Oceanside triathlete finds purpose in life, strength in God

By STU SMITH

Anyone feeling pressured by the hectic pace of their daily schedule should spend a day with Brain Farr. That would be Brian Farr the businessman. Or Brian Farr the assistant track and cross-country coach at Carlsbad High School. Or it could be Brian Farr the single dad, or Brain Farr the college student, or Brian Farr the church volunteer.

Maybe it’s Brian Farr the triathlete. It’s all the same guy.

Any way you slice it, Brian Farr is a busy guy. How does he do it? WHY does he do it might be a better question. Ah, but that’s the story, eh?

Brian Farr gets out of bed in the dark, when the first number on the clock is still a four. By the time most automatic coffee makers have turned on, he is already pounding out the miles. He’ll run 20 miles before work, and he’ll log another 50 miles in the afternoon on his bike.

Before we chalk this North County resident off as an exercise obsessive, though, a deeper look can be revealing. It is, in fact, the deeper look that got Brian Farr where he is today - and made his life less stressful along the way.

It began with his daughter, Natalie, and her Bible class at Santa Fe Christian School. On more than one occasion, she would come home from school and share with Brian what she had learned in class. On one particular day, seeing her father struggling with everything going on in his life, she said simply, “Jesus was under so much stress that he sweated blood.”

“That stunned me,” Brian recalls. “It still overwhelms me. It takes my breath away when I think about it. I asked her how she knew that, and she just said, ‘It’s in the Bible.’”

Brian began to read the Bible, and he found the passage in Luke (22:44) referring to the agony Jesus felt as his hour drew near. He even began reading Natalie’s Bible textbooks.

“I could feel it strengthening my faith,” he says, “strengthening my life.”

Interestingly enough, Brian Farr had always considered himself a Christian. He had always prayed, and he continued the practice with his daughter as she grew up. Now he found himself praying more and in greater earnest, although he admits that most of his prayers were of the “help me” variety.

“It was a beginning,” he adds.

Brian Farr had begun a journey. He had no idea where it would take him, but he was ready to find out. One day, passing the treadmill that had become a clothes rack in his house, he decided to give his legs a try. Soon he was jogging regularly, and in the spring of 1998, while on extended run along Coast Highway he “had a direct conversation with God. My life had a purpose and I needed to find out what that purpose was.”

Exercise turned to training, and from a jogger to a runner to a swimmer and cyclist, Brian trained himself into a triathlete - the grueling endurance level that demands a person to swim over two miles, bike over 100 miles and run a 26-mile marathon, all in the same day. It took him five years, but his effort has made him a bona fide member of the Degree (as in the deodorant) Ironman Triathlon Team, and qualified him for the famous Ironman Triathlon in Kona, Hawaii.

“Training makes me more efficient, more effective,” he explains. “You have to follow your schedule. If today’s a swim day, I will get that swim in.”

Training also showed Brian that there was more he was capable of achieving. Never finishing college, he has become a student in the Biola BOLD program - a program designed for adult learners with a fulltime schedule.

“Four hour classes and extensive homework,” he adds with a knowing smile, “but I’ll have my bachelor’s in business, and I plan on a master’s in apologetics.”

All he has to do is make it part of the schedule, just as he has his work as an assistant coach at Carlsbad High School - just as he has his commitment as a co-leader for his church, New Venture Christian Fellowship in Oceanside, as they begin a “40 Days of Purpose” program.

“I don’t do this alone,” Brain says when asked about the strength it takes to stick to the schedule. “God has put so many people in my life to help me and inspire me. My daughter, Natalie, is a constant source of encouragement, and at times gives me wisdom I can’t get anywhere else.” Brian also cites his girlfriend, Clover, and his brother, Jerry, who has a knack for showing up during races “just when I need someone there cheering for me.”

Runners are fond of the saying: “There is no finish line,” noting that the reward for their effort is found in the effort itself. They also talk about being “in the zone,” that place, or state of mind some say, where exertion is replaced with an effortless physical efficiency. Brian Farr knows the truth found in both, and in the power and strength in knowing God has a purpose for each person’s life.

And for the rest of us? Enjoy the journey, because there really is not a finish line in this world, and above all – stay on schedule.