The Hearts Hello

Run Your Race: Why You’re Not Late, You’re Right on Time

• Keona T. Ellerbe • Season 3 • Episode 16

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The stadium is quiet. No scoreboard, no stopwatch—just you, laced up, staring down a lane that finally feels like yours. That’s where we begin: a fired-up, no-applause-needed season where the goal isn’t to perform for the crowd but to become who you were built to be. We use the track as our mirror, trading comparison and timelines for alignment, pace, and a deep, honest gear that shows up when you think you’re out of breath.

We talk about what it means to stop measuring your worth with someone else’s paper and how to handle pressure when it arrives as expectation, not comfort. Pressure can be holy: it remembers your capacity and calls it forward. You’ll hear simple cues to pick a lane and stay in it, guard your focus, and stop drifting toward what everyone else is doing. We ask the questions that reset direction—What race have you avoided because you think you’re late? What lane did you abandon? Where are you still performing instead of becoming?—and we turn those answers into practical momentum.

Along the way, we reframe the finish line as feedback, not judgment. Sometimes confirmation is a person, an open door, or just a quiet knowing that says this was your best yet. And when that second wind hits, you won’t run to the finish—you’ll run through it, carrying confidence into the next lap of your growth. If you’re ready to claim a season that is personal, to shift from audience validation to purposeful alignment, and to unlock the gear that’s already in you, you’re in the right place. Press play, commit to your lane, and let’s go together.

If this moved you, subscribe, share it with a friend who’s questioning their timing, and leave a review to help more runners find their lane.

SPEAKER_00:

