Three steps to beginning marathon training - rulk, ruddle and run

May 23, 3:10 PMChristian Worldview ExaminerBill Belew

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If you have never run before, or aren't in relatively good aerobic shape, it is pretty unrealistic to think you can run a marathon this weekend. My friend told me of a nephew/cousin (someone remotely related) who ran a marathon in a respectable time on a whim. But, he was captain of his rowing team. Try being the captain of the remote control team and run a marathon. Big difference.

I have met not a few folk who have told me they ran a marathon. In the course of the discussion the time it took to complete the distance usually comes up - 5 hours, 6 hours, 7 hours!  Uh, no, they didn't run a marathon. The ruddled it, rulked it. To 'run' a marathon, the time needs at least a 2 or a 3 in front of it, IMHO.

I can walk 4-5 miles an hour, continually for a long time...say 100km or even 100miles. Yeah, I have done it. I call it rulking. Run + walking. Five-6 miles an hour, (that's still not a 10k in under an hour) is more like ruddling = run + toddling or for some waddling. It's what I am doing these days after letting myself get woefully out of shape.

Running - miles in under 10 minutes, make that 9. 5k in under 25 minutes. 10k in under an hour. 1/2 marathon in under 2 hours, a full marathon in 3:XX.XX or better. A 2 in the front is flying!

So, what's my point? Many Christians want to say they are running the race, too. However, in too many cases they are just rulking or ruddling. They don't break a sweat in their commitment to Jesus and when the going gets tough, they stop altogether or just toddle along.

Of course, we cannot run until we have trained ourselves. In the same manner, we cannot be strong Christians without training either.

Let's not just rulk or ruddle, but "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