Running the Tour de France

In 2009 I wrote a couple posts called Lessons from the Peloton.  These were posts about the Tour de France with a spiritual application.  You can read about it here and here.  This year there have been many revelations about, and confessions by, Tour de France riders, most notably by Lance Armstrong who won the race a record seven times.  With or without the benefit of doping, it is still a very difficult three week race.  Approximately 2000 miles with over 100,000 feet of elevation gain.

This year's race has come and gone.  But there was someone else doing the Tour de France this year.  Zoe Romano RAN the entire course!  It took her about three months, averaging 30 miles a day.  ON FOOT. 

As a runner, I am in awe of such a distance.  I have run 2000 miles in a year and 26.2 miles in a single day, but this feat was amazing. 

Zoe blogged about her last run.  She ran the first three stages of this year's tour at the end because they took place on the island of Corsica.  After running stages one and two, she had 90 miles to go.  She ran those final 90 miles in one day!  It took her 23 hours, but she did it!  She fell twice in the dark, was spooked by a wild boar, suffered in severe heat during the middle of the day.  About that final run, she wrote:

 "When I finally did finish, at 1:05 am, my knees and elbows were crusted with blood, and my palms dotted with blood blisters from falling down, my skin pickled and covered in a sun rash, my ankles swollen red and hot, dirt everywhere, and my face completely flushed with fever."

So many of her posts were about days that seemed effortless, just another 30 miler.  She obviously has a natural running talent and the ability to recover quickly.  But that final day almost did her in. Can you imagine how she would have felt if she gave up with only 10 miles to go?  But she did it.

It makes me think of people who live for God through their teen years, survive young adulthood, then somewhere along the way give up the journey.  A trial that seems to be their darkest puts them off their feet and they don't get up.  How tragic it is.  They ran the early miles with confidence and seemed to breeze through valleys, but the last stage took them down.

We can never think, "I've lived for God for 25 years, I've got it made."  Satan would like nothing better than to take us down in the final mile.  But there is victory for every step of the way!  God provides grace for every mile.  

I wrote this after finishing the Ojai to Ocean marathon:

"It was tough, but not impossible.  There were moments of doubt, but I overcame.  It seemed to take forever, but when the finish line came into view, a huge surge of adrenaline hit and I sprinted across the line!  My first marathon, in the books.  I kinda think that's how we're going to feel when we get to heaven, don't you?  Only on a much grander scale!"