Is Running too Much Cheating?


"Is Running too much cheating?" a friend asked. Interesting thought. She was referring to my recent post on running to little as cheating because that's how most of us think of cheating, running too little.
My brain immediately went to the Ten Commandments, not a place of Scripture I usually contemplate on issues of running. However, it makes sense that God told us too rest once a week, and he might know we need the day off. My tendency is too overwork it and run life too hard all the time. I'm most tempted to run on a day off when I haven't done the required runs already that week or month. Then I'm forced into running on days that should have been rest.
But I think my friend was asking about running evenmore when the required runs have already been done. To this, I responded that this is cheating. If I run more or less than the plan, I'm cheating.
Rest days give me a mental and physical break. They remind me that I am more than my given goal, and that life is more important than running. Days off, in theory, are like deposits towards future days and years of more running. Taking the time too do something else insures that I'll still be running when my friends start taking up shuffle board.
Without rest, too much running can lead us towards breaking all kinds of other commandments. A day off keeps running off the throne of idolatry; it reminds me running was created for me, not the other ways around. It keeps me from thinking I need running. I remember in those days off that I am more than my work, and I'm more than my running. Taking time to do something different helps me work on my own tendency to be a control freak, or others may recognize it as me trying to be god of my own world.
Rest steers me from coveting faster times, or a firmer rump. Because that's not what running and life are about. Life is more than than a nice butt in spandex or a qualifying time. Running is so much more adventurous than an unblemished running journal.
Without a day off we forget the joy of just running. It keeps it from becoming drudgery. It breaks up the routine, and rest gives me fresh energy to run even more. God knew what he was doing when he told us to take a day off.

Comments

  1. tnoll85October 16, 2011 at 10:26 PM

    I agree 100% with this post. I have been doing a lot more "resting" lately while waiting for my wife and I to have our baby. On days where I have much less on the schedule I often find it hard to relax. The discipline of resting seems often more challenging than work itself. I think that can also be compared to aspects of prayer. Waiting and listening to God during times of prayer (similar to rest) is something I find much more difficult than pouring out my heart expressing to God my appreciation, fears, and desires. Perhaps because I can control and predict what and when I will communicate to God and not vice versa. Thanks for this reminder and insight into cheating God out of rest he promises and desires for us!

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