Change of Plans & The Big Picture

While it is good to be focused on your plan there are times that you need to change them.  This is not to be done on a whim but when circumstances say the best way to continue on your journey is to make some adjustments.  This can be hard as one has to make sure the change is not out of fear or some other reason not grounded in what you see as the big picture.  That is key and if you don’t have a big picture view of what you do there is a good chance you will err by just pushing forward or if you see the need for change make the wrong adjustment.

One other thing to think about, and I have written on this before - It’s OK to Want to Only Run 5k’s: Or any other Distance for that Matter - , is that often we have a faulty view of challenges.  For example many see a marathon or even a 100 Mile running race as a goal and anything less is, well less.  But one needs to realize for some a 1/2 marathon or even a 50K run are adequate and in truth more what needs to be aimed for based on the time one has to train or maybe also based on ones physical condition.  This also happens in many gravel races where one sees, say the Unbound 200 as all there is and never even consider the 100.  Sure the 200 is the marque event and for sure a challenge but for some the 100 will be just as challenging but also within the realm of one’s life situation and training.   This is not to talk anyone into looking at other distances but saying none of them should be minimized as less because they are not.  I can tell you that shorter races have their own challenges - one being they are often faster - so don’t overlook that.

So, after the Dust Bowl 100 on July 26th and having issues after 50 miles it made me have to take a hard look at the Gravel Worlds Double ( 50K Run Friday / 150 Mile Ride Saturday).  I had to ask myself with the shape I am in and with my sleep issues, a subject for a later post, was the Double a wise move.  Could I do it - likely so even if very slow.  But how would I come away from it as still have the Ragnar Bourbon Chase Relay the first part of October and just did not want to be so beat up I could not enjoy training - I have said it before I may be weird but I enjoy training and would do so even if I did not have any big races.  In thinking about this and taking to a few people I decided make a change and do the 1/2 Double (25K / 75 Mile) instead as the 25K run and the 75 Mile ride were going to be more doable and I could even race then and not just finish.  Based on the Dust Bowl it was still going to be tough as I think my racing limit is in the 100K range right now but at least then I only would have to slog out another 13 miles and not 90 miles.  The other thing to consider was the heat as I do not seem to be as heat adapted as usual, not sure if training, age or a combination of both, as really felt it at the Dust Bowl and Gravel Worlds in Nebraska is likely to be just as hot and  150 Miles I am not ready for and in the heat my not go well.  Yea, I probably could slog it out but how would it leave me.  Shout out to the people at Gravel Worlds as messaged them and they changed by entry right away - Thanks.

The interesting part is I made the change and focus early this week - a day or so after the Dust Bowl - and this Saturday (8/2/25) I did a trial run and ride.  I ran 16 miles and after changing and fueling some, about an hour, I went out and rode 41 miles.  While the efforts at Gravel Worlds are a day apart and today’s were an hour apart it did tell me I made the right decision.  My pace for the 16 mile run was 9:07/mile but the issue was my right foot - the one that usually gives me issues and did so at The Pistol 50K - got sore as well as the ankle and could not push the downhills so did not make up time.  The good side though was that although I had not done a long run in some time I was able to do it but pretty sure 25K more would not go well with my foot.  The ride was not a blazer but was solid and other than it being hard to get my leg over the bike an hour after the run I felt fine and settled in as the ride went on.  So with the right rest after the run in 3 weeks I should be even better.  All this to say this just confirmed my decision and now to get some work in just to better harden up my legs to the pounding but not over do it before the race - and oh yea get some sleep hopefully.

Bottom line is that while we need to take on hard things we need to make sure the hard things are defined by us and not by outside opinions, biases or incorrect assumptions.  You should talk to others - I did before my decision to change to the 1/2 -  to make sure we are not coping out due to fear but making a wise decision based on a number of criteria.  When you have a good big picture view of why you do what you do this all becomes much easier - well a little easier anyway as often we still will get an initial feeling of “wimping out” but if done wisely you are not.

Now for the Grave Worlds 1/2 Double in 3 weeks (Aug 22 & 23).

  Click on images for more information and if you want more info on OFM check out this post: 

• What is OFM (Optimized Fat Metabolism)

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Faith and Fitness

Now, I get it that some may have a hard time getting past the title and if that is you I ask you to read though it as while I see what is to follow as a call from God it is also a call for all to take care of the body you have.

Those that know me know that faith is important to me and I try to let it lead what I say and do – yea I often fail but that does not mean I do not seek my faith to inform my actions.  One area that I am often asked about, mostly by those with little to no interest in fitness, is if I should workout as much as I do as it might interfere with my calling of God.  Often I think this questions stems from a misunderstanding of vocation, or calling, as cannot God call us to any number of activities with the goal of His glory being in all those actions.