Oh y'all, I am fired up. You hear me? I am fired up. I don't know what transpired while I was sleeping last night, but I woke up with so much vigor. I woke up with so much excitement. I woke up knowing that I have stepped into a new season in my life. And y'all, when I say that this season is personal, this season is personal. So for this episode, for those of you all who are not new to this channel, you know that I love track and field. That's my sport, that's my thing. So I need you to put your running shoes on today because I need you to realize that this is going to be the best season of your life. I need you to realize that when you step into this season, that you are stepping onto a track where you are going to run your race. Yeah, this this season, this season is indeed personal. So I don't know about you, but again, I am fired up. And I need you to kind of just go with me a little bit in this episode because I need you to think about track and feel. And so I'm hoping that it's going to stir something up on the inside of you where you realize that, yeah, this is my race. I need you to say it with me. This is my race. I can't hear you. This is my race. But I want you to picture this with me for a moment. You got your shoes on? Are they laced up? You ready? All right. You are standing on a track. You're not surrounded by crowds, you're not surrounded by noise. Just you. And the lane in front of you. I don't know. Pick which lane you want to be in. Lane one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, whichever lane. Envision yourself in that lane. And for the first time in a long time, you realize this isn't about anybody else. This race is you versus you. See, there comes a moment when you stop worrying about whether you started late, whether you missed a season, whether you took a detour, or whether somebody else seems further ahead. Nah. Uh-uh. In this moment, you recognize that you are still allowed to run. You are still called to run. You are still equipped to run. And so even if you feel like you missed the official start, even if life didn't go in the order it was supposed to, even if people counted you out before you even stepped on the track, you are still meant to run your race. And here's the powerful part behind this. See, sometimes the loudest voices cheering for you are also the voices reminding you that you can do better. And not in a negative way, not in a you're not enough way, but in a generational memory way. You know how sometimes when you're cooking and you don't you don't measure, and people will just say, oh, my ancestors told me to stop. In a generational memory way, in a we know what's inside of you way, in a there's more in you, keep going way. Sometimes support doesn't sound soft, sometimes it sounds like pressure, sometimes it sounds like expectation, sometimes it sounds like you haven't even touched your next level yet, and that's okay because pressure often reveals strength that you didn't know you had. When I say you all that I feel like I hit another gear, yeah, this feeling down on the inside, it's realizing that I'm not the same person that I was yesterday. That this version of me is bolder. This version of me has drawn strength from somewhere that I didn't know that I had. This version of me is realizing that I want more for my life. And in wanting more for my life, I'm realizing that, oh yeah, you hit a different level because you're realizing what you're not going to settle for, you're realizing what you truly desire and deserve, and that it is attainable. So, yeah, we're in a different gear, and and there is a moment, and some of you all again, you may be in this right now where something in you shifts. And I'm hoping that I am stirring up something down on the inside of you to realize that you are in a new season. I need you to tell yourself that this season is personal, and I have hit a new level. See where you stop running for applause, where you stop running for approval, where you stop running to be seen, and you start running because you know who you are. Yeah, you hit a second gear, a deeper gear, a God-anchor gear, a gear that says, I'm not here to compete, I'm not here to compare, I'm not here to perform, I'm here to become. So some of you are stepping into that gear right now. You can feel it, you can sense it, you can almost hear it in your spirit as if you are standing on that track and the gun is getting ready to go off to say, go. Y'all, let's go. And I'll say this gently. You have to stop measuring yourself with the paper that was never meant to define your purpose. See, people will hand you your metrics, timelines, opinions, expectations, should-bees, and should have been's. But at some point, you're going to have to drop the paper. You're going to have to say, I don't need a time, I don't need a score, I don't need the validation. I know I'm running with everything that's in me. So this season isn't about performance, it's about alignment, it's about obedience, it's about pace, it's about the version of you God is bringing forward. So as you're envisioning yourself on this track, you have all of these lanes, but you're gonna only focus in on one of them. Because you can only run in one lane, you can only focus on the lane that you are in, because if you look too far to the left or to the right, you'll start drifting. And if you're anything like me, because I'm raising my hand, I've drifted in life where I have looked to see what everyone else is doing, and then realized that dang, I'm not even in my lane anymore. How did I get over here? How is it that I'm trying to get to my next level, but I'm not even realizing the lane that I'm in? I've tried to do this and I've tried to do that, and I've tried it, and I'm not saying that trying different things is not a good thing. But what I'm saying is in this season, we're going to get crystal clear on what it is that we are wanting to do and the level that we are getting ready to go to. And it's going to require you to stay focused, it's going to require you to lock in, it's going to require you to be a different version of you that you have never met before. Because what I don't want to hear you say is that you have created a goal or that you have a desire or that you have all of these things, and then here we are again this time next year, and you're still trying to figure out how to get started. No, we're all on the track at the same time. Each individual tracks in our own lanes, but we all have the opportunity to go. So I need you to fully commit to your lane. When you push past the internal noise, when you stop checking who's watching, God always sends you confirmation at the finish line. Sometimes it's a person, sometimes it's a moment, sometimes it's an opportunity, sometimes it's simply a feeling that says, This was your best yet. But here's the twist you'll respond the way your spirit knows to respond. You may say, I feel like I can still do better, and that's okay. But it won't be from a place of lack, not from perfectionism, but from a place of capacity, because deep down you know that you have another gear, another level, another season, another revelation, another win, and you're ready for it. So today, as you're envisioning yourself on this track, as you are envisioning the lane that you are in, I need you to ask yourself this. What race have I been afraid to run because you think you missed your moment? What lane have you abandoned because you thought you were too late? What part of you is still holding on to the pressure to perform instead of the freedom to become? And what would happen if starting today you ran like it was your race and no one else's? Because it is. See, you haven't missed anything. You are right on time, and the next version of you has already picked up speed. So I'm excited. Oh, I'm so excited for where it is that we're going. I'm excited because I can close my eyes even as I am recording this episode and envisioning each and every one of you all on the track. Some of you all are actually in the blocks on the track. Those of you all who know about track and field, if you're set in the blocks, some of you all are just standing, but you're standing at the starting line. Some of you all are stretching, some of you all are so ready for your race because now is the time. This season is personal, and there is no one else competing with you except for you. So when you stand on that track, the only lane that you are focused in on is the one that you are standing in. You don't need to hear the applause, you don't need to hear people telling you that you're doing a good job, you don't need to hear any of that. And when you feel like you are getting ready to get tired, hit a second gear. Because you have so much on the inside of you that has yet to come out, and you won't know what your capacity is until you begin to push yourself. I'm hoping that you can hear in my voice that I'm excited for you. I'm excited for us. I'm excited for where we're going. I'm excited for when we cross that finish line. But that does not mean that the journey is over, that just means that we have hit another milestone, and we know that we can run that race. But we don't need the paper to jot down what our time was. We don't need anyone telling us what our time was. We know that when we cross that finish line, that we have given it all that we have because you feel it. You don't cross the finish line and you still uh feel like you can do more. No, my track coach used to always tell us that you don't run to the finish line, you actually run through it. So envision yourself running through the finish line. We have work to do, and the work starts with us, the work starts down on the inside, the work starts right now. And so if this episode spoke to you, and I'm hoping that it did, listen to it again. Listen to it with your eyes closed, listen to it with you envisioning yourself on the track, and then share it with someone else who has been questioning their own timing. Because just as you are running your race, someone else is running theirs too. And you don't know how many times that they have run around the track, but it does not matter because you are focused in on you. So I'm excited. I'm excited for where you're going. I'm excited for where you are, I'm excited for you to step on that track and run your race. And until next time.