Success

Well, I did it! 2:26:44. The morning was blistering cold, but the runners made it through. I am thankful for many friends and family who prayed for me, followed me via text message updates from the race, or came to cheer me on through the finish line. A special thanks goes out to the latter- the people who suffered in the fuh-reezing cold to watch me run by: Mom, sister, Michelle, Jessica, and one of my students! You guys get bonus points! :)

It is strange to say that I'm a "half marathoner." I feel like accomplishing that was an out-of-body experience (although I have one toenail which would argue otherwise). I suppose that's what happens when you hand things over to God. The impossible become possible, and you're just along for the ride. Then the blessings rain down.

As one of my sister's friends once said... "God is up to big things. We're blessed to even by in the story. Gotta keep movin'!"

A student's encouragement at mile 6.

Still smiling at the finish line!

Did I just run a half marathon?

Pretty exciting! What's next?

Faith

This time tomorrow, I will be done with my very first half marathon. I decided to take it extremely easy with training this week. I've been pretty exhausted and knew I needed to chill if I had any chance of making it 13.1 miles. With that said, Satan has certainly crept into my thoughts, and this week- my dreams.

I've dreamt a few times this week that something happens mid-race, prohibiting me from finishing. I've also dreamt that the race was poorly marked throughout, causing me to be lost and to lose time. Obviously, the Evil One loves to capitalize on these dreams and try and convince you that they are true... It's a good thing I have the Creator on my side.

My dear friend from college always has the most inspiring status updates on her FB. This week, there was no doubt one of them was meant for my eyes: If He did it before, He can do it again. Same God right now, same God back then. Be encouraged, you didn't come this far just to lose!!

And that's what I'm going to leave you with now. Good news to come in the next update... God willing!

Hebrews 13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

John 3:30 He must become greater; I must become less.

Matthew 17:20 If you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.

Encourage

This past week I had the privilege of cruising to the Bahamas with my sister and two friends. The ocean is such a wonderfully gorgeous phenomenon to me. I couldn't look at it without being overwhelmed by the majesty of God. It's one of those things you just can't tear your eyes off of. The fact that there is an entire world down there beneath the surface completely blows my mind. God is so good.

At our second port, my sister and I took advantage of a day trip and hopped on a catamaran to ride the waves... when they dropped the anchor we spent about 45 minutes snorkeling. The colors and life we saw were incredible in that crystal clear/blue water. Fish of all shapes & sizes swam in and around corrals that surrounded our view. One of my favorite things about this experience was simply how quiet everything was as I watched from above. Sometimes is just takes being quiet to hear (and see) what God has put right in front of you. Psalm 46:10 Be still, and know that I am God. When you are gazing into the mighty waves in the middle of the ocean, it is really hard to do anything else but be still. Especially at sunrise.

With the cruise happening only 2 weeks before my upcoming half marathon, I had to find time to run. Although I didn't run as much as I should have, I couldn't have done it without the help of my friend and sister, who rooted me on as I passed them every 1/11 of a mile. You see, the track at the top of the ship was very small, so running long distances can be difficult because you see the same thing over and over. So, every 11th of a mile my cheer team was there... It makes me think about how accountability helped me to be successful in something that I was finding monotonous and just plain challenging. I guarantee you I wouldn't have finished my run if they had not of been there. I am blessed to have such a loving sister and friend who always build me up, believe and me, and root me on. Ephesians 4:29b Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words may be an encouragement to those who hear them. And oh, how we need that encouragement in our spiritual life, too. Who do you encourage, pray for, and lift up? 

Rock 'n' Roll Half Marathon... t-minus 7 days. Will you cheer me on?

Consistency

I'm happy to report that since I last updated, I've set a few personal records. On February 10th, I ran 7 miles, which was the longest distance I'd ever run. Six days later I beat that when I ran 8 miles. Last weekend I was fortunate enough to finish my 7th 10K, and ran it in under an hour (9 minutes faster than my fastest). That even shocked myself!! Today was my last PR- 10 miles around the neighborhood.

When I finished my 10K race, just after I picked my jaw off the ground from my finishing time, my first thought was, "How 'bout that? Consistent training DOES help..." And I don't believe it's any different when it comes to my relationship with Christ.

