Reaching beyond the comfort zone

There is a footpath near where we live which is, for the most part, long straight and with negligible gradient; unsurprisingly as it follows the course of a track-bed of a former railway “branch line”.  This path is one of my preferred routes for when I am training for races longer than 10km. It’s handy because it does not have any gates or obstacles to navigate, so I can just set off and settle into a constant pace suitable to the distance that I am planning to run.  (I usually don’t aim for “negative splits” – at least not consciously). I start my run, at a point roughly a third of the way along the course and set off along the longer segment of the path. I run for exactly half of my (currently) “comfortable” range and then turn around and set off back towards the point where I started. Just before I reach the end of my first “out and back” I decide, by how much I want/need to extend my run in the other direction from where I set off. I then run on beyond my start/finish point for exactly half of that extension, and then, from there, return to where I first started.

The object of the exercise is to be never too far away from my starting point at all times. I like to know that, in the worst-case scenario and find that I have to “bail out” for some reason, I am not too far away from where my car is parked, with its supplies of water, “running food”, dry clothes/shelter from the elements etc. Some might see this as sensible planning, whilst others might see it as being unnecessarily cautious.  If I had a dedicated support team, constantly monitoring my progress ready to step in and scoop me up from the ground, in extremis, then I wouldn’t need to take those precautions. Well, I am never going to be pushing myself so hard or be so famous in the running world, to justify having a dedicated support crew. So that’s never going to happen!

It got me thinking though, about the times in my life when I have been out of my comfort zone, or have felt overwhelmed in a particular situation not necessarily of my own choosing. In those circumstances, I do have a dedicated support structure, although in the heat of that moment I may not be conscious of that fact. The apostle Paul wrote this in his letter to the Christian believers in Rome:

 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.       [Romans Chapter 8, verse 38 and 39]