Running is a Matter of Faith

1 minute read, 8 minute video

It was a summer night and I was spending it with a dear friend, Megan, at the Cleveland Museum of Natural History. We were strolling through exhibits the same way you might leisurely leaf through a magazine until Lucy fossil caught our eye. We dive right into one of my all-time favorite question: “What do you think?”. 

The truth was, I had no clue but leaned into my own inclination to think “sure, anything is possible”. Little did I know how much the conversation would have on my understanding of who God is, versus the one I knew growing up. Megan shared her Christian faith and how it is much more than religion or a set of beliefs used to worship God, but a relationship.

Boy, did I have some questions! 

My curiosity was awakened, similar to how I felt the first time I learned about ocean rowing — I just had to learn more. 

Books were read. 

Sermons were watched. 

Questions were answered.

The undeniable pull I felt couldn’t be stopped, and acceptance and belief came into my heart.

I believe! 

What does that really mean?

I am constantly learning what it means to put God first in all things. But with endurance, it has been truly transformational. Before accepting Jesus, my worth came from the world and now my worth is rooted in something much deeper than the world can offer — a belief in God. The endurance adventures continue on, only this time with joy rather than fear, eagerness rather than anxiety, and out of love rather needing to prove lovability.

To learn more about my journey from doubter to believer, here is a video from my local church, Eastpoint Church.

Live Free or Die: Nonstop Run Across N.H.

4 minute read

We’ve all got “our thing” and running happens to be one of mine. You can run from some things, and you can run to others. My last training run happened to be both!

In preparations for Run4Water, my attempt to run 130-miles nonstop across Maine for a clean water project in Tanzania, these legs have lots of strides to take and miles to log before then. Most of my long training runs have been exploring local trails & finding routes near home. With the distance of my long runs reaching the 40s and 50s, I was itching for a training run that felt like an adventure. I wanted to find a point-to-point run rather than running loops around home as a way to both explore AND to test my limit by having a goal destination.

Last weekend, my run 61-miles nonstop across the state of New Hampshire was just the challenge I needed to continue to make steps towards the ultimate goal. As always, there were some real challenges before making the first step. The friend that was coming in from Ohio was unable to make the trip with COVID to help, and because it was so last minute, I was finding it difficult to find crew or support for the run. 

Thanks to lovely friends who were willing to go the extra mile for me, I was able to get a lift on Friday night to a hotel that was 1 mile away from the border of New Hampshire and Vermont. Prior to dropping me off, we parked my car on the other side of the state. All that stood between me and it was 61-mile through the White Mountains. I had my work cutout for me!

After our goodbyes I was left with the same feeling you might have had as a kid on the night before Christmas. TOMORROW IS THE BIG DAY! The excitement could not be contained!

Running is — everything I LOVE all rolled into one. 

It is seeing new places. 

It is making new friends.

It is finding out what’s possible.

It was difficult to sleep, because I was so eager to run, but thankfully I had a good sleep the night prior (plus, that’s actually more important than the night-of a big run!). 

When I woke the next morning, I was SO ready to see New Hampshire and see what these legs could do. Just me and my hydration vest stocked with some Ziplocks filled with powdered sports drink, my credit card, car key, and handy face-mask. I used to doubt that liquids alone could sustain a 100km or 10+ hour run, but this run and others have proven otherwise. 

The conditions were perfect. It was supposed to storm. It didn’t. It was supposed to be hot. It wasn’t. A lot of runners will share stories about how *hard* it is to do these challenges. And, yes it’s true, there are tough moments but for the most part? So. Much. Fun. 

It was exciting to discover what was beyond that next “bend in the road” and to be on alert for animal encounters, especially being in moose territory!

It was humbling to be surrounded by trees that towered high, running through one forest after another, in such an untouched part of the world. 

It was peaceful to visit towns (if you can call them that?) en route that were quiet. The few stores I ran past looked like they had history and stories within them. 

It was comforting to have another ultra-runner join me when I made it around mile 50 to tag along and share the journey.

