My reason to finish

Tim Noakes gave a great talk last night during which he advised runners to spend the next 11 days finding a reason why you are running Comrades.  And when the road seems impossibly long and you think there may be a chance you don't finish this thing, you can come back to that reason, hang on to it and let it carry you to the finish.  So after the talk last night, I thought very carefully about what my reason was.  Yes, I have many reasons...I love running, Comrades is just the thing runners in South Africa do to prove to ourselves and other runners that we are in fact 'real' runners.  But there had to be another reason for me.  And suddenly I realised.  A few years ago, no one that knew me - including me- would ever have thought I could be a runner.  I was too into smoking, excessive drinking and other such things that are pretty bad for the body! My life was going in a very different direction...certainly no where near running or even having a remotely healthy mind or body.  And then one day, the One who gave me the ability to run, led my life in this very direction.  Through the people I met and the places I ended up, I suddenly became interested in running.  Nothing up until that point was enough motivation for me to change my lifestyle (and essentially my life).  Even my health driven, fitness freak running man had finally given up trying to get me to quit my bad habits.  And after two years of trying to encourage me to give running a try, I finally decided, what the hell? Why not? And from that day, my whole life gradually began to change.  Without even realising it, running became my main focus in life, and all the things that I thought were important, changed dramatically.  God gave me not only the ability to run, but also made it a way for me to change my life.  So when I'm 70km into the toughest race I'll probably ever run and I'm asking myself why I'm doing this- my answer will be simple- God gave me running and it changed my life in a big way...I will always run for Him!