By admin
Runners – refreshed and taking a photo together after their prayer run.
(From left, Chew Peng, Jerena, Eileen, Zhi Yang and Boon Kian)
Being no sportsman (woman) myself, doing a long-distance run could be considered no easy feat. Naturally, I struggled with the idea, what’s more praying when I am going to pant, and to sacrifice my precious sleep on a Saturday morning.
Yet, I agreed to doing it as a friend reasoned most logically. On that morning, though I did not hear my alarm clock, my pet dog woke me up by tapping on me! I guess one cannot escape from what God has planned in mind?
Well, the story goes, and I did the run with my buddies, Chew Peng and Eileen. The distance of the run was not stated and I just went by faith as I ran. Yet, this was the furthest run I have ever done and I felt recharged. I thoroughly enjoyed the prayer run experience. Yes, this may sound cliché, but it was truly an amazing experience because it brought a new meaning to runs.
It was no longer the boring old runs (at least for me) when I did to keep myself from growing horizontally, but rather, it was about Jesus’ hands in the community where I ran. It was not about the self, but about Jesus and His love for these people. I would love to join in this run again, and I hope that others can take up the challenge to join in it too, to experience Jesus and His love for people.
Jerena Tan
By admin
So, I don’t really know how to start this. But the way I’m starting this testimonial is how I got my first step into long distance running. Honestly, up till now, I still can’t explain what got me into distance running.
610 days ago (approximately), I was a 100m sprinter, but things changed as the days passed. Like I felt a need to run, to run longer distances. And one night over dinner, I told coach (jokingly) that I wanted to try the 10,000m. And she said, if I were to do it, her glasses would fall. And so I accepted this ‘challenge’, and indeed, she lost her spectacles.
So in between these 500 odd days, my life has changed. Running has changed my life. Physically, emotionally and spiritually. Running has made me stronger, in flesh and in mind. I’d never have imagined how much I would love running long distances (22km is the longest so far). It’s like, every step you take, is a challenge to how much your body can handle. There’s this sense of satisfaction, knowing you have done something that pushes your limits, even if it means having a battered body after the run.
It’s also through this sport, that I have come to know God. And I’m very thankful to have coach and Jac take care of me spiritually. The only explanation I can give for me becoming a distance runner, is that God has placed this passion in my heart. It’s like, a gift, given to me, even though I don’t deserve it. But yet, I know it’s more than just a gift, and there’s just more to running, than putting one foot ahead of the other.
Some people run to win, some people run to challenge themselves. I run, hoping I can change people’s lives. Isn’t it a little selfish if running is just about yourself? Or at least I think so. I believe God has given me this gift, so I can use it to connect with others. Running has changed my life, now it’s time for me to change others. And it is by God’s grace, that I have been blessed with this team. Although we may not be the best runners, the bonds we have formed is a better reward than winning a championship.
Anyway, some thoughts about the races I have taken part in. In this short period of
How has running changed my life? Through the process of training, I have learned to press on even when things start to hurt. You don’t stop a workout simply because it hurts, but you press on for a breakthrough. The same applies in life, you press on, and you persevere, until something happens. It all comes down to, how much do you want it? If you want it real badly, you won’t stop. You’ll put in the extra effort to wake up early in the morning just to do a run. Even when no one understands why you are doing it, you can’t doubt yourself. Because if you are determined, something good will happen. This is what keeps me going, chasing after something eternal, something that’s everlasting. I know my purpose of running.
What’s your purpose?
Zhi Yang
By admin
23rd Oct marks the end of my last POL-ITE track meet in my poly days. There were many thoughts and mixed feelings after the competition. So I thought it would be nice if I could share some little reflection for the races I have ran in my poly days.
