Watching the Olympics this evening it was interesting the juxtaposition of the pre-recorded men’s 100 m sprint (dash) interspersed with the live women’s marathon.  Then later in the evening again the live swimming coverage began with the women’s 50 m and was followed by the men’s 1500 m.  It both categories was the shortest event paired with the longest event.

In each case the strategy for running (or swimming) the race is different:  all-out for the sprint, pace yourself for the distance.  The start is incredibly important for the sprint, not as much for the distance.  When the sprint starts the eyes are on the finish line, when the marathon started every one of the competitors looked down at their watch as they started it so they would know their pace.  For me, the latter image of starting the watch so you have a “standard” or “measure” to guide you is one of the strongest object lessons I have seen in these games.

Now you could come up with all sorts of object lessons from both the sprints or the distance events:  Pacing yourself versus keeping your eyes on the goal; having the endurance for the long race versus the importance of all aspects, start, sprint, and finish for the short distance.  One of the interesting lessons from the Romanian woman who won the marathon (who lives and trains in the US) is the commentators’ comment that she figures out her strategy for the race and then runs it regardless of what is happening around her.  Another interesting and related object lesson is that after she made her move (she was about a minute ahead of her closest competitor for the last 10 miles of the race) she did not look back until she got close to the finish. 

[Other inspirations this evening: The marathon winner, Constantina Tomescu, and U.S. Swimmer Dara Torres, with an individual silver in the 50 m freestyle, were second oldest and oldest competitors in the events at 38 and 41 years old.  As Dara said later “You don’t have to put an age limit on your dreams.”  And the 1500 m swimming event was won by Oussama Mellouli from Tunisia, the first swimming medal ever for Tunisia (although he also lives and trains in the US).]

So, if our Christian life is a marathon, set your pace, run your race, don’t let the pack throw you off your plan to reach the goal.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses,
let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily
entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. – Hebrews 12:1