Ok, I admit it...I love accolades. It feels great to be told, "Way to go, you are a stud". I love they way I feel after accomplishing something tough. This past Sunday, March 13, 2011 I completed my 3rd Half Marathon. The past two I did a run/walk, but on Sunday I completed the 13.1 miles running - non-stop. If you knew me 4 years ago, you may be going into shock right now. You see, I really didn't like running. In fact, I hated it. I have asthma and running made me wheeze. Funny thing happened though - the more I run, the less I wheeze. Hmm? Back to this last half marathon....
On Thanksgiving morning, 2010, my friend Kathleen and I ran a 10K. Prior to this event, I was running about 3 miles every few days, but anything above 4 just about killed me. We ran the Turkey Trot faster than we had ever done a 10k before. I felt so good. Kathleen and I looked at each other shaking our heads as we agreed that yes, we were in fact studs! We signed up for the Shamrockin 1/2 marathon the next day and began training the week of Christmas. We did our long runs every Sunday before church - rain or shine. This is when I realized that God was showing up each week to run with us. I didn't realize it at first, but week after week He was leading us. You see, this early morning run with my friend became way more than just training for a run. We grew closer as we shared our stories, our dreams and heartaches. We laughed hard at times while we ran and other times we became very quiet as we reflected on what God was showing us in our lives. We continued to cheer each other on and pat each others backs as we ran these long runs faster than ever before. Our pace was around 9 min. miles. We were feelin pretty darn good about ourselves! Maybe this is when our little enemy pride showed up to run with us. We continued to have deep spiritual talks and solved many of the worlds problems as we ran, but we were running in our own strength. About a month before the big day, Kathleen hurt her back at the gym. It was bad. She could hardly move. But my friend is determined (some would say strong-willed, not me, but some). She recovered enough by our next long run Sunday and we ran. Her hamstring started to hurt. Not just a little, but enough to bring tears to her eyes. We stretched, walked, ran and repeated this for about 8 miles. About 2 weeks before the race, we headed out to the American River Trail to do a 12 mile run. This was our last long run and we were excited. It was such a beautiful morning. The weather was cool - perfect for running. At mile 5, Kathleen was in pain. She stopped to stretch and re-fuel to try to get her hamstring going again. I continued to mile 6 and turned around to meet back up with her. When we took off, her knee wouldn't bend and the pain was excruciating. As I walked and she limped back - 6 miles....the beauty of the morning disappeared. I was freezing and she was in so much pain. It was horrible. All I could do was pray. We made it back to the car and she was miserable. I was sure that I would be doing the Shamrockin alone. I was pretty sure she blew her knee out. She went to physical therapy for the next few weeks and rested as much as possible for Kathleen. Most would have been on the couch, but her idea of rest is to still do short 2 mile runs and continue to strength train. She kept reassuring me that she would be doing this 1/2 no matter what, even if she had to crawl. You see, it was her birthday as well and this was her first half marathon. We trained hard and othing was stopping her. We both just prayed and prayed for healing. In the meantime, I started having some pain down my whole right leg - from butt to ankle. I had a massage and found out I was dealing with some sciatica - grrrr! The day before the race, I was in so much pain. I iced my hip and butt on and off all day and took Advil every 4 hours. Sunday morning I felt alot better, but what about the birthday girl? Well, God performed a miracle. She felt great too.
I mentioned pride a little bit ago for a reason. Pride did show up and try to interfere with our running. Thankfully, God was there too and was able to help us fight pride away on the day of the big race. In case you don't know this about me, I am slightly competitive. Since this was my 3rd 1/2, I wanted to finish faster than the others. Oh, how I wanted to run like a cheetah! Well, competitiveness and pride take a backseat to loyalty and friendship. Kathleen kept repeating, "Slow, steady, fun". I decided to keep my pace slow, especially since with every stride I felt my hip pain slightly. We were all prayed up before this run and many friends and family were praying too. I felt this incredible sense of peace wash over me. As we ran we solved more world problems, made a business plan, talked about our kids, husbands, retreat and the Lord. We both felt so good. No pain. I started to get excited and sped up a little. When Kathleen said something like "slow down sista" I did. She was so disciplined and such an encourager. If it wasn't for her, "Slow, steady, fun" chant, I would have ran like a cheetah and then crawled like a snake by mile 5. When the mile marker 9 appeared, so did some pain. Every step was killing me. I had shooting pain down my leg. At mile 10, I still felt it, but I also felt such comfort. It is hard to explain. The only explanation is that my loving Father scooped me up in His strong arms and carried me to the finish line. I was still in some pain, but the joy, comfort and love that I was feeling overpowered it. We crossed the finish line and it was at that moment that I realized that the lesson I learned was that all these great accomplishments that I can do, can oly be done because He carried me. He gets all the glory! I learned that when I rely on myself and forget that He is with me, pride shows up and I get hurt. I learned that I need to slow down. Not just in running, but life. He has some great things planned for my life. If I don't slow down I am going to miss it. When life gets hard, reach up your arms to your Daddy, He will carry you and whisper sweet accolades and encouragement to you!
