Overcoming Giants

So last week I set out to overcome something that I never truly felt like I overcame in my past. It was something that occurred every second or third week in August during High School. It was the first week of football practice and we referred to it as "hell week". I remember the anxiety I used to feel each day knowing that I would have to go back to practice and run wind sprints at the end. The sprints would include 100 yard dashes all the way down to many 20 yard dashes. On Sunday of last week, I told myself, "it's time to overcome hell week". And so on Sunday evening I put on my shorts and my shirt. I pulled on my clean white socks and grabbed my shoes. While lacing my shoes the butterflies in my stomach appeared just as they had many summers ago while preparing for practice. Only this time, the feeling was different...instead of dreading the walk to the field, I had a bounce in my step as I walked toward one of my giants. As the field approached, my pace quickened. I walked faster. I was approaching as if I had already defeated it. I was fully aware that it had no power over me. Today, I would conquer it. 

 

I stood on the field and took in the moment saying to myself, so this is what it feels like to conquer a giant. We have all conquered things, but have you ever stopped for a moment and stood in silence while conquering it and felt the power of that moment?

 

I lined up at the end line and said to myself, "this is one more step up the mountain", and I began to run. RUN FOREST RUN kept going through my mind. I would not let this field with grass and lines beat me. So I ran. After several seconds...okay many seconds...I reached the end of the field and looked back at 120 yards of beautiful grass. With little pause I continued my journey and sprinted the 120 yards back. I felt the same things I felt at the practices in High School. My chest burned. My legs felt like giving out, my muscles were shaking, my blood coursed through my veins. It was all the same...except for one thing. In high school, my mind would have been saying, I want to stop. But now my mind was saying...I don't want to stop. Amazing the difference 1 word can make.

 

So I continued running, up and down the field until the field begged me to stop. During my last couple wind sprints a song came on the radio I was listening to. It was a song called "this is your life" by Switchfoot. I was so overwhelmed by the words as I ran that I believe my last sprints were faster than my first. The chorus is simple, it says "this is your life, are you who you want to be". It was pure poetry to be completing this while being asked am I who I want to be. I crossed the finish line of my last sprint and answered the question that had just been asked me with a loud "YES"! 

 

At the end, I was sweating and exhausted, yet have rarely felt so alive. As I walked home I began to think, I can't wait to get back and do it again. I wanted to feel the power that comes in victory. I continued all week, working out harder than I have in my entire life. I understood, what my mother must have felt like when she swam in that pool. 

 

What is your giant? What is that thing that you may have said you will never conquer. I would say - Just keep running. Face it head on, with a new attitude and new focus. Together we can reach our goals!