It was fun to constantly be running with a mix of fear & faith, but mainly curiosity to see how my mind and body would respond to the rigors and stressors of ultra-running.

Perhaps, my favorite part was how I felt like I was along for the ride rather than the one in the “drivers seat”. Running, at times, can be incredibly meditative. There are few things that seem to require 0% thought and 100% focus the way that ultra-running so perfectly does.

After 11 hours and 8 minutes, my journey was over before it felt like it began, and I was driving home to Portland, Maine. My body was buzzing full endorphins and the with the rush of excitement for venturing into the unknown. I didn’t come home with a medal or an award, but something better. I left as a firsthand witness to what the body is capable of doing with a bit of faith and a lot of sugar.

Part of my journey ending is encouraging you along on yours. Every journey begins the same — with a single step. As long as you keep going, you’ll get there.

If you’d like to see the route, check it out here.

Why Solitude Makes a Good Friend

3 minute read

It is New Years Eve of 2018 and I’m sitting on a zafu in a dimly light meditation hall. My new home is the Manresa Jesuit Retreat House in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. It was built to help people grow in their spiritual life by offering group & individual retreats. I am just one of many guests who have come through it’s doors and for the next ten-days I will do something even more difficult than the endurance challenges I so willingly throw myself into.

Instead of movement, I will be still. Really, really still. Like, so still I can’t scratch an itch or move my leg when it starts to fall asleep. Like, if this was a sport, I’d be earning my black belt in solitude. For the next ten-days I adhere to “noble silence”. There will be no reading or writing, no phone calls or internet, no exercise or movement. No words spoken and eye-contact made to other guests. Just me & my zafu for 12 hours a day in silence. By myself. With myself.

Why would someone want to do that to themselves?

Because I have been there before – in 2010 rowing solo across the Atlantic – with no follow boat or outside assistance for a total of 70 days alone at sea, I am familiar with what can happen in solitude. What can be labeled as social isolation, also considered the cruelest form of punishment, can be something else. Something greater. Something that can lead to a life filled with more meaning and purpose.

If there is one silver-lining to COVID-19, it would be the opportunity to reconnect with yourself. To make friends with the pause and carry from it lessons into the future.   Perhaps now, as we being to re-engage with our world once again with businesses re-opening and travel restrictions being lifted, is the time to look back at how time with yourself is valuable.

Here are some of the benefits I have discovered by spending time with myself:

Room for creative energy & innovation

If anyone says, “I feel bored”, tell them “that is GREAT!” Often times the most creative ideas come after periods of boredom or stagnation. As someone who loves crafting, I usually find I have energy after times of this open space. After-all, it’s much easier to paint on a blank canvas than one that is already full. 

Room to be a sponge.

Soak in new books. Soak in interesting podcasts. Soak in thought-provoking documentaries. Be a sponge to the infinite possibilities to learn and expand your knowledge. You can soak it all up, or you can let it all out by writing, setting goals & intentions, reflecting, and listening to that little voice inside that can be hard to hear with so many distraction and so much noise. We might be called to do something but we might not sit still long enough to hear what that voice is saying.  

Room for deeper relationships.

Every day we engage in interactions with one another, whether it be at work or simply running errands. When these interactions are no longer automatic, they become more intentional. You have the ability to choose how you invest in your relationships. You can develop even more gratitude for those relationships when unable to freely engage.  

Empty space can actually make room to uncover and discover more. One of the greatest lesson I have learned from spending time with myself isrecognizing how truly connected we are.Even in the middle of an ocean, thousands of miles away from other human beings, I felt connected when visited by the dolphins, dorados, tea turtles and sharks. Or it could be when seeing an airplane cross the sky above me. Just knowing that every morning we all would be sharing the same sunshine and every night we would be looking at the same stars made me feel connected during one of the most isolating times of my life.    

I hope you, too, have appreciated how we are all but a moment and a memory away from those we dearly cherish and love. Nothing can take away from the interconnectedness we all share as fellow human and journeyer’s in this thing called life.

You are truly never alone.