Seriously. When I went to the Expo to pick up my packet for the race Sunday I actually teared up with excitement. I know I won't do great in comparison to others...but it's about me doing my best. I didn't really realize how excited I was until I looked up at all the choices and found the "half marathon" line! Crazy, I know! And of course I keep vacillating back and forth between excitement and horror! lol! What was I thinking?   Keeps running through my mind as I realize the race is upon me! But thinking back offers a little bit of comfort. I was so scared right before that first 5K...and now I shrug that distance off. I run more than that on my daily runs now. I think these feelings are true when we face new experiences. It's the unknown that scares us! But after some experience then the unknown becomes the known and many times becomes common place. Then it can become drudgery. I've seen this in many different areas including the church world. We ...

Sometimes we just have to face the truth and be very realistic...it helps us deal and survive! I am not going to win the half marathon. I will finish it though  that is determined! I won't look back and I will complete the course that is laid out. Sports minded people (like me) can be very competitive. This attitude has helped me compete against myself to improve myself, but it can be destructive if it's not kept in check. So for me I have to redefine winning. And that means taking a realistic look at where I am. I am 50 years old (or young). I rarely sleep more than 6 hours at night and even more rare is to get a chunk of sleep more than 3 or 4 hours long. (this is because I am a caregiver to my son who has a TBI) I have to train in the two hour slot when the aid is here or not run at all each day. As many do - I face tough emotional battles and frustrations with life. And I am just overall tired today! lol! I've had to work through two or three injuries during half-mar...

That's right - rain and wind is th forecast for Sunday morning's race! Yikes! I was ready for mild and beautiful! No luck this year. It looks like my first half marathon will be wet and cold! But you know us runners - I'll be running anyway! You just never know when you sign up what the weather will be like. That's one reason I never let the weather discourage me from my training runs. I have found that this is true with life as well. We really do not know what a day may bring - but we gotta keep running anyway! One Saturday morning when life was good and I was working toward my goals and plans, I got the parent's dreaded phone call, my son had been in a terrible wreck and he'd been medi-flighted to a hospital...Job had no idea that one morning when he got out of bed that he would lose literally everything   that day - including his children. More recently tsunamis, tornadoes and earthquakes have hit unsuspecting locations. We really do not know what a day ...

My emotions are so back and forth about the my first half marathon! I have only 5 days! Yeah! ... and Yikes! I am going to have to gut this one out! I am confident that my training thus far will get me through the race. I don't have to do anything but finish! After all I am a half a century old doing my first half marathon! It still is somewhat overwhelming just to think about now and then. Life can hand us many challenges. It's easy to be overwhelmed when situations don't go as planned or tragedy strikes. All we can do is trust that our training will help us gut it out. We know the Lord is our strength - and we can do all things through Christ and those are easy to hold on to during our everyday activities. But then when the big ones come along we must trust that we have been prepare by staying in His word. Life brings us variety. Some trials are like sprints, over with quick. Others are more like marathons where we must learn endurance, steadfastness and strength to...

Okay, so now on to the mental part of running. This is my toughest challenge yet to be sure. I only got in 10.5 miles on Friday. There were lots of factors that caused limitations. I just ran and didn't calculate until I got home and was pretty disappointed really. I hope to run light this week. I think that was one problem Friday is that I put in longer miles and ran more days. The half is this coming Sunday and I'm having thoughts of ditching! Is that crazy or what? I know I can walk it and set a PR! And the main thing is not how well I do - but just that I finish it. If I crawl or roll across the finish line at midnight that's fine - I will have finished it...and that's what matters. Isn't this the same as life with faith? We just have to be finishers, not always come-in-firsters! We gotta finish what we started. For many it's too easy when things get tough or too challenging to just want to ditch it all and throw out our faith. Even though that's re...

As usual the day before my long runs, more challenging runs, or race day the day before is full of stress and usually very little sleep. I haven't figured out how everything knows to come crashing in 24 hours before a huge day but it does. So in its usual fashion yesterday was full of all kinds of emotional and other crazy stuff. Today is the last chance I get to try for a really long run before the half marathon on May 1. And add to that the uncertainty of new shoes and man, what a crazy combination! But I will put them on here in a  bit and head on out the door...because that's what runners do. We run anyway! We're are geared kinda like the energizer bunny... we just keep going, and going, and going... lo l! I find I need running to alleviate my stress! So with my heart heavy, my mind full and a brand new pair of Brooks I head out the door this morning to hopefully log the most miles I have ever done. Why? All so I can at least feel a little more prepared for the half t...

I got my Brooks a day early! I was like a kid at Christmas, quickly pulling them out of the box. Then I had to put them on to see if they would really feel like running shoes; and of course they did. I looked a little funny running around the house. But I was so excited I did not even care, and besides who's gonna see me anyway? In all the excitement I finally realized that they had come a day earlier than they were supposed to. Then it hit me that Thursday is my day off so I can get all my errands done. I have to wait another whole day, til Friday, before I get to put them to the real test! I think my feet literally started itching! But when I do get to try them out Friday, it'll be my long run. Hopefully it will be my longest run yet and a real confidence booster. My half is one week from Sunday and I am getting a little anxious...did I mention I hate waiting? Waiting can be a fine art you know; and patience, I've heard, is a virtue. I do agree that they must both be ...