Double-Knot Your Shoes

I was still a fairly new and inexperienced runner when I entered a 5k race in the little town where we had moved.  It was well-before the craze of running had taken over our country.  I was not a serious runner by any means. By measure of pace, mere jogging would be a better descriptor.  For me, it was just another way of enjoying the outdoors.  And at the time, in a new location, as a young mom with two babies, and as a transplanted Yankee in a very southern town, participating was another way of connecting in our community.

But running began to teach me a lot more than how to exercise. Discipline in any form bleeds over into so many other areas of life.  As in every endeavor in life, I learned to approach and navigate the hills, blind turns, and unexpected potholes that loom suddenly into view, a discipline of endurance on many different levels.

And in that busy season of infants and toddlers, running helped me hit the reset button when I was out of my mind by the end of the day.  Before my husband returned from work, I would get supper ready, the baby girls settled, and pull on my running clothes for a quick run before we ate.  It was a routine in which each one of us thrived.

This particular 3.1 mile race took place on a weekday evening, a charity event sponsored by a local group.  I was one of the few women runners, and it was only my second race ever.  

With only about a quarter of a mile left in the race, I learned what seemed like an insignificant detail developing into something that mattered a lot.  I had tied on my running shoes, ready to run.  But I had not double-knotted them.   Over the course of the race, without my notice, the laces on my running shoes loosened, and my right shoe fell off.  I ran the rest of the course with only one shoe.

First rule of running, double-knot your shoes.  I haven’t forgotten that.

Along about the same time, I met an older woman at church.   She recommended to me, “Make the Bible the first thing you read in the day.”  I haven’t forgotten that either.

But I would add praying to that.  Double-knot your shoes.  God’s Word and prayer at the beginning of the day changes how we run through our day. 

What difference does it make?  Keeps me running with Him, courage in my veins, and shoes on my feet.  First things first.  Not so insignificant at all.

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize?  So run that you may obtain it.  Every athlete exercises self-control in all things.  They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.   1 Corinthians 9. 24-25