Nine years ago, my oldest little girl (Maddie) was finishing up the sixth grade. She came to me at the beginning of the summer and said, “I think I want to run Cross Country for Byrnes next year.” I didn’t hesitate. I told her to get her tennis shoes and follow me. I took her on a two-mile run and pushed her until she almost puked. The next day, I told her to get her shoes and follow me. I ran her two and a half miles pushing her to the same point.

Most of you know what the southern summers feel like in South Carolina…high 80’s to mid 90’s with very high humidity is the norm. Most sane people don’t run in the heat of the day in the summer months, but having the upbringing that I had mixed in with my military background, I push too hard at times, okay, most times. The following day, I told Maddie to get her shoes. I ran her three miles in the heat of the day. I pushed her until she was red-faced and to the point that I thought ready to quit. On the way home, I asked her if she thought she could do that six days a week for her coaches. Thinking that I had squashed the Cross Country thing, I expected a long pause or a quick, “I’m not sure.” I was shocked when she immediately replied, “Yes sir.”

Please don’t think that I am taking anything away from the commitment of travel ball players and parents or band members and parents when I say this, but I had no idea what an investment those three short runs would require. Maddie started Summer practices with the Byrnes Cross Country team. That rolled into Fall races, Winter practices, Spring Track meets…rinse and repeat. Add in the off-season races and you have year-round running.

Before long, Sophie wanted to run for the D5 Cross Country and Track teams. This a wonderful program that teaches K5–6th graders how to run. They race against other programs in the upstate. I ended up helping with the coaching responsibilities for this team. God is good! Even with the driving back and forth between Wellford and Powdersville, I only missed a handful of races and practices over the years. What a blessing it was for Maddie and Sophie to run on the same team during Maddie’s senior year. The girls didn’t like it too much, but it was great for Chris and me.

With Maddie graduating from Byrnes and heading to North Greenville University, things changed. She raced much further away from home, and we were only able to make a few of her races. It almost chokes me up to think back through the years…hours and hours of practice, running an untold number of miles.

By this time, Sophie was fully engaged with the Powdersville High School teams. Practices, Cross Country season, practices, Track season…still rinsing and repeating. Over the years, both girls trained hard and raced hard. Never did they perform well enough for their standards, and this caused them to train longer and harder.

That little girl that nine years ago wanted to run Cross Country is now an adult. I’m fighting back tears just to type that sentence. Maddie will be graduating college in December, but the investment hasn’t ended. Even though she doesn’t run for NGU anymore, she still has a love of running and frequently attends Sophie’s races. She has even written a summer running plan for Sophie to help meet her goals for Cross Country in the Fall.

Chris and I never polluted the girl’s minds with delusions of grandeur. Not once did we lead them to believe that they could win every race that they entered. We didn’t make excuses for them when they performed poorly, and we surely didn’t allow them to make excuses for themselves. Never did we make them think that we valued them more or less depending on how well they raced on any given day.

Throughout the years, neither of them has DNFed (did not finish). Neither bee stings, nor elbows to the ribs from other racers, neither twisted ankles, nor side stitches, not even calf, hip, thigh, and foot injuries have ever kept them from finishing a race that they started. They have always fought through the pain. They pushed beyond what they thought they could do. Why? Because we are making A Long Term Investment!

I thought about all of this when I hopped on the treadmill this morning. That same backpack with 40+ pounds of rope in it stared at me as I readied myself for my hike. I moved the grade up to 8%, shouldered the pack, and started the machine. Six minutes in, I wanted to quit, but I forged on. At thirty minutes in, I told myself, “You are a third of the way home.” I had to give myself several other pokes and prods on the way to my ninety-minute goal for today. Just as they are, I am still investing.

1 Corinthians 9:24 NIV84
Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.

I hope that the girls have learned from me over the years. I hope they learned that they aren’t only investing in a Cross Country or Track race. I hope that they have learned how to apply the same investment principles to schoolwork, jobs, relationships, and so on. I know that they have taught me to keep making the investment as well! I don’t want to halfway train for this trip, and I surely don’t want to halfway live the Christ life.

Because He Calls, Old Climbing Dad