RunninRev Newsletter February 26: My thoughts on inward negative language…plus more
Thought for the Week:
Are You Running Slow or Easy?
A reflection on positive language toward ourselves and thereby others
One of the greatest things about finding writing/publishing sites like Substack is exploring what other people are writing about. Check out my recommendations page for other Substacks I subscribe to and love to read.
However, one particular post caught my attention recently from .
Take a look real quick then hop back to this newsletter.
I love both the theme and the natural voice he writes with that makes it feel like your coach (whoever that might be) wrote it. As a runner and coach myself, I have been guilty of labeling myself as slow and I have heard other runners who I have helped label themselves in the same manner as well. However, it is articles like this that punctuate the fact that a word like “slow” is so subjective that it is hard to truly label oneself in that way.
I think, more importantly, that language can play a vital role in self-care (and thereby tangentially how we care for others).
As a pastor, I have been labeled as semantically inclined (if that is even the proper title for the accusations that have been cast against me). As I understand it, I am careful with my words and choose them with purpose and intent.
For example: I have stopped using sympathy and replaced it with empathy. I have tried to strike hate out of my vocabulary (though often I fail). I even try to be intentional about words that could be received in a harmful way.
I am still growing in perfecting a language of love, but it does get me thinking about how we use language to identify and talk about ourselves. This article I read merely confirmed a mindset that I have had that “slow” is a terrible word for runners to use to describe themselves. It fails to capture the true accomplishment of a person who runs (or engages in any manner of active movement). This idea of slowness is a fallacy of a comparative mindset both when we compare ourselves against others or even compare ourselves against who we desire to be. Also as we see in the article, it often fails to truly encapsulate what we might truly be capable of.
No Runner is Slow
The thing is that, as runners, we cannot identify ourselves as slow. We must name that we are what we are and get out of the comparison game.
Who cares that my coach can run a mile in less than five minutes? I remember one of the first times we did one of my speed workouts together I made mention that my speed pace was probably his easy pace. His reply affirmed my suspicions, but his response comforted me because he said that it was MY speed pace and HIS easy pace, and both should be celebrated as accomplishments in our own minds. They were ours and they were who we are—why compare ourselves to one another?
I am not slow (and neither are you who is reading this); we are just us. I am Andrew and my capabilities are defined by what I do. Therefore, I have tried to adopt the language of pacing as a runner. This is MY “easy pace” or MY “threshold pace.”1 I don’t call myself slow, I just name my pace/run as easy or recovery if I am feeling I need to back off a bit more than usual. There is nothing wrong with that because it is where I am, it is defining my abilities rather than negatively attaching words that put me down.
I am not slow, I am just running according to my abilities to make me the best running version of myself I can be.
The Lesson of Language
I feel like this lesson can speak a lot of the language we use to describe ourselves. When I start using slow I put myself down, and my own self-worth can be impacted. Instead, when I use easy, I name the ability I am capable of.2 So too, when we get rid of the negative language of self-talk and replace it with language that defines us by who we truly are, we do the same thing.
It seems like if we were able to find healthier language to talk about ourselves, looking deep and understanding words that cause us pain or harm (even if a small amount), then perhaps it would make us more attuned to how our language can hurt others as well.
The Letter of James is my favorite book in the Bible because I have always found resonance in how the author lays out the ideals presented within its chapters. In Chapter 3 the author says:
“Consider ships: They are so large that strong winds are needed to drive them. But pilots direct their ships wherever they want with a little rudder. In the same way, even though the tongue is a small part of the body, it boasts wildly. Think about this: A small flame can set a whole forest on fire. The tongue is a small flame of fire, a world of evil at work in us. It contaminates our entire lives. Because of it, the circle of life is set on fire. The tongue itself is set on fire by the flames of hell. People can tame and already have tamed every kind of animal, bird, reptile, and fish. No one can tame the tongue, though. It is a restless evil, full of deadly poison. With it we both bless the Lord and Father and curse human beings made in God’s likeness. Blessing and cursing come from the same mouth. My brothers and sisters, it just shouldn’t be this way!”3
Clearly, the author of James knew that the tongue, and by nature language in general, could be a dangerous thing. A warning against teaching also becomes a lesson in language. A lesson of the harm we are capable of causing to ourselves, others, and even to God. However, it does not have to be that way. The tongue can also build. Language can be healing. If only we were intentional about how we use it.
