The interviews went very well for me, and my volunteers were very easy to contact, seeming as I am blood related to one of them and the other volunteer was a good family friend of mine. I chose them because they are both over 40 and have been running everyday for practically their whole lives.

I spoke with Michelle Rickwald on September 9, 2014 at 3:30pm and we spoke about her life as a marathon runner and the challenges that she faces.
A lot of the issues that Michelle faced were related to perseverance. When I asked her what was the most difficult thing about being a runner she said “finding the energy to run every day, and also trying to find the strength within myself to push through the fatigue.” When I asked her how often this occurred while she was running she told me that nearly every time she runs she has to mentally prepare for it. “Like Christianity, you have to mentally prepare yourself to push forward, make good decisions and mentally put forth the effort to keep going.” Often times she finds herself praying while she runs; for strength and also for the people around her. This is what keeps her going and pressing onward during her runs.
One of the ways she tries to overcome her fatigue while she is running is by; first, making a conscious effort to keep pushing through and praying for strength, and secondly, by realizing the blessing that she has to be able to run. Michelle was very aware of the fact that there are many other people out in the world that would love to have the gift of running that she has, whether they be handicapped or just physically unable to run, therefore she has learned to never take it for granted and appreciate it every step of the way.

I spoke to Ruthie Pohl on September 9, 2014 at 10:30am and we discussed the biggest issues that she has to overcome as a runner. The biggest concern that she has as a runner is staying healthy; keeping her bones and muscles strong as well as strengthening her immune system.
She faces this problem, thankfully, only a few times out of the year, however when she does experience these issues, such as "tight quadriceps" it throws off her whole routine. For when she is injured it throws off pace, thus reducing her ability to train to become a better runner.
Although it only happens a few times a year there are many things that she does in order to prevent more injuries from occurring. The primary thing that Ruthie does to make sure she stays healthy and strong, is making sure her equipment is always up to par; her body and her running shoes. She takes vitamins every day, makes sure she eats right, and gets enough sleep as well as visiting the chiropractor a few times a month. She always makes sure that the shoes she is wearing are up to par and are in good condition to keep her feet in place and not twist her ankle. Overall these are all the things that she does in order to avoid such injuries.

I was surprised by their responses to the challenges that they faced because I honestly was not fully aware of the issues that runners faced. In Southern California nearly everyone runs, so it is just a normal thing that people do and we see it all the time, which is why I was thrown off my guard when they told me of all the problems that they faced because of it such as the physical challenges like health and strength. I found out there is much more than meets the eye when it comes to running.
I had also never thought of comparing running to the Christian faith. There are a lot of parables and metaphors about running in the bible such as 2 Timothy 4:7 of “running the good race” but I had never really put the two and two together. When you are out there running it can be tiring and exhausting, much like Christianity can be, so being a Christian and a runner it is a great visual for life and how it can get hard sometimes but we must press on and finish the race well.

After talking to both Ruthie and Michelle I think a good service that we could create for runners would be a running group in the church. With all the talk about running being like Christianity I think it would be a great investment to start a group of people who love running together, that can meet weekly to discuss their own personal struggles with running and how they overcome their issues as well as their spiritual issues. This would be a great investment because although we can stand alone and figure out our issues and the questions that linger in our hearts, there is power in numbers and in other peoples input, therefore it is much better to be in good company than to try and figure out these things alone.
Although this “service” would have to be done church by church and wouldn’t be something that we could just manufacture in factories, I believe that it would be a great investment.