On this day in 1897 the first annual Boston Marathon was held.

What’s the longest race you’ve ever run? Sprints are short, like racing a friend on the playground or running the 100-yard dash in a track meet. Some races are medium distance—a few times around the track. And some are long, measured in miles. One of the longest races is the marathon, 26.2 miles. And one of the most famous of these races is the Boston Marathon, where every year since 1897, thousands of men and women run through the streets of Boston. The fastest time for a woman in this marathon is 2 hours, 20 minutes, and 43 seconds, run by Margaret Okago from Kenya in 2002. And another Kenyan, Cosmos Ndeti who ran the course in 2 hours, 7 minutes, and 15 seconds in 1996, holds the man’s record.

The Bible compares life to a race. Hebrews 12:1 says, “let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us.” And today’s verse encourages us to “run in such a way that you will win.”

Some people live as though life is a sprint. They go as hard and as fast as they can. But life is much more like a long-distance race, a marathon. For any race, runners need to prepare, to wear the right clothes and shoes, and to begin when the starting signal sounds. But marathon runners need to run smart so they can finish well.

Young people can find it difficult to imagine life stretching out to seven or eight decades when only the next year seems a long way off. So that’s where faith comes in. We need to listen to God, our coach, and run the race he gives us according to his plan. Then we’ll finish well.

How are you running these days?

Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win (1 Corinthians 9:24).

To Do

Ask someone who has run a marathon to tell you all the training and preparation needed to run and finish well.

Also on this day . . .

This is National Primrose Day.

1775—The American Revolutionary War began.

1939—Connecticut approved the Bill of Rights for the United States Constitution, 148 years late.

From Betsy Schmitt and Dave Veerman, 365 Trivia Twist Devotions: An Almanac of Fun Facts and Spiritual Truth for Every Day of the Year (Cincinnati: Standard, 2005). Scripture quotations are from the New Living Translation unless otherwise noted.