We need support in our health. We can’t do it alone. God will provide you with a team.

I saw the date on the Orangetheory Fitness (OTF) studio calendar for the benchmark, “one mile treadmill run for time.” I had a week to prepare. I was excited. I looked in my OTF app to see what my last time was for that benchmark. I wanted a personal record (PR), and I knew I would have to run faster. I wanted to break that last time by at least 5 seconds. That would be a one mile run in less than 9 minutes. That would be the fastest I’ve ever run in my adult life. It would be a huge win in my life, and y’all know I love to win.

I felt nervous and insecure. Could I run faster? Do I have what it takes? I knew I would have to find that chart I had seen before on the OTF Instagram. It had the speed on the treadmill that correlates to the time to run one mile. I searched for it, but couldn’t find it. I felt anxious. Now it was 2 days before the date. I needed a strategy.

I called the OTF studio and left a voicemail message. Coach Maddie called me back. She’s my favorite coach. I told her my goal of shaving 5 seconds off my best time. She asked what my all-out speed was. Then she asked if I do better in a progressive push, which is increasing a little bit at a time, or to set it and forget it, which is running at the same pace. I told her set it and forget it. Then she asked me what my push speed was. She shared the speeds on the chart and told me if I ran at my push speed, I would make my goal. “Set it and forget it, Stacy. If you feel like you can start to go faster half way through, do it. If not, then just keep that push speed. But ALWAYS end that run in all out (the fastest my legs will go). Last minute run like your life depends on it. LOL!” I’d never run more than 3 minutes at my push speed, and it was difficult. I was not LOL’ing.

I had a conversation with God and told him that I wanted a new PR. I wanted to keep getting faster and stronger. Years earlier, all I wanted to do was get skinny. It was a new season with new goals. I realized right then that I was growing up. Now that is winning!

The day before the benchmark I went to my chiropractor and got some corrective care massage to loosen up my muscles and a chiropractic adjustment. I got a good night’s sleep. Woke up at 4am and did my 25-minute stretching DVD, and I went to 5am class.

There I was on the treadmill running at my push speed for less than 2 minutes. I said to myself, I could go faster and I did. When I got to .75 mile, I kicked it up a notch. At .88 mile I did my all-out speed to my one-mile finish. I shaved 16 seconds off my time. I won, just like it says in 1 Corinthians 9:24. I was satisfied and exhausted. I shed tears of joy on my way home at 6am.

I could not have done it without my team. God giving me wisdom to ask for help. Coach Maddie giving me one on one coaching. Marissa with corrective care massage and Dr. Yakubik with a great chiropractic adjustment. My team gave me their time and not only was I refreshed, but it says in Proverbs 11:25 that they will be refreshed as well. Refreshed in their time, talent, and treasure. Refreshed in their health goals and relationships. We weren’t meant to do anything alone, including our health and health wins. Team work does make the dream work.

1. Who do you have on your health team? If you don’t have a health team, what 2-3 people can you ask to be on the team?

2. What health habit refreshes you? Eating healthy? Exercising? Drinking plenty of water?

3. What is one thing you can do to improve your health? I pack my lunch 4 days out of the week. That helps me. 

“A generous person will prosper; whoever refreshes others will be refreshed.”

(Proverbs 11:25 NIV) 

“Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way to get the prize.”

(1 Corinthians 9:24 NIV)

Stacy McVane

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