Personally, from a runner’s point of view, I did not really achieve anything at all for the past 3 years. I’m talking about things like an individual medal or some kind of breakthrough. The POL-ITE meets felt like they were just “another” 3 races, it felt as if I had not been improving since my secondary school days. Even for the last race I just had, a part of me felt really terrible, it’s like I had been wasting time for the past few months and ended up doing badly for the race. After crossing the finish line on Sunday, I could feel that many pairs of eyes were looking at me with disappointment, great track mates around me were encouraging me that ‘I did well’. Upon crossing the finish line, images of all the hard trainings I had been through seemed to be a waste, in terms of time and effort. I felt really crushed.
But God was really good at the point of time, I felt His peace was upon me when I walking away from the crowd. There was this indescribable feeling that I cannot express in words, but I know that He is in control of all things. I know that He definitely has a higher purpose and greater plan for putting ‘running’ into my life, using that as a tool to draw me closer to Him with each step that I take, like how He has used ‘running’ to lead me into the path of Life. I know and believe that he will continue to use this ‘running’ tool to do something even greater, something greater than what I could imagine. From a spiritual point of view, I know that I have developed a closer relationship with Him, learning how to let go and let Him take the wheel of my life. In the past, everything was about me, myself and I. Everything was about PB, medals, winning and proving to others that I am the best. By His grace, all these earthly ‘success’ does not seem to bother me as much as it used to. But I know that there’s a long way for me to learn to know how to set my heart and mind on things above.
My spiritual goal for this period is to discover the plan He has for me in terms of running, always seek to dwell in His presence when I run or race. May God be the glory 
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand - Psalm 16:11
By admin
REDDING, Calif. – Running behind Ryan Hall is the best way to see how impossibly lean he is, his legs basically skin-covered ropes with softball-sized calf muscles, and how efficient is his stride.
On an easy run near the tract house he and his wife Sara are renting in this beautiful but remote outpost in Northern California, Hall, America’s fastest marathoner, is wearing the cushiony Asics Cumulus trainer.
That’s fitting. He runs as if he were weightless (he is 5-10 and 130 pounds), as if he were planting his feet on twin fluffy clouds.
On his best days, he feels like his head is in the clouds, too, communing with his most trusted coach and advisor, whom he calls God.
“I’m trying to apply Biblical principles in my training,” Hall says. “I’m in a position now to rely on God for guidance and coaching, whereas I don’t think I could have done that earlier in my career.”
Hall, 29, has changed nearly everything in the past year — his residence, his coach, his training methods — in an effort to find something that was missing in his running and in his life.
His new ways will be tested Saturday when he toes the starting line in the U.S. Olympic marathon trials in Houston. The top three men and women will win berths for the Olympic marathon this summer in London.
The changes — plus the fact that this is the first time he has trained for a major marathon at sea level instead of high altitude — could be viewed as a huge risk given that they occurred as he was preparing to challenge for his second Olympic berth.
“I’m not afraid to fail, so I’m not afraid to take risks,” says Hall, who was 10th in the 2008 Olympic marathon.
Out on his own
While his decision to leave his high-altitude training base of Mammoth Lakes, Calif., and his longtime coach, Terrence Mahon, a little more than a year ago raised a lot of eyebrows in the world of distance running, it seems to be paying off.
Last April, Hall became the fastest U.S. marathoner in history with a time of 2:04:58 in the fastest Boston Marathon ever — though he finished fourth, behind three African runners, and has yet to win a major marathon.
Hall will be the favorite Saturday in a field that includes Dathan Ritzenhein, who was the top American (ninth) in the 2008 Olympics, and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Meb Keflezighi, the Eritrea-born 36-year-old who is the only American man to win an Olympic marathon medal since Frank Shorter ran to gold in 1972 and silver in 1976.
“I have a lot of snap in my legs,” Halls says, feeling ready for Saturday’s race. “I’m in a good spot.”
But, like most marathoners, he will go to the start with questions. Was his training right? Was his nutrition right? Is his mind right?
In these things, Hall is relying almost solely on his faith in God. He calls it faith-based or spirit-led training. Now, he says, his training and his life are more in sync.
“I was sick of saying I’m a Christian but not having a desperation for God in my life,” he says. “I wanted to need God. I wanted to make my faith more active in my life.”
