January 7. Gus Patterson. Gus had always been an athlete, and this is a man who likes a challenge. In 2017, he won a 5K race, and now he was about to turn 40. Clearly—the time had come to run a half-marathon.
Gus was all in. The training schedule was intense. And that’s how he liked it. Gus liked to win, and winning demanded many long runs, even if he had to run after he put the kids to bed. He never made excuses. He just did what it took to win. That’s where today’s story begins.
Run to win, or live to build others up. Choose the better thing.
For their seventeenth anniversary, Gus and Ruby wanted to do something together—running a half-marathon together would be ideal.
While Gus’s goal was to win, Ruby’s goal was not to die.
They trained for three months—running thirteen miles on mostly flat terrain. Gus was killing it. He would hit his goal—to run an eight-minute mile. Ruby was averaging a steady twelve-minute mile.
Race day was cool, the trail mostly shaded, and Gus ready to run the race of his life. As they started off, Gus saw that Ruby was giving it her all, but the course was much more rigorous than either of them had anticipated.
The race pamphlet had mentioned “rolling bluffs.” No problem.
Turned out: “rolling bluffs” is code for steep, sandy hills. It was much harder than the flat terrain they had practiced on. Gus was fine with it, but it was clobbering Ruby. He kept looking back. She was really struggling back there. But he needed to press on. This was his race.
But he couldn’t abandon her. So he went back and stayed with her until they got to the first water station at the five-mile mark. He would make sure she was strong enough to handle the other eight miles on her own. With eight miles left, he would be able to make up the time.
Ruby said she knew how important winning this race was for him; he should go ahead. She would wait for him at the aide station.
But Gus knew Ruby was capable, and he wanted her to see it too. Seeing her gain confidence was worth more than winning any race.
Through the next 8 miles Gus ran ahead of Ruby and pointed out potential tripping hazards and paced her. Gus ran as fast as he could to the top of a big hill and jumped up and down and cheered, “Come on, Ruby, you got this! You’re almost there!”
Ruby said she felt as if she were dying and couldn’t understand where Gus had found his super-human strength. He saw that his exuberance encouraged her, but once in a while, she looked a little ticked-off too.
Every time she wanted to give up, he reminded her how proud of her he was and what a pleasure it was to do this together.
The more fatigued she got, the more Gus wanted to be there for her.
He ran back to meet her at the bottom of the hill this time running behind her, “Ruby, you can do this, and I am not going anywhere. We started together; we are finishing together.”
His voice behind her and the open space ahead gave her the chance to set the pace. Gus knew that was what she needed. He was OK with letting Ruby set the pace. Ruby was always kind of bossy; that’s what had made him fall in love with her.
Finally, on flat ground and one mile to go Gus pulled beside Ruby and grabbed her hand. But Ruby told Gus, “Finish strong! You go on. I can’t run anymore.”
Gus—with the patience of Saint Roadrunner, held her hand tighter. “Together, Ruby. We finish together.”
“This is why I write these things when I am absent, that when I come I may not have to be harsh in my use of authority—the authority the Lord gave me for building you up, not for tearing you down” (2 Corinthians 13:10 NIV).
Who can you run alongside this week who needs your encouragement? Can you use your strengths to help someone else find theirs? Run to win, or live to build others up. Choose the better thing.