 While 1 Cor 9:24-27 applies to much more than simply the physical it is also not limited to the spiritual as far too many professing believers seem to think that our bodies are temporary so are to be taken as they are with little thought put into how we treat them.  But this could not be further from the truth.  While God has us here we are to care for/steward our physical bodies as well as nurture the spiritual side of things

I started reading Ben Greenfield’s book Endure and he mentions a verse that I often see greatly misinterpreted/misrepresented, not by Ben, when it comes to Christians and fitness and prompted this post:  

1 Tim 4:8-9 says:  “for while bodily training is of some value, godliness is of value in every way, as it holds promise for the present life and also for the life to come. The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance.”

 Now some use this verse to somehow say that to workout and get in shape is of no use as we are to spend all of our time, or at least implying this, in spiritual endeavors.  Now to be honest I hear this mostly from those who do little to nothing to better, or even maintain, one’s health.  The problem is that this passage does not minimize training ones body but instead uses what I call hyperbolic comparison - that is it is saying that in comparison to seeking godliness training ones body is of little value.  This is much like Matt 10:37 that says basically if ones loves their father or mother more than Christ they are not worthy of Christ.  This again is simply saying one is to love Christ supremely when in comparison to others things one loves.  It is not saying to hate ones father and mother but simply to love Christ even more in comparison.

 So it is with training ones body - we are not to do so at the expense of spiritual growth and are to make sure we see the lasting value of spiritual growth.  However, at the same time we are to also train our bodies and care for them as the stewards of them we are called to be by God – one of the callings we all have.  Remember the better shape we are in the more use we can be in the hands of God.  If we are restricted by bad health or reliant on medication our usefulness may be minimized.  I am not saying one with bad health, or some infirmity, cannot be used by God – they can and often are mightily – but that we are to do all we can to be in the best shape we can to be able to be used in more ways by God for His glory.

 Truth is Paul in his writings is often dealing with the hyper focus of the Romans on sport and training.  The reality is that the normal/average every day citizen probably needed little training to be fit as the basic act of living in the first century would, in comparison to today, itself be training.  I doubt that obesity was an issue for those in the first century, and for many up to even the resent past, unless, one was wealthy.  I would go as far as to say it is incumbent on Christians to care for the body God gave them as best as can be done so that it, and you, can be used by God in whatever manner He desires, when He desires.  How many professing believers out there that scoff at this could spread God’s word as Paul did by traveling as he did without the aid of a car or other motorized transportation.  If tomorrow as a believer you lost everything and had to do manual labor to grow your own food and had to travel by foot or bike could you do that or would you be at the whim of those in power.  I know, sadly, many pastors that could not due to not taking care of themselves - often in the name of doing God’s work but in the end would be limited in the work God could have for them.

 Well, the work God has for us extends to many areas - no - it extends to all areas - of life as was said by Abraham Kuyper and I know this was more in reference to interacting with the world but by extension can be applied to our bodies -  ““There is not a square inch in the whole domain of our human existence over which Christ, who is Sovereign over all, does not cry, Mine!”

 So, my encouragement to you if you are a believer and have Jesus as your Lord and Savior is to not neglect your body and think that to do so is some sort of super spiritual endeavor.  Sure, do not let “fitness” take over your life at the expense of time with God but work to do both as both are required.  In these strange times we are in I am more and more convinced that the more healthy we are as believers as the world slips into a pharmaceutical haze the more those of us that do what we can do to avoid this will be there when we are needed.  

 Start today - go for a walk, a ride or a run and use your time wisely - listen to your Bible on tape, listen to sermons, listen to books on audio and even more so meditate on God’s working in your life.  But above all get moving.  I may not always do this but often I get in more thinking on a run or a ride than I do when just sitting still.  I know I need to learn to just be still but the way my brains wired I think more about things as I am active - so I try and do both.

 This principle of caring for the body also applies to how one eats – what one puts into it.  I have heard more than one person misuse the following verse to say whatever one eats is fine if eaten in faith but this is not what is being said.  

 1 Tim 4:4-5 says: “For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving,  for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.” 

No this is saying to be thankful for what one has and was dealing with dietary restrictions from a religious perspective.  There is no way this verse is saying if you eat Oreos, or endless stacks of donuts, as a normal occurrence/choice, that if done by faith you are fine.  Sure, if you were in a place where all you had to eat was such then that is a different matter but for most the choice of what to eat is just that – a choice.  Choose wisely and choose what will most lead to better health and the avoidance of pills, potions and pokes. Do not take the life you are given lightly but see it as the gift of God it is – even if it does not do all you may like it to do.  Our call is to be good stewards of what God gives us and let us seek to do that.

Do not forsake the body God gave you to steward for some over spiritualized , at the neglect of the physical, view of life.  Don’t fall for the Gnostic heresy that the writers of the NT faced that separated the spiritual from the physical.  No, deal with both and grow closer to God in the process.  Seek out God’s guidance in how you need to proceed and seek to be the most useful tool in the hands of God you can be.  Be a faithful steward and do so not to win a race but to glorify God.  Now you may win races – nothing wrong with that – but even that is to be done to give God glory.  To take the stewardship of our bodies lightly is to make light of what God has given us.

 Start today and if you need help reach out to those you know that see things this way or you can reach out to me.