With the Los Angeles Marathon taking place in March, it’s timely for me to express my gratitude for a unique opportunity I had to grow in my understanding of God. I took to heart Mary Baker Eddy’s statement, “The devotion of thought to an honest achievement makes the achievement possible” (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 199).
As I’ve read sports-oriented articles and testimonies of healing in the Christian Science periodicals, I’ve often thought, “Wow—I’ve got enough challenges in my life to pray about! Why would I choose to put myself through some extreme sports activity and have one more thing to pray about?” But in a Sentinel audio chat, Christian Science practitioner and teacher Mark Swinney spoke of sports as a wonderful opportunity—a proving ground—to become acquainted with God. And that’s just what my training for the 26.2 miles of the LA Marathon in 2011 turned out to be.
I was inspired by friends who had walked the Marathon, but I reflected sadly on a hip injury I sustained as a teenager in a similar event. I’d given up on the possibility of successfully completing anything remotely resembling a long-distance walk. In fact every time I tried walking more than a couple of miles, the effects of that previous injury reappeared. Even so, I made the decision to go for it—to train for and walk the marathon. It was time to overcome the limitations I’d been living with all these years.
