[As of July 2024 Gannett Publishing, the owner of Monroe News, has decided to cease publishing the faith columns in their paper. This no doubt comes to the dismay of this writer and many readers of their paper. Feel free to give them your feedback. I have enjoyed writing the columns and am also blessed with all the positive feedback. I hope to continue writing similar columns and publish them here on my Wilderness Wanderings Blog. If you like them and have feedback please feel free to continue to offer it.]
I’m spending time in the last month reflecting upon my big ultra race experience on July 6th. I was in the mountains of Colorado in the highest incorporated city in America, Leadville, which sits at 10,100 feet. I ran a 50-mile race on the mining roads outside of Leadville and it was an incredible experience. It wasn’t just the race itself, but the time with family the week before the race and also the months of preparation leading up to it that all meant something wonderful.
As I reflected on how the race and all my preparation for it all came full circle I was reminded of a fascinating scene that was released a few weeks prior in the popular kid’s show Bluey. It was in the season 3 episode “The Sign”. As Bluey learns that her family is looking at moving from their home she shares this tough news with her class at school. All her little friends begin howling with her (as sad dogs would do!) at the news. Her teacher, Calypso, goes into a story to help them along. The story was called “The Farmer” and I’ve captured below the basic dialog:
Calypso tells the story:
Once there was a farmer who owned a beautiful horse
Once there was a farmer who owned a beautiful horse
But one day, his horse ran away
Upon hearing the news, his neighbors came to visit.
“That’s such bad luck,” they said.
“We’ll see,” replied the farmer.
The very next morning, his horse came back,
And it brought three wild horses with her
“Wow,” said the neighbors, “that’s such good luck.”
“We’ll see,” replied the farmer.
The next day, his son tried riding one of the wild horses,
But it threw him off, and he hurt his leg.
The neighbor’s said, “That’s bad luck.”
“We’ll see,” replied the farmer.
The next day, soldiers came to the village
And made all the young men join the army.
But they didn’t take the farmer’s son because his leg was hurt.
“That’s such good luck,” said the neighbors.
“We’ll see,” replied the farmer.
Bluey: “is that a happy ending or a sad ending?”
Calypso: “it’s both.”
I loved the waitful and patient demeanor of the Farmer who took both the good and the bad news in stride, understanding that with everything in life it is a “we’ll see” as to how it will turn out in the big picture. How often do we have a freak out moment at bad news and then days, weeks later we understand that things actually turned out for the best.
That was a big part of my experience in my ultra race at Leadville. I had a number of things happen to me in the build-up to the race that I would have considered bad luck. In January 2024 I had a very bad fall on the ice in front of my house. I thought I had torn a ligament in my knee. I was afraid surgery was around the corner. This happened literally only a few days after signing up for my 50-mile race. In the weeks that followed I was relieved that there were no tears but it was a PCL strain. Thankfully, that has healed.
While I was adjusting my training and waiting for the PCL to heal something else happened. I developed a nagging case of patellar tendonitis. My knees became increasingly achy and stiff. I was wondering how in the world I would survive four more months of training plus a 50-mile race. More bad luck you might say.
I had one last hiccup in the remaining days before the race. We went out to Colorado four days prior to the race to begin to acclimatize to the high altitude. In those days we hiked two different 14ers. I tried to do so at an easy pace and was conscious of saving my legs for my race. Well I aggravated my calf muscles and they had a soreness to them that made it hurt to step up or step down out of our vehicle. Something as simple as going down a step was uncomfortable and I had over 7000 feet of elevation gain coming up in the race. More bad luck you might say (or maybe in this case, poor decision making).
Come race day I get started and hope for the best. And that is what I got. I felt great in the first half of the race and was purely enjoying myself. I had put KT tape on my knees and my calves hoping it would stabilize them and it did. I was having the time of my life out on the course and moving well. Despite all the setbacks and injury in the leadup to the race I found something I had been doing in my training seemed to be really paying off. What had appeared to be a disaster in the lead up turned out to be one of my best days ever.
I had the rare race where I beat my goals and by a nice margin. This truly doesn’t happen often. It dawned on me, the last time I had a day this special was on another day where my expectations were low. It was at the Pikes Peak Marathon in 2016 where, similar to this trip, I created some sore muscles in my legs while hiking mountains to acclimatize and I was afraid the race would become a disaster. Yet despite my worries going into the race I had an awesome day and an excellent result.
Those two surprisingly great races which came out of expectations which were so low are what led me to this writing. How could such good results come from moments with such low expectations? How could such good come from what otherwise had seemed like bad news? The story of the Farmer had it right, when things are happening, either good or bad, the best response is simply “we’ll see.”
We don’t know how the events of our lives will add up. The Lord does. It is why we are guided and directed to place our trust in Him. We cannot see all ends. We cannot understand the full wisdom of the Lord whose ways are higher than our ways. Sometimes the days and the moments which by all our standards seem bad, even catastrophic, might bring forth great good. And maybe some of the days we call good end up bringing bad results in the long-term. We never know in the moment. And so by faith we follow Him and trust that He will work all things for good. Above all, we know that the end of the story, by grace through faith, will be very good. The resurrection awaits all who live in Jesus and that is most assuredly very good news!
To God be the glory.
Mark
mark@wildernesswanderings.net
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