A marathon, for most runners, seems long. But it is always 26.2 miles. Always. Except for the Lakeshore Marathon held in Chicago on Memorial Day weekend, 2005. That day the 529 runners who finished actually ran 27.2 miles, one mile more than they were supposed to, only nobody told them so at the time. The organizers simply miscalculated where the finish line should be. The whole race was a mess, with missing mile markers and confused directions. One woman who had been leading early on got completely turned around. "I was so confused," she said, "I wanted to cry."

The organizer, a man named Mark Cihlar, issued an apology—kind of—on a website. "[Last-minute changes] caused us to miscalculate and we foolishly added an extra mile—how terrible!"

Maybe life has been like that for you this week. It's tough enough to get through a week, and then someone threw you a curve—or added an extra mile. An impossible deadline. Another sick child. An overdue notice on a bill. A letter from the I.R.S.

When you feel like you've been forced to run farther than anybody should have to, it helps to remember that God's strength is sufficient, and that "those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."