engage them in conversation, or just wait for them to take out their ear buds and acknowledge him.

At times, Glen will even get on a neighboring machine and “work out” for 5-10 minutes while he talks to these women. Clearly, however, most of the women he targets would much rather he not bother them. Jovana, my girlfriend, has felt his stare on more than a few occasions, sometimes while I am even working out right next to her. And what’s worse, Glen knows we are together. He asks her about her “boyfriend” almost every time I am not with her, and goes out of his way to ask her inquiring questions about our relationship status and living arrangements. Last week, as she was finishing up a set of crunches, he casually asked her if she would like to go eat some fried chicken with him after her workout. I’m not making this stuff up.

The thing is, I’m not really one of those overbearing jealous types. I don’t care if people flirt with my girlfriend, and I trust Jovana completely. My gripe is more with the etiquette of the situation. Why does this staff member of the gym think it’s appropriate to ogle the women who are working out, staring at them and flirting with them constantly? If the situation was reversed, and it was a female employee constantly trying to talk with me, I would feel uncomfortable. Jovana has even started avoiding working out at times when Glen is normally at work, just to avoid his awkward conversation. It really does make me realize why places like Curves have been so successful.

I don’t have a solution to this problem. I don’t think Glen should be fired, I just think it is really strange that he doesn’t seem to notice when people are clearly trying to avoid and ignore him. Social cues are more difficult for some people than they are for others. Perhaps Glen is just not gifted in reading body language. I do hope someone is strong enough to give him some honest feedback. Would you? Have any of you experienced this sort of situation at your gym, or perhaps your workplace?