Long Distance Friendships

What began as a post-college dare between friends has grown into an unexpected avenue of friendship for Cris Francisco. Growing up, he watched his father compete in marathons, but Cris never caught the running bug. That is, not until an out-of-shape college buddy announced his intention of running the LA Marathon and dared Cris and a few others to join him. When several of the other guys stepped up to train, Cris decided to run, too. And that’s when he discovered the amazing power that friendships have to help us accomplish great things.

He signed up for the marathon and on race day, knew he was hooked. He wanted to keep running. “After finishing six marathons, I began to progress to longer distances.” Today, Cris competes in ultramarathons, events which involve running distances of 50 or 100 miles versus the traditional 26 miles of a standard marathon.

The 100 mile distances are grueling and take the better part of a day to finish. Looking out across the worn running path, Cris turns reflective, “As I run the longer distances, there’s a lot of opportunity to start feeling miserable.” Cris leans on God in those moments. “I’m praying as things are going well. I’m praying as things are not going well. I’m leaning on God and praying: Lord, help me and give me the strength to get through this next step.”

And Jesus was not unfamiliar with the challenges of running a race. “We have a race to run,” says Cris. “That analogy is used a lot in scripture. I don’t have to know every step, but God has certain directions in life and he’s my guide.”

“As I get low on energy, sometimes I’m tempted to throw in the towel, but I have to fight through that.” That’s a common experience that bonds runners together.

Though Cris often runs and trains by himself, he also uses running as a way to connect with others. “I use running as an outlet to develop friendships with other believers and with friends who don’t know the Lord. Because of the rapport I’ve built, there’s an outlet to share the gospel,” said Cris. “There’s a lot of time (out on the trail). A runner’s guard goes down and talk turns to their life’s problems. People share their hurts or those type of things.” This gives Cris an opening to turn the conversation toward God.

Cris realizes that running marathons isn’t for everyone, but that shouldn’t stop people from reaching out to others and meeting them where they are. While running is a way for Cris to stay in shape, enjoy relationships with others, and share his faith in Christ, he acknowledges, “A lot of people have a lot of interests. And I want to encourage others to be thinking:  How can I glorify God in the things I am doing?”

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