Don’t Look at Your Feet

I ran cross-country in high school. We did pretty well too – we won 3 state championships in a row my sophomore, junior and senior year. And then, after I graduated, the team went on to win the next 8 years in a row. And when a team builds a dynasty like that, it’s much more than good running – it can only be because of good coaching. Our coach, Coach Johnson, who is now in his 80’s, spent the better 3/4 of his life coaching high school track and cross country – so when he gave running advice, it tended to be in our best interest to listen.

He’d tell us things like make sure our arms swung by our sides, not across our chest, so we could breath better. He’d tell us to run with our feet landing directly beneath us for a smoother stride. But the best advice he ever gave me was to never look at my feet…which is pretty funny considering that running is all about your feet. His point though, was not that your feet weren’t important, but when you focused on them, you lost sight of the race.  He said run with your head up, always looking ahead on the course. When you look at your feet, you begin to self-critique – you think of how tired your legs are or how you’re not really that great of a runner and maybe this race just wasn’t your race. And once you break down mentally in your running, you might as well just cash in your chips.

And it wasn’t until years later that I saw this advice move from a running tip to life analogy. For most of us, its really easy to be critical of yourself – how much better you could be, and how there are always people who are better than you at what you do – whether it’s your job or your relationships or whatever.

As the graphic designer at Elevation, it¹s so easy for me to be hard on myself as I try to bring the vision Pastor Steven has been given to life. I’ll look down, see how unworthy I am to do what I do, but then it hits me – the race is so much bigger than me. It’s not about my feet. The vision goes beyond my ability and my agenda and if I lose sight of that, my work, and my general mindset will start to tank. But when I look up, and look out and see where I am, and see where God has placed me in life – not for my ability, but for his purpose – I just run better. Just watch out for shin splints, because I have no idea how to fix those things.

-Ryan Hollingsworth, Graphic Designer