A notice popped up on my Facebook page last week about a “Family Fun Run” scheduled for Sunday morning at Bonner Springs, Kansas. My second-oldest son, Sam, and I ran that obstacle challenge course back in September of 2015. Terrific course, terrific setting, terrific obstacles! Hilly terrain, tons of trees, and even a “hold yourself on” zip line. Over water.

Since this was advertised as a “take your time, have fun” kind of a deal, I thought it was a great opportunity to end my four-year hiatus from doing mud runs. Also, it was described as a two-mile course instead of the usual three-point-two miles (5K). “Perfect,” I thought, “that’ll be a good transition.” The transition being from nothing to a good hike with multiple physical challenges thrown in.

So… I signed up for the 8:30 wave, dug out my mud run togs, filled a medium-sized picnic cooler with warm water and headed to Bonner Springs at six-thirty Sunday morning. It was every bit as much fun as I hoped!

Granted, I did get stung on my hand by a wasp in the first obstacle but, hey, it’s nature, right? There were a few other less than assuring incidents but they were not unexpected. I have not done any training whatsoever over the past three years: no running, no jogging, no lifting, no stretching, no planks, no pushups, no pullups. Nada.

So, even though it was a bit disappointing, it was not surprising that I couldn’t do the vertical wall climb, the rope climb or the overhead rings. Several bricks short of the wheelbarrow load of upper body strength needed. But I was able to do the other twenty obstacles, including the zip line over water. I even managed a vague imitation of jogging… on the downhill portions. But I did find myself wishing, “Man, to be sixty again!”

About twenty minutes in, I jogged past the One Mile marker. “Woohoo!” I thought, “halfway done!” Several more obstacles, a few mud pits, and twenty-five minutes later, I slogged by the Two Mile marker. “That’s odd,” I mused to myself, “I don’t hear the music or the crowd back at the Start/Finish area.

Another fifteen minutes later, I could hear the music. Pretty soon the trail headed down the hill. The music was getting louder and I could hear people talking. Still a few hundred yards short of the finish area, I trudged past a Three Mile Marker.

As it turned out, I’d apparently taken on a 5K, without any training. Yet, I survived. Sore, fore shore! But survived. And… had a ton of fun in the process. It’s kind of fascinating how mud runs make me feel like a kid and an old man at the same time!

Sometimes in this obstacle course called “Life,” we’re going to discover our limitations. We’re going to tackle some things that maybe we just don’t have the strength, skill, or stamina to finish. Or maybe we finish them eventually but not as quickly or as well as we hoped. That’s okay. God’s strength is perfected in our weakness.

We may find out, too, that the race lasts longer than we expected or prepared for. Just keep putting one foot in front of the other, don’t wear yourself out or beat yourself up over the things you can’t do, and keep going.

Trust in the strength that God provides, wait on his timing, and take time to look around you, even in the midst of your testing. The trees really are quite beautiful.