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On November 27th Potter’s School alumni and brothers Joshua Ryan, an 11th grade running start student, and Kyle Ryan, a freshman at Washington State University, participated in the annual Seattle Half-Marathon. Both ran in the 13.1 mile course, which ran through downtown Seattle, starting on 5th Avenue, near the Seattle Center, and ending in the entrance of Memorial Stadium.

Naturally, both runners devoted plenty of time preparing physically and mentally for the rigors of the half-marathon. Josh said to prepare for the race he had to do “[l]ots and lots of running. [It’s] pretty simple but true.” During this past fall, he ran on a cross-country team and went on training runs between 6 to 13 miles long in order to work on his long distance running. Kyle has run for nine sports seasons on track and cross-country teams in the 800 meter and 1600 meter event and set aside time to go out on long runs to build up his endurance, pointing out, “Long steady runs develop the endurance base you need for long distance running.”

 

On the day of the race Josh and Kyle set off from the starting line at about 7:45 AM. With several thousand people participating in the race, they had an interesting experience just getting started. As Kyle described it, “We pushed forward as far as we could, but when the gun fired to start the race, it took a full minute before we could actually run. That first mile was interesting--dodging through people like an obstacle course, trying to get up and on pace.”

 

From the beginning Josh faced the test of maintaining his endurance throughout the 13.1-mile half-marathon. “Of all things, I struggled to take it easy during the race, although halfway through, some stomach cramps kept me from wasting energy.” Since he usually runs 5-kilometer races, about 3.1 miles, he found it hard to set a pace that would last throughout the 13.1 miles of the half-marathon. “Over [four] times longer, this race demanded way more endurance. I found it hard to switch from taking off at a hard pace to what at first seemed to be an extremely slow pace. In the end, it worked out well, and I was able to keep a pretty constant speed.” Simply running the race for fun, Josh mainly aimed to finish the long race, but also managed to finish with a satisfying time.

In the meantime Kyle ran along with one of his friends from his cross-country team, Anthony. Accustomed to five-kilometer races, much like Josh, Kyle also had to remain mindful of the pace he took for the race. He noted, “Anthony and I ran together for virtually the entire race, and that helped us both a ton. By running together we kept each other on pace, and we both definitely [went] faster than we would have gone otherwise… We just sort of found a groove, and kept right on pace.”  Ultimately, Kyle managed to keep up a half-marathon, finished the half-marathon in just under 1 hour and 30 minutes; a pace of about 6:52 per mile.

After the race Josh and Kyle attempted to cool down by jogging around, a painful experience by all accounts. In the following days they experienced the wonders of the muscle fatigue which follows running a half-marathon. Kyle quickly discovered the pain of traversing the hills and steps throughout the Washington State University campus. “For the next few days, I was hobbling up and down little inclines, bracing my legs for steps, [clenching] the rail to shuffle down stairs slowly, painfully, one-by-one. I’m not exaggerating a bit. It was downright funny. There are 63 steps [leading] to my dorm floor which I walk multiple times a day.” Despite the pain resulting from the half-marathon, both Josh and Kyle exulted in their accomplishment. In describing how he felt finishing the race, Kyle added, “Overall, I was thrilled with how the race went, and I felt like I had gained a lot from all the running over the past several months.”

In the future, both also look to continue running. Josh, who will enter his senior year in high school next school year, plans on continuing to run on his cross-country team and racing in more half-marathons. Despite the hardships of finding the time to run at college, particularly with the cold weather and wet climate in Seattle, Kyle also intends to continue running and training for road races, perhaps including a future full marathon.

 

Concerning the role of God in his running, Josh said, “It breaks down [to] the main point of why I’m a Christian. The grace I received personally is not a secret to be kept, and I’ll use the gifts that God has given me as tools. He is the goal of my running. My [intentions], whatever they started out as… [are] now [to] completely…spread the Word of his Good News and to show that redemption is incredibly real.” Kyle chimed in, “Running is really a lot of fun. You can come to relate with Eric Liddell and ‘feel God’s pleasure’ when you run… It’s a great opportunity to develop as an athlete and as a Christian, because it puts you in close contact with unbelieving peers.”*

* - Eric Liddell, the “Flying Scotsman”, was a Scottish missionary and runner who won a gold medal in the men’s 400-meter race and a bronze medal in the men’s 200-meter race in the 1924 Olympics in Paris. As a staunch Christian he refused to race on Sundays and consequently withdrew from the men’s 100-meter race, his best event. In 1981 Hugh Hudson directed the Academy Award winning film “Chariots of Fire”, which commemorated Eric Liddell’s feats at that Olympics.

 

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