Lately, I haven't been great at spending time DAILY in the Word. Praying and conversing with Christ happens a lot (especially now that He's formally invited on every run), and I oftentimes wake up in the morning with Bible verses on my mind or hymns in my head... but as far as carving out a consistent time to read my Bible goes, it's been off and on. I can't help but wonder how many more heart beats I would use for Him if I conditioned my heart more often by filling it with the Word. I want to be ready for Him to use me at any moment, and not ever find myself in a "I wish I'd trained harder" situation.

It doesn't surprise me at all that God had me read this verse today:

Colossians 3:16 Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and advising one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.

A 10K finish in 59:19. Jumping for joy!

Armor

As I was running my longer distance last weekend, I was reflecting upon the amount of new "gear" I've needed to buy as I prepare for my half. Previous workouts in prep for my annual 10Ks haven't required much thought. Whatever workout clothes I had in my drawer/closet worked fine, because I wasn't running very far. Now that I'm running longer distances on a more regular basis, the clearer it is becoming that I have to be strategic in my running gear. Here are some things I've learned:

• Drivers don't see you; So, wear bright colors.
• Drivers don't see you; So, wear reflective gear, too.
• Drivers don't see you: So, be sure to wave your arms wildly to catch their attention to confirm that yes, you ARE about to cross, and yes, you DO have the right-of-way.

With all kidding aside, I have also found the importance of quality athletic wear, a good pair of running shoes, and (my newest discovery) SOCKS. Cotton just won't do.

About 7 years ago, I worked at the best Christian Sports & Adventure camp ever, Camp Ozark. Among the many fond memories I have from working there, I have one in particular where we did a lot of jumping up and down. We did this daily during worship to the beat of our theme song. One of my favorite years was when we rocked it out to "No One Like You" by David Crowder. If you haven't ever heard it, look it up. The floor of the small gym was built for gymnastics, so there was a little give to the floor when we bounced, but our feet were constantly pounding against the floor. That is how I believe I injured my foot.

I didn't pay much attention to the pain at first, thinking it was just a bruise and it was no-big-deal... until over a year later when I folded over in pain walking to class in the middle of campus. Come to find out, a hairline fracture of the sesamoid bone had worsened over that year and eventually began to disintegrate and turn to trash. The problem with that is it's a weight bearing bone and unfortunately cannot be repaired, only cleaned out. So, post surgery I was left with an awesome scar, arthritis, and one bone less than you. This is unfortunate for me because the location of the scar is on the inside edge of my first metatarsal... right up against the side of the shoe... which means- yep. Blistering. So, at about mile 3 last weekend, I began to feel the hot-spot and knew I needed to try and find better socks if I had any chance of making it through these next 6 weeks of training without the plague of blisters. I took it as a challenge. This meant war!

Enter: God.

This was the part of the run where scripture began to flood my thoughts. In Ephesians 6, Paul writes about the armor of God. He lists equipment needed to be able to be fully prepared for battle. The important thing to recognize here is that he isn't telling us about an upcoming battle. No. He's telling us about a RIGHT-NOW battle. Satan is constantly waiting for you. He's waiting for any and all hairline fractures in your armor so he can infiltrate your thoughts, pull you down, tempt you, turn you, and blister you. Satan finds joy in this!

Equipping yourself with truth, righteousness  peace, faith, salvation, and the Spirit (found only in Him and through His Word) is the only way you're going to win a fight with the evil one. It's the only way to identify weaknesses and gain opportunities to strengthen them. If we were left to our own devices, we'd already be defeated. But the Son of God paid that price for us when He breathed His last breath on the cross and then rose again. Hallelujah!

So, here's my question for you (and me): when Satan begins to shoot his fiery arrows, which he will, what will you be wearing?

Run on!

Ephesians 6:10-18

Finally, be strong in the Lord and his mighty power. Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place, and with your feet fitted with the readiness that comes from the gospel of peace. In addition to all this, take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. Take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God. And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the Lord's people.

5.7 mile sunset run in my new kicks. 2/3/13

Whispers

Who me? Blogging?? God has been working on my heart to start something like this for awhile, but I've resisted. You know how the story goes... God mentions something to you in a whisper, but you just push it aside because "it's just not for you." And then He continues to gently whisper it over and over until finally you turn to face Him and ask Him what it's really about. 

