Our Runner’s Body

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A friend of mine, who is an experienced triathlon athlete, recently told me, “Vladimir, you are starting to look like a runner!” My ego got pumped but my curiosity got a boost. What does a runner’s body look like? Certainly, our bodies shape into the discipline we practice, but, what makes this possible? What are the inner workings of adaptation? How do our bodies transform?

My curiosity, as in many other cases, took me to do a little research. I found this excellent book published by Rodale Runner’s World precisely called The Runner's Body. The book explains how all five distinct functional systems – musculoskeletal, cardiorespiratory, metabolic, nervous, and immune – “cooperate in an exquisitely choreographed dance of chemical, electrical, and magnetic interaction.” It provides many suggestions to improve your endurance, performance, and speed based on the premise that all systems work in cooperation, unison orchestration, and healthy interaction.

Along my reading, I could not stop thinking about Paul’s metaphor in his first letter to the church in Corinth:

“The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body. So it is with Christ. Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it”
(NIV: 1 Corinthians 12:12, 27).

The body of believers is not just a body. It is our runner’s body. It is a body in movement. It is the body that exercises good works and builds up character. It is the body that competes in the race of faith. It is the body that carries the baton of the good news, and has done so for the past two thousand years. It is a body designed to run in the cooperation, unison orchestration, and healthy interaction of all its members.

The eye cannot say to the hand, "I will run by myself!" A running eye may be caused by a condition known as dacryocystitis, or tear sac infection. And the nose cannot say to the chest, "I will run ahead of you!" In any human race, nobody wins by a nose; haven't you notice the winner breaks the finish line with his or her chest in an all-out effort? A running nose is another condition known as rhinorrhea, a symptom of the common cold we all very familiar with, especially during the flu season. And the ear cannot say to the feet, "I will run faster than you do!" A running ear is yet another condition known as otorrhoea, or suppurative otitis. And the intestine cannot say to the head, "I will run the Boston marathon without you!" A running intestine... well, it's a nasty thing.

Hopefully you get the point. The emphasis of our culture on self-sufficiency, self-reliance, and self-help is ill, infectious, and sometimes even nasty. It is an abnormal "condition," and as such, needs to be cured. It requires special treatment, medication, rest, and time to recover. If your desire is to stay, strive, and survive in your race of faith, then you need to do the following to avoid dismay, discouragement, and disqualification:

Recognize
…that we need others. We cannot grow in forgiveness, acceptance, purpose, integrity, and reputation without the help of others.

Recover
…from your injuries. We cannot let our old wounds keep us from winning our new races.

Restore
…the broken relationships. We cannot hold others back from fulfilling their God-given dreams neither blame their successes on our losses.

Reconnect
…with the local congregation. We cannot deny the running body from our feet, our hands, our heads, or… our intestines for that matter.

“You must always remember that although we organize the body into pieces, these individual pieces always function in unison and are mutually exclusive - that is, if one of them is compromised, the body will cope for a period of time but eventually will not survive.”
– The Runner's Body

A running body part is an anomaly, but a runner’s body is awesome.

Vladimir Lugo
vlugo@race-of-faith.com