I hit the roads for a brief run yesterday.  Well, run/walk, because that’s what I’m up to. Neither my endurance nor my physiology seems quite ready to take the full run plunge. So I head out, intending to alternate running and walking. But when will I switch?

This was so easy when I tried it at the gym because it was a confined, measured, timed space. I could alternate laps or I could run 1 minute, walk the next. But on the roads, I have to be more creative. I could watch my watch but minute by minute seemed a bit compulsive. I could count my steps, also a fun-sucker. I could alternate houses or mailboxes, but they were so randomly spaced. Didn’t want to short change the resting, after all.

So what I fell into was using the environment or the terrain. Jog the shade, walk the sunny part. Jog the incline, walk the flat. Jog the block, walk the next.

That last one got me thinking. What do I do with the turn? Do I continue the jog if I’m jogging? What if I’m walking? Do I make the turn before I start jogging? Generally, I realized, I walk the turns. I don’t start the next jog until I see what’s around the bend.

As a kinesthetic Christian, this made me think about how I navigate the turns in my God-directed life. Do I start my jog trusting I will be able to make it up the hill if that’s what greets me after the bend? Or, do I walk around all the corners and then decide whether or not I will jog once I see what greets me ahead?

Yesterday, just for fun, I decided to jog all the turns. It was fun. And it gave me some momentum to get up the hills. No hills? No problem. Then I was a blur on the flat – in my own mind.

I wonder what would happen if I jogged all the curves in my day today.