That, and not his and his wife’s running careers, was the primary reason for the move to Redding. Both Ryan and Sara were attracted by the Bethel Church — a large, non-denominational Christian fellowship. They have become active members, including attending the church’s School of Supernatural Ministry, an intense study of scripture, prophesy and healing.
Sara, who started dating Ryan in their first week as runners at Stanford and who married him after they graduated, instigated the interest in Bethel. She believes that prayers healed a nagging Achilles tendon injury.
And she loves the changes she sees in her husband as a result of the move.
“It’s been the best thing that ever happened to him,” says Sara, who won a Pan Am Games gold medal last year in steeplechase and is hoping to make her first Olympic team this summer. “He’s a different person. He’s much more at peace, really enjoying his running.
“In Mammoth, running felt burdensome to him. He was exhausted all the time. Now, he doesn’t have a coach to encourage him, but he’s learned how to strengthen himself through the Lord. That’s been inspiring.”
Another reason Hall decided to go out on his own was that, after some frustrating setbacks, he felt that Mahon, his coach, was questioning his desire.
“If my coach doesn’t believe in me, that’s a really huge problem ,” Hall says.
Mahon, who continues to coach a number of elite distance runners in Mammoth, says he didn’t feel much of a clash with Hall.
“I think Ryan just wanted to be captain of his ship,” Mahon says. “He didn’t really thrive in a team environment.”
Mahon was impressed by Hall’s performance in Boston but points out that the conditions — cool temperatures, steady tailwind — were a factor in the times and that Hall was still nearly two minutes behind the Kenyans.
“He needs to keep pushing the envelope with his training,” Mahon says.
Challenging himself
It’s not a leap to say that Hall is running’s answer to Denver Broncos evangelical quarterback Tim Tebow, though Hall says it is not his style to publicly display his faith the way Tebow does.
“My faith is a huge part of my running, and I don’t try to hide that,” he says. “At the same time, I don’t throw it in people’s faces. I’m not pushing it on people. But if it’s the honest answer to a question, I’m going to share it.”
If Tebow has powerful, menacing linebackers and defensive ends trying to tear his head off, Hall has featherweight, fleet-footed Kenyans trying to run him into the ground.
Hall, despite his epic performance in Boston, finished nearly two minutes behind Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya, whose time of 2:03:02 is the fastest marathon ever run but is not considered the world record because of Boston’s downhill, point-to-point course layout. Another Kenyan, Moses Mosop, finished four seconds behind Mutai. Ethiopian Gebre Gebremariam finished third, five seconds ahead of Hall.
Hall is frustrated by the situation but not discouraged.
“When I ran 2:04 in Boston, I was so ecstatic,” he says. “But afterward I was like, ‘Man, how am I going to run with these guys?’
“Who knows, maybe one day I’ll hit it just right with my body and run out of my mind. I think I’m there. I don’t really see a difference between them and me. I feel I’m every bit as talented. It’s a matter of hitting the right day.”
Hall says he gets along well with the Kenyan runners and admires their laidback, seemingly pressure-free approach to running and their courage to make an early move in a marathon.
“They don’t care, they just go for it,” he says.
Turns out they admire him a little, too.
“One of my Kenyan buddies told me, ‘You’re famous in Kenya. You’re the white guy everyone knows about,’” Hall says, laughing.
Hall grew up a fan of the film Chariots of Fire, based partly on the story of missionary Eric Liddell, who says in the movie he feels God’s pleasure when he runs.
“That’s totally how I feel when I run,” Hall says. “The trick is feeling that way whether you’re having a good day or a bad day. It’s easy to feel that way when you’re flying or having a magical run. It’s hard to feel that way when you’re two minutes behind the leader and the helicopter is off in the distance.
“So that’s the challenge I’ve taken on — to expect the best, but be willing to be excited no matter what situation you’re in.”
