Today’s post comes from my journal. It’s a little bit of a different vibe than most of my Run With Me updates—keep reading to see what I mean.
I wrote this little anecdote a couple weeks back so that I didn’t loose any details with the passage of time. It’s in reference to a healing experience that I had on trail, day one of the Boise Trails Challenge.
Calling Patrick from Harrison Hollow, in pain, but mostly distraught by how that pain would likely affect my BTC plans:
“Can you just pray?”
He did. Right then. Out loud. On the phone—a direct ask for the healing of my ITBS—which I then proceeded to interrupt:
“Permanently.”
Patrick pauses. Checks in: “What was that?”
“Permanently,” I repeat. “I want this issue resolved. Gone.”
He continues praying, echoing my request for *permanent* healing.
Later, I get a text from my neighbor—in response to my SOS text for prayer—telling me that she stopped and prayed with her daughter.
“V and I just prayed! Healing and protection.”
I cried.
Later, I found out she also prayed for wisdom.
Not completely sure if I wanted *wisdom* in that moment, but their prayers moved me.
(It was a day or two later that I recalled the wisdom prayer and wondered what role it played in my schedule-shifting and route-rearranging. Wisdom truly was as needed as healing. This endeavor was multi-faceted, and I was going to need resources outside of myself to finish well.)
I kept praying and gingerly running (read: limping downhills) for the rest of the segment and by the next segment, at Polecat, found my ITBS inflammation somewhat improved. Then on my last segment of the day—a late sunset excursion on a new trail with spectacular vistas, I mostly hiked.
But the pace was due to general fatigue more than the IT band—in fact I was brave enough to jog the final descent down Barn Owl into the Hidden Springs neighborhood. I returned home that first night to sleep and thanked my family for praying. I’d checked off every single trail I’d planned for day one—my highest mileage day of the BTC—in spite of the resurgence of ITBS.
It was the next morning, though, that I knew the ITBS pain was gone . . .
Running downhills at Table Rock *totally* pain free? Yes. This is an answer to prayer. What a glorious morning!
And the confirmation—I continued to enjoy downhills throughout *the rest of the challenge.* Two hundred and twenty-two miles in seven days without another occurrence of IT band pain or soreness. Thank you, God. I am in awe. How much gratitude I experienced on long or steep or *just fun* downhills because of my day one experience and previous DNF?
So much!
I identify deeply as a person of faith, but on this ultra-running Substack, you’ll usually only see tangential references to my relationship with Jesus—this story is quite the exception, but one that feels too important to my trail running journey *not* to share here.
But while I am sharing, prayer is not just something that I request from others in my deepest moments of need. It’s also ingrained into my mindset, and plays a pretty integral role in my solo miles. Running and hiking can be very meditative; it lends itself well to prayer. Sometimes these private moments are for full on conversations with God, sometimes I pray for others on my mind with needs, and sometimes it’s just a mindset—an awareness of His Presence with me everywhere I go.
I posted this reel to Instagram a week or so back. Sound up to hear the song that became my anthem for the Boise Trails Challenge. It embodies my experience of “praying with my feet” well.
I was fatigued, and it was hot, and I didn’t have service (and I didn’t think to download any playlists!) so I didn’t have music either. But I had these lyrics in my mind, and gratitude for what it was that I *got* to do out there that day. Really, what a gift!
If “Centering Prayer” resonates with you, listen to the whole thing below. The Porter’s Gate is a worship collective that I enjoy; this track comes from their album Sanctuary Songs—about mental health and faith.
So glad for answered prayer!