We must, however, begin with ourselves. If we use harmful language to ourselves, how can we ever expect to be able to have similar empathy to use healthy language with others?
Your Turn: I would love to hear your thoughts:
How can you be more aware of how you talk about yourself?
What language, words, or phrases do you need to put away to find a healthier sense of self-worth?
Reflect and leave a comment on your own thoughts around these questions or the idea of positive language and self-talk
What’s Going on for Lent?
Lent is a time in the Christian Liturgical Calendar born from centuries of Christian practice of preparation for the celebration of Easter. During this time it would have been customary for persons of faith to engage in a time of deep, spiritual reflection, contemplating what a more holistic Christian lifestyle might look like. As we approach the death and resurrection of Christ we ourselves are reminded of the frailty of life on earth, and thereby the everlasting salvation offered by God.
In so doing Christians practice acts of discipline and often fasting. You will often hear folks give up something for Lent or sometimes, even more boldly, take something on.
This Lenten season I wanted to bring together a series of reflections on self-care so that readers may grow deeper in their relationship with self as a manner of growing deeper in their relationship with their creator. Join along for A Lenten Journey of Care, every Wednesday a new reflection will be posted by a different person from the Active Faith Community, each of whose voices you have heard on the Podcast, bringing new words as we grow together.
Check out Week 1:
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Support me on Patreon to help me provide the space for all of us to continue to learn and grow in how we care for ourselves together. Your support would mean everything!!!
Last Week on the Run
Every week when my coach sends me my workouts for the week I immediately go and input them into my Coros Training Program. However, usually, he just tells me my mileage or what my specific workout is, and Coros likes me to “name” my workouts. For an easy 8km run it is not difficult to just name it “8k Easy”…even workouts can be defined by my repetitions (ex. 12×400). However, this week’s workout was all over the place. It wasn’t necessarily repetitions but I had different speed intervals at a variety of speeds. Therefore, I named it “Ups and Downs” because I literally felt like that it what the run looked like (hard/easy/hard/easy/hard/easy/etc…).
Little did I know this would define my week. I have generally been feeling good on the run, but have not been able to escape the usual ups and downs of training for a fast half marathon. This week culminated with an awesome run at the Tidewater Striders Distance Series 12 Miler (The final tune-up opportunity for people looking to do one of the Shamrock races on March 19). I ended up running really well, feeling stronger the longer I went. Not only did I run the race faster than I did last year (by 4 mins), but according to Strava I also split my final 10k in what is the fastest 10k I have done in my life. Now I will take the achievement, but not the PR classification on that one (I’ll get that when I hit the streets of Richmond, Va in April).
I will break this race down and my takeaways from it in next week’s newsletter, but for now, I am hoping to keep this momentum of positivity going into another week as I am only a few weeks from my big race!!!
Stats for Last Week:
Week Total – 46.61 miles
Longest run – 12 miles (run as a tune-up race)
For the Year – 367.7 miles
Follow along my journey via my Strava Profile
Intention for this week: Stay Loose
This is a crazy hectic week with lots of work and some travel, so this week the goal is to stay loose. I am dropping in mileage from about 47 miles to projecting about 34-35 miles this week, but that doesn’t mean I am not working as hard. Gonna be attached to my foam roller and massage gun as I keep the muscles loose and still get in some quality running.
Yesterday in the Pulpit
Yesterday I began a new series as we enter the Christian Season of Lent (see above for a bit of info). For Lent this year, I am guiding my congregation and community through the sacrament of Holy Communion. As we practice community together we carry with us an understanding of what it means to gather together and have a meal with one another and Christ. In this series, I hope to unpack this sacred and holy meal and move folks to a greater and deeper understanding of the Sacrament. In the first sermon, I start with the foundation, “Grace,” looking at what it means and why it is such a vital piece of understanding our faith at-large, and this sacrament in a more general way.
Check out all my sermons on the RunninRev Preaches Newsletter or my church’s website beechgroveumc.org and follow along with what is happening at my church on their newsletter
both of these “paces” are terminology of the distance running world and describe effort levels around training sessions. However, they become more than that when we adopt more inclusive and positive self-language.
I will caveat this by saying this is the language I have developed. Your language may look different, but the point is to rid yourself of negative self-talk.
James 3:4-10 CEB https://bible.com/bible/37/jas.3.4-10.CEB
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