On this day, there are no medals at stake, no helicopters taking overhead camera shots. Hall finishes his afternoon run through his Redding neighborhood with a casual asphalt ascent and a left turn onto his street. At the end of his street is a panoramic view of theSacramento Valley transitioning into the Cascade foothills.
There is a relaxed smile on Hall’s face as he does a few light stretches in his front yard.
It looks like he is home.
By admin
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
We, the organising committee of RunNat 2012 would like to wish all of you a Happy New Year in 2012 and thank all of you once again for the tremendous effort displayed in RunNat 2011 and witnessing God’s Grace and Mercy together with us through the event, for the nation.
It is my privilege and honour to inform you that RunNat 2012 will be held this year on the 6th of October. We sincerely pray that through the event, God will move the hearts of our people and bring transformation to families and individuals.
Regular updates from now till the event can be found both on our website www.runforthenation.com/singapore/ or on our facebook page http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100002934880944 .
Please pray alongside us as we embark on this exciting journey to seek revival and change in our Nation.
For more information on how to join us, do check out the details on the website in end February.
May God guide us in every step that we take.
Best Regards,
RunNat Organising Committee 2012
Chairperson
Augustine Lee
By admin
Article courtesy of Eric Lim, Run for the Nation (Malaysia)
So you know you will be running…. and praying at the same time. Before we talk about both, let’s start with running first. This article is especially useful for those who’re very new to running.
“So, where do I start?”
Many who take up running can’t wait to put on their trainers and head out to the park to run, then realise that they are running out of breath half way through and decide that they’re probably not meant to be a runner.
Everyone’s body responds differently to the training process. Therefore, listen to your body and progress accordingly.
Start on low gear
Just like a car, we cannot go straight to high gear without first starting off with low gear. Likewise, when you first take up running, you should start on low gear and go slow.
When you’re out of breath or encountering pain in your sides, you’re going too fast. Running should be a relaxing activity, so don’t overstrain when first starting out. You can adopt the run-walk-run strategy to allow your body to catch some breath. You will slowly realise that you’re ready to swing into a higher gear after a few training session.
Technique, technique….
Don’t worry too much about the technical side of running when first starting out. The rules of thumb from experts are, keep your body tall and straight, focus your eyes about three metres ahead, relax your shoulders and arms, and keep your stride natural and turning over at a comfortable pace.
When should I run?
“Morning? Evening?” I would say, do it when you have time and feel like running. There is no fixed time for you to train, but be mindful of the things you can do to make running easier at specific times, such as wearing a cap and hydrating yourself when you run in the heat of late morning or the afternoon.
As you can see, starting out running can be quite simple. Hope you enjoy your run!
By admin
We are excited to launch the inaugural Run for the Nation in Singapore this 8th October!
The journey to Run for the Nation (Singapore) started with the formation of the organising committee two months ago in June. The committee comprises of mainly young Christian sports enthusiasts who desire to use themselves and sport as vessels for God to impact the community and the nation.
This journey is one that we invite you to join in with us as a community of believers running and praying for the nation.
The event is now less than two months away so please register as soon as you can (as a runner, team manager or volunteer). Our registrations close on 27th August or as soon as our capacity is reached.
For enquiries, please contact us at runforthenation@gmail.com or at our facebook event page “Run for the Nation Singapore 2011.”
Yours sincerely,
Run for the Nation (Singapore) 2011 Organising Committee
By admin
Hi RunNaters!
I’m excited about the new look for our RunNat website. Thanks to the IT support team for the hard work they put in! The upgrade is to take into account that RunNat is going to be held in other countries and we have now added in our new community engagement arm called RunNat G.R.A.C.E.
2011 is going to be a new milestone for us as we seek to empower a new generation to pray for their countries and be agents of change in communities everywhere. We have a desire to infect the world with the love of Christ through being intentional and genuine in helping people come out of the cycle of poverty.
Transformation must begin with us before we can see it in our nation. So if you are up to the challenge, think about joining us as we run, pray, believe and be the answer to prayers!
Victor Chua
