Our History

You know, I don’t know if I have fully gotten an answer to that question just yet. With that said, I do feel that I know what led me to where I am.

I started running in January 2007, and I was hooked from the moment I started. A few friends of mine were signing up for the Peachtree Road Race set for July 4, 2007, in Atlanta, Georgia. We all signed up and trained like a bunch of guys who thought we knew everything about the sport. We didn’t have a plan, we didn’t ask for advice, and we didn’t think we needed any of that. We just knew that we had to cover 6.2 miles in the dead of summer and it didn’t matter how we did it as long as we finished. Well, finish is about all we did. Most of the Kenyans (the fast guys) were already on a plane back to their home country by the time we crossed the finish line. Some of us were sore, some of us were so burned out we would never run again, and some of us had just caught a glimpse of something that we knew we could not get enough of.

One of the guys who caught a glimpse was me. I came home complaining of hurting in places I had never hurt before and began trying to convince my wife Holly that we needed to do a marathon. At first she told me that I was off my rocker and that there was no way she could do a marathon. I finally convinced her that there was no way I could do a marathon right now either, but that in just six short months we could. The fact that we would do the Disney Marathon also helped a little.

So Disney it was. We signed up and started this adventure together, for better or worse. The next six months were tough. We would train together and separate. She would watch the kids while I ran, and then I would watch the kids while she ran. Whereas just a few months before, we would get a sitter so we could go enjoy dinner and a movie, we were now getting a sitter to go run. If it was a really special occasion, we would get a sitter, run the Chattanooga River Walk, go change and wipe off with a washrag in the local public restroom, and have some pizza downtown. Needless to say, we were committed!

It didn’t seem like very long until it was time for Disney—Disney was here, ready or not. We felt good about our training and felt that we had done all we could do in such a short period of time. The only problem was that I had a stomach bug and really didn’t know if I would finish that thing or not. With that said, almost six hours and what felt like ten restrooms later, we crossed the finish line. That night, every muscle in every part of our bodies hurt, but it was great! At least for me it was. Holly calls me a bit of a pain junkie. We felt like we had accomplished something, even if we did have to walk downstairs sideways to stop the sharp pains from shooting up our legs.

This experience only fueled my fire even more. I was already starting to think of what I could do next. I knew I had to improve my marathon time. What about ultra-marathons? And how about triathlons? Those looked fun, too. I was like a kid who had just learned that you really won’t drown if you jump off the diving board. I wanted to do more a lot more.

In 2008 and 2009 I completed one 5K, five 10Ks, four 10 milers, three half marathons, two marathons, one 208-mile relay, one bike race, four triathlons, and one half Ironman. I got to where I loved endurance sports. It seemed like it was all I wanted to do or even talk about. Holly has supported me 100 percent and I cannot thank her enough for that. We even got our son Lane involved in Iron Kids, where he did great, even placing seventh at the national finals in Tucson, Arizona.

Through all that, I remained what I thought was faithful. I tried to be at church every time the doors were open, I often thought about how I could start a running ministry, I came up with the logo on the cover of this book almost two years before it was written, and I even had breakfast with my preacher from time to time. But I was often convicted of not spending enough time with God and in his word. I knew what God was saying, but I just didn’t have enough time for him. I could spend fifteen to twenty hours a week in the final months before an Ironman event biking, running, swimming, and cramming my head full of secular music through my MP3 player, but I couldn’t find fifteen to twenty minutes a week to be alone with God.

Well, I am convinced that God will do anything he wants to get your attention, even if it means getting your attention at times you least expect it. You see, in October 2009 I had just finished my first half Ironman and had just gotten back from Lane’s Iron-Kids event in Tucson. Needless to say I had plenty to talk about. At our church’s homecoming lunch I sat down beside some friends of mine, HR and Adrian Poe. I have known HR and Adrian for the better part of my life. They have always been solid, mature Christian leaders in my eyes, and they both also love to run. It seems like every time I get a chance to speak to them, that is where the conversation ends up, and this day was no different. HR and I were talking running, triathlons, Lane’s race, and how I had committed to the Florida Ironman in 2010. After we had talked for a few minutes, HR looked at me, his face as serious and concerned as it could be, and said, “Mitch, don’t let this become your God.” Wow, I thought, where in the world did that come from? Here I am talking about running, traveling, and my kids, and HR is trying to give me pointers on my faith.

It wasn’t until that night that HR’s words really began to sink in. I started thinking back on the past few years at all the hints God had given me, like the idea of this running ministry, that I had just dismissed. God had put someone, someone in my running world in my path to get my attention and set me straight. Over the next few days I could not stop thinking about what HR had said and how he said it. Within a day or two I had dragged out the logo that I had sketched a few years ago. I knew I had to do one of two things: either stop using this sport that I love as an idol and an excuse, or use it to further God’s kingdom.

You are not able to tell by reading this book, but I am not very comfortable sharing what God is doing in my life. This is where the logo comes in. A few weeks after that conversation with HR, I showed up on his doorstep one Saturday afternoon with some T-shirts that had this funny-looking stick man on them. They read, “Run for God.”

I remember when some friends of mine and I did the Blue Ridge Relay in 2008. We had team shirts made that said, “Running for Katie.” Below that they said, “My cup runneth over.” Katie was a young lady in our community who had died from acute myeloid leukemia. In the final months before her death she questioned why she was sick, she missed her daughter Merriwether during the months she spent in the hospital, she cried when the doctors told her the leukemia had returned, but she never rejected her faith in God’s love for her. In her final letter to her friends and family, she implored them to tell someone about Jesus. I remember being amazed at how many people came up to us and asked about our shirts and the story behind them. I told HR and Adrian that story, and how it was the reason behind my stick-man shirts. I told them that from now on I would be sporting one of these shirts while running, whether on the treadmill at the local gym or in my next marathon. Maybe this would force me to get out of my comfort zone and share what God was doing in my life, because I knew people were going to ask about my funny-looking shirt.

As my pastor has said many times, I still felt that I needed to do more. I tried to figure out how I could get others to wear the shirts. Then I thought, What better people to sport these fashionably correct shirts than people who love to run and love the Lord? This also got me to thinking about the people over the years who have told me that they would like to get into running, but just didn’t know where to start. That is where this book was born. I hope I can teach you a little about running and that we can teach each other a lot about our enduring faith, all the while telling others about the great God we serve.

Mitchell Hollis