Lessons from SOTR

Well its been a few weeks, but….I DID IT!!! I completed my first century, a very very intense century I might add! It was 8,655 feet of elevation, and I felt every foot of it! Without being dramatic, it was the hardest thing I have ever done, truly! We have talked to a lot of people who have completed this specific century (100 miles of cycling) and the look I get over and over with the words following are, “Wow you completed that?!” No small feat at all. 

I think for me, the physical side of this ride wasn’t the biggest accomplishment for me; it was the mental accomplishment of this ride that I am the proudest of. This ride required me to dig into a place in my mind that I have never tapped into before. I had to get to the point where—even if I was alone doing this ride, this was something I wanted to accomplish—and I did it! I pushed past the spaces in my mind that lie to me and say “I can’t,” and I said back to them “YES you CAN!” and I did. 

For me I fully believe outside of the love and support from my family and friends I would not have been able to complete this ride. There were so many spiritual aspects and parallels that happened on this ride for me as well. 

The first being, we were never meant to journey life alone. We weren’t. God has created us to be communal beings and I think one of the biggest traps of the enemy is tricking us into believing that we can run this course of life alone, or that it is better to run life alone. Its not. Running alone keeps us isolated and weak. 
I saw this on this ride. Within 10miles of the ride my husband and I picked up a lone straggler who was riding alone and we all chose to ride together. When one was slower the other 2 waited, when one had a problem with their bike, we all waited, when we rode faster, we rode faster together. We gained strength from one another. Life is better together. 

The second thing I saw on this ride is that life—while we were meant to journey together—we don’t always keep the same people on the course with us the whole time. 
Life has seasons; people come in and they come out. 
I saw this example on the ride as well. There is a section of this ride that is the steepest part of the climb. Its called Thunder Ridge and it is on the Blue Ridge Parkway. It is 13miles of uphill….elevation totaling 3,700 feet by the time you get to the top. It is an intense hour and a ½ of straight climbing, and it is hard!! 
But what I saw on this section of the ride was this…..we were all struggling together! We all were in pain, together! 

There were times when riders would come up alongside you for a few miles and just chat, and then they would be off. There were times on the climb you would need to pass someone because they weren’t keeping the pace you needed to keep, so you climbed on ahead. There were times where you would need to pick a rider to focus on because their cadence was faster than yours so it took your mind off the pain for a little bit. Then there were the ones that were ahead of you a little ways and you would have to focus on them knowing once you got to where they were there was only a little bit left.  
And finally, in these seasons of life, there are going to those that come alongside of you to encourage you and the very moment you need it most. 

This is so indicative of how life really is. It is so important to recognize that the seasons in your life don’t last forever. Sure, there are going to be those that run hard alongside us for our lifetime, but there are going to be some seasons that we run with others that don’t last as long, so make the most of them, and take no day for granted.  

So I guess my question to you is, are you running life alone? Life is meant to be lived together so if you are; take a risk and find a community, commit to it, and refuse to run alone. You won’t regret it.