Waaaaaay back in August, when Stacee presented this crazy idea to run a half marathon to raise money for Team World Vision, I thought "Cool. 13.1 miles. That will be tough but fun."
Let me tell you, I had no idea at. all. what I was signing up for. None.
It wasn't just the 13.1 miles we ran on March 9th, but the 150-200 training miles we ran over the course of 6 months...it was the new shoes, chiropractor visits, special socks...it was hours and hours of physical strain.
It was hard.
And it was life. changing.
It's taken me a long time to try and formulate words to put with my experience, mostly because I don't really understand a lot of it, not yet, maybe not ever.
I don't know why running = clean water. I don't know why someone says "Yes, I'll support this" when you put one foot in front of the other over and over again. Much like I don't know why Jesus spit in mud to heal a blind man. Most of all, I don't know how finishing a 13.1 mile run, and connecting to a cause that had never really been on my radar before, completely reworked who I am inside.
It's not the running. I still don't really love running, I like having run. I like doing a fun 5k with cool goodie bags are a silly theme, but it's not the running that changed me. It was doing something huge, something so far beyond myself, so in opposition to who I thought I was...God healed something deep inside me on the streets of LA on March 9th, in a sea of 25,000 God stretched out His hand and showed me a strength I never knew I had. Taught me that I can persevere, and that I don't always just give up. That, with His leading, I really can do hard things!
With Eden's diagnosis, my pregnancy with her, and her death...He showed me I could survive hard things. That I could still grow in the midst of trial... but this time, it was that I could *do* hard things. That I could step it faith and push on. I never knew that about myself, and have spent much of the last 39 years feeling like a quitter. Listing my failures and half finished projects as constant proof.
Not anymore. On March 9th I ran 13.1 miles for God's glory. He led me, and I pushed hard... and He blessed me with a chance to partner with Him to *change lives*. Not a few either... at last count the Team World Vision LA Marathon team had given clean water to just over 14,600 people!!!
Let me tell you, I had no idea at. all. what I was signing up for. None.
It wasn't just the 13.1 miles we ran on March 9th, but the 150-200 training miles we ran over the course of 6 months...it was the new shoes, chiropractor visits, special socks...it was hours and hours of physical strain.
It was hard.
And it was life. changing.
It's taken me a long time to try and formulate words to put with my experience, mostly because I don't really understand a lot of it, not yet, maybe not ever.
I don't know why running = clean water. I don't know why someone says "Yes, I'll support this" when you put one foot in front of the other over and over again. Much like I don't know why Jesus spit in mud to heal a blind man. Most of all, I don't know how finishing a 13.1 mile run, and connecting to a cause that had never really been on my radar before, completely reworked who I am inside.
It's not the running. I still don't really love running, I like having run. I like doing a fun 5k with cool goodie bags are a silly theme, but it's not the running that changed me. It was doing something huge, something so far beyond myself, so in opposition to who I thought I was...God healed something deep inside me on the streets of LA on March 9th, in a sea of 25,000 God stretched out His hand and showed me a strength I never knew I had. Taught me that I can persevere, and that I don't always just give up. That, with His leading, I really can do hard things!
With Eden's diagnosis, my pregnancy with her, and her death...He showed me I could survive hard things. That I could still grow in the midst of trial... but this time, it was that I could *do* hard things. That I could step it faith and push on. I never knew that about myself, and have spent much of the last 39 years feeling like a quitter. Listing my failures and half finished projects as constant proof.
Not anymore. On March 9th I ran 13.1 miles for God's glory. He led me, and I pushed hard... and He blessed me with a chance to partner with Him to *change lives*. Not a few either... at last count the Team World Vision LA Marathon team had given clean water to just over 14,600 people!!!
