Running the Race That Lies Before Us

If you enjoy running as a sport, you would enjoy NFP as a family planning method.

You start off thinking this is something that will be good for you. You know it will be tough but you’re ready to be healthier in mind, body, and soul. It will be a challenge, but you have serious goals and you’re ready to commit.

Pretty soon you realize you have to be nuts to find the practice enjoyable, and it’s kind of lonely, because none of your friends are ready to try it out. You’ve downloaded four different apps to track your progress, and you definitely need to buy that new wearable to simplify your data collection.

Your Instagram feed is full of influencers educating you on methods and tips for finding great joy while you face challenges. You join them, an apostle for the cause. Deep in the culture, no one is safe from your prodigious proselytizing at Stacy’s book club. Everyone must know how great it is and how much you love it, while internally you are full of frustrations, setbacks, comparisons, and weaknesses. Yet, you feel strong and know you’re getting stronger. You’re finding there is some deep joy that can’t be explained, even with the injuries you feel.

You and your spouse work together, and push each other to your human limits. You find you’re spending more time together, and this shared responsibility is encouraging you to show greater love and affection for one another. He’s not really sure he’s on board with all of the suffering, but he loves you and will go anywhere with you. Maybe there are a few complaints, but you realize you feel similarly, and you’re glad you’re not alone.

You find yourself hoping supernatural forces will intervene, support you in your desolation, and give you strength to endure, because there’s no possible way you can do this for one more second. Encouragement isn’t far away, and every time you feel like quitting, a mysterious consolation finds its way to your heart. You start checking your apps and wearables with an obsessive determination, stacking your numbers against the national averages for your age-group and seeing if you’re close to the norm. Is this healthy?

Peak week is here. You know you can do it. Stay focused. This is where your weeks of training are being put to the test. These last few days feel like the hardest you’ve ever endured. You know the taper is coming, and things will calm down before the main event.

You had a perfect training cycle and the big day is here. You couldn’t have asked for a better day, and everything goes exactly as planned.

A drink to celebrate.

Now two weeks of PMS.

Repeat.