Week 6 - How "Getting Benched" Can Produce Perseverance

Nadia Jones will be covering her training for the 3 months leading up to the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon. If you would like to follow her journey, you can visit this blog each week for updates!

• Week 1 – I cover The Galloway Run Walk Run Method, and I attempt to define the word “postpartum.”
• Week 2 – Stop trying to buy your training shoes yourself and go to a running specialty store. I also discuss how NOT to clean your running shoes.
• Week 3 – A good book, a New Year’s resolution, and some lessons from my first love (basketball) gave me some good #thoughtswhilerunning.
• Week 4+5 – Lessons on SelfDiscipline from Navy SEALs and how it relates to physical training

As I mentioned last week, the “Honeymoon Phase” of training for the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon has ended for me. The long runs are taking over an hour and the 5 am training runs aren’t as invigorating as they once were. I could continue to gripe about running, but in light of the Eagles recent Super Bowl Victory, I want to open Week 6 with a story of encouragement that draws all the way back to the College Football National Championship in 2018.

A little background if you don’t remember. Jalen Hurts, Alabama’s starting quarterback all season, was benched at half-time to give Tua Tagovailoa a chance to help the Alabama Crimson Tide bounce back from a 13 – 0 deficit. As much as I want to drag this story out as an Alabama football fan, after all I was at the game and did get a 3-second cameo on national television posturing in what I would later find out was called the “Surrender Cobra,” I’ll cut to the chase. Tagovailoa threw a 41-yard touchdown to DeVonta Smith to give Alabama a 26-23 overtime victory against Georgia.

My mom recorded the game on her DVR and probably watched my 3-second cameo as many times as Sports Center replayed DeVonta Smith’s incredible catch (let’s be honest she probably watched it even more). In typical Alabama fan fashion, I wanted to go back and watch the whole game from the comfort of my own house so I could take everything in again. I remember both Tua and Jalen’s post-game interview VERY clearly. As pumped as I was for Tua, it was Jalen’s post-game interview that really stuck with me these last 7 years.

Tua gave glory to God and spoke with great wisdom and leadership on how he led the Tide to victory (click link for video). After Tua’s post-game interview, Maria Taylor passed the mic to Tom Rinaldi who interviewed Jalen Hurts. I am sure the college football world was on the edge of their seats waiting to hear Jalen talk about what it felt like to win the National Championship but lose the starring role at the same time. How did Jalen handle that interview? With class of course (click link for video). When Tom Rinaldi asked him on live national television how it felt to be a National Champion, Jalen responded, “Unbelievable, I’ve dreamed about this.”

The 2018 College Football National Championship was and probably will be the greatest game I ever get to attend. I will never forget the incredible comeback brought to you by the wisdom and leadership of Coach Saban. I won’t forget the fearlessness Tua showed to make risky plays to change the course of the game, or all the other players that did their jobs so he could make those plays. I’ll never forget the huge sack Tua took in overtime or his ability to get right back up and throw and incredible pass to DeVonta Smith right after it. I won’t forget the dead silence right before DeVonta’s marvelous catch or the roar of the crowd right after it. I won’t forget the incredible game that was, but I will also always remember the story of Jalen Hurts.

What I am about to say is not a reflection of Jalen’s heart, but a reflection of mine. Obviously, Jalen’s interview stuck with me long enough to bring it up in a blog post about training for a half marathon 7 years after the fact. If you’ve ever been "benched" in life, I believe you too would remember how you felt watching Jalen say, “I’ve dreamed about this.” If you haven’t experienced “getting benched,” let me tell you how it feels – it stinks. You can say I am not a team player for saying that, but I would argue that maybe you haven’t been benched from something that you really love before.

You can be benched for all sorts of reasons too. You could be benched because someone else is better than you or simply outworking you. You could be benched for behavior reasons or your attitude. You could be benched for a sickness or an injury. You could get benched if the coach thinks someone else could do a better job, regardless of what you think. You could get benched for being associated with someone or a group that has caused trouble, even if you didn't do it. You can certainly be benched for the wrong reasons or reasons that have nothing to do with you - this really could go on and on if you know what I mean. What I am trying to get at is, there are all sorts of reasons you can get benched.

I think Jalen’s 2018 National Championship post-game interview replayed in my brain so much these last 7 years because even though I was super excited for Alabama football, my "former athlete" heart ached for him that night. I am not sure I would have told Tom Rinaldi that I dreamed of that moment, but that’s also because Jalen clearly had a better attitude than I would have had. While I didn’t get benched on quite the same stage growing up in athletics, the impact on my heart relative to where I was in life still hurt.

Now you may be asking, “How does Jalen Hurts getting benched in 2018 have anything to do with this blog on training for the Tuscaloosa Half Marathon!?”

Great question!

I believe that “getting benched” in life has always made me stronger in the long run. It has given me time to sit back, pray, reflect, heal, and come back much improved. I would argue that the best lessons I’ve learned on perseverance have been on the sidelines.

When I tore my ACL my sophomore year of college throwing javelin, I could have quit and chalked up not finishing my college track career to a crummy injury. I remember feeling sorry for myself the night of the injury, but hearing the Holy Spirit tell me this happened for a reason. Thanks to a lot of learning, prayer, an incredible sports medicine team, and coaches and teammates who believed in me - my next season was my best. Fast forward to now, I can look back and see my ACL injury was a catalyst for my career. A Physical Therapist at Physiolete in Tuscaloosa – the very place I tore my ACL. I’ll have to digress on this saga another day.

I'm not going to lie, I cried a little when Jalen lead the Tide to a W in the SEC Championship the very next season in a similar series of events - except the roles between Tua and him were reversed. Even after that, the world said he wouldn’t be a successful NFL quarterback. I am no NFL scout, but I never listened to that. Now Jalen's a Super Bowl Champion AND MVP. Speaking for Jalen when I say this, but I believe he is Super Bowl Champion partly BECAUSE he got benched on the second biggest football stage (or maybe third if you consider soccer to be the real football) in 2018.

“Getting benched” has always reminded me that success in life (not just sports) is unattainable on my own. I have always felt God’s presence in my life way more in the valley than on the mountain – as I write this I remind myself how important time with God daily is because it’s easy to forget where my strength comes from when life gets busy.

So, I’ll close Week 6 with scripture (see Quote of the Week – Week 6 below) from Paul the Apostle’s letter to the Romans when he was in Corinth. If you know anything about Paul, you will know that his version of “getting benched” was a lot more intense than the examples I have given above. While I don’t like to share scripture out of context, I will say Paul’s message to have hope for eternal glory and meaning in a season of suffering has carried me through many seasons of “getting benched.”

Quote of the Week – Week 6^“Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us." (Romans 5: 3-5 NIV)

If you’re training for this Half Marathon, or anything for that matter, and it isn’t going the way you have planned - stop and consider the lesson to be learned. You may not get your answer tomorrow, a year from now, or even 7 years from now - but God has a plan for you that’s much bigger than your own. 

Jalen's Post-Game Super Bowl Interview (click link here).

Quote of the Week – Week 6

Playlist – Week 6  …

1. Kashmir – Led Zeppelin – A good beat to get your heartrate up at the beginning of a training run/walk
2. Miles on It – Kane Brown – Tempo says 130 bpm, but the base and chorus say otherwise! I picture Kane Brown singing this song about my running shoes.
3. We Didn’t Start the Fire – Fall Out Boy – Fall Out Boy must have a runner in their group, most of their popular songs are over 150 bpm – this one has 158 bpm.