I'm certain this happens to Christians often. Sure, you know in the depths of your heart that God knows what He's doing and that He will protect you, but when He asks you to step out in faith to do something you're not comfortable with, you hesitate. "No, that's okay, God. I got this. I'll obey you in other areas, but in this area? Eeeh, I think I'll pass. It's kind of You to think of me, though!"

Mmmhmmm. That's been ME. God has been tugging at me to share through a blog the things He's teaching me. Why, I don't know. I suppose He'll reveal that part later. For now, I've decided to just obey. Today's entry is little lengthy because I need to describe my path at arriving here.

My entire life has been mostly oriented around music- so I have spent many-an-hour spending time with Christ through just that. The challenges of reading, learning, memorizing, and performing music is not something to be taken lightly. God has seen me through. The avenue of music is truly still how I am most in tune with hearing His voice (no pun intended). I would, and often still, walk out of church getting more out of the message from the music we sang during worship than the actual sermon itself. God and I like to hang-out like that... listen to tunes, y'know. It's the language I prefer to speak.

God has also been able to grab my attention through nature. I am constantly amazed by the sunrise and sunset... so much so that I often have to pull over to the side of the road and stand there in absolute awe of His artistry. His power is completely evident to me in those moments and it's usually in those same breaths as I watch the sun set that I rediscover just how very little I am... and just how very big He is.

Within the last several years, I have taken up the hobby of running. If you knew me at all BEFORE this development, you'd be surprised to hear I was doing anything active at all. I mean, I've never been a bum; I was always up for a game of Ultimate Frisbee or a walk, but asking me to run for "exercise" was pretty much out of the question. 

And then one day, I decided to sign up for my first 10K since I was a child. I wanted to see if I could do it, and I needed a plan to help me be successful. So, somehow I persuaded my sister into signing up with me (the same sister who will look you straight in the eye and say "I don't run.") Yeah, please don't ask me how in the WORLD I was able to convince her that signing up was going to be "fun." So, power walking became her thing in training. Let me be the first to describe this to the world... her power walk is like the Bionic Woman's power walk. Wonder Woman ain't got nothin' on my sister's power walk.  I'd try to walk next to her and I would actually think to myself, "Any second now I am pretty sure my shins are going to burst into flames and burn off." Let's just say I was not up to par with her speed walking, so I was forced to run*.

*Please know that every time I refer to myself as "running," I mean a measly-ol' jog. I mean really? My sister can WALK faster than my run. 

Since I wasn't a runner, I relied on music to help me through. Many people do, actually, and there's nothing wrong with that. Tunes that are perfectly chosen can be a beautiful thing. For this particular 10K, sister listened to music, too. She actually had the same song on repeat for the hour and twenty minutes she walked the 10K because it was the exact speed of her power-walk. I still don't know how she managed that. Trouble came for me when I realized that on the way to the race I didn't have my MP3 player. (I know what you're thinking... but at the time, this little lady didn't own an Ipod.). I began to silently panic. How am I going to get through this race without music? Impossible.

Enter: God. 

During those 6.2 miles, I was forced to listen to my own breathing and my own thoughts, and God all-of-a-sudden had a direct line. No static. No sharing a 3-way phone call between Him, me, and my musical selections. It was just Him and me. Running 6.2 miles. And during that race, my life changed. Again! (He does this to me often. Just when I think He's done tweaking me, He comes into my little thoughts, turns them into big thoughts, gives me my next "ah-hah" moment and then. BOOM. Change.) I was busted. Here was the rub God revealed to me that day: I was using MUSIC as a way to push me through that race. I didn't even involve God to be apart of that challenge at all before that day. Hmm. Pretty interesting. In case you're wondering what I'm getting at... I was consciously making the decision to forgo opportunities to listen to my Father. Ridiculous! He was and has always been my biggest cheerleader, and I should've invited Him along in the first place.

And so it began... another avenue in which God and I began to chat. Running, without music. Just me and my thoughts, out in the open for God to quietly whisper to me what I had been unwilling to listen to before. It doesn't get much better than that. 

It has been in these runs that He has laid upon my heart to blog about what He's teaching me while I train. Especially as I now journey toward completing my first half marathon at the end of March. It is my prayer that through my obedience in writing these entries, you are changed/touched/moved/challenged in Christ.

Run on!

Luke 9: 23-24

²³ Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. ²⁴ For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it." 

After a run on 1/3/13.