Training Week 1: Complete

Amount raised for Amazon Medical Missions so far: $690.00
(Keep giving, friends, I want to bless the socks off of Mike and Suzy!!)

I just finished Week 1 of the official half marathon training. I've been in some pre-training for about 4 weeks now to get my body ready. God is so good, I feel like there are a million things I could tell you about all I'm learning with the running.

My favorite one: Today was the first long run. Each week for training, throughout the week you do a series of run days, rest days, cross train days, and on Sundays you run longer than you have before. This Sunday was 4 miles, then it will be 5, 6, all the way up to 10. With today being my first long day, I wanted to go to my favorite spot to run: a park nearby with a beautiful lake and tall cedars all around the trail to surround you. My friend, Ingrid, came along with her dog, Nya. Nya wasn't behaving very well, so for awhile I ran on my own. As I ran mile 3 and realized that my body felt so strong and so good, I really just wanted to drop to my knees. Because I remembered just last summer running close to three miles would end in my hands shaking like crazy, my mind reeling, and my body screaming for some sugar. Not this time. It kept going, healed and whole. I wanted to just drop to my knees on that trail and give God the glory. Sometimes I walk through daily life forgetting my body is a testimony of a living, breathing miracle. Today I remembered and all of me cried out to give Him the glory.

The training is teaching me alot. This week, mainly about perseverance. There have been those days where I've thought I couldn't run all the way to the target mileage. I told myself each time to run a little farther than from where I wanted to stop. Then I'd run a little further, and a little further, until... I'd make the goal. And at the end I was always glad, I kept running. It felt so good. And with the training I'm learning that every victory past the "I really don't want to be running right now" mindset, makes the next time a little easier. God is teaching me about pressing on, past when you want to.

There are so many parallels to this running compared to life. Maybe God has called us all to run marathons. He calls us to a finish line that at times seems unattainable but at other times is calling our names and pushing us to keep going. My training schedule calls for days of rest and periods of running less. But always the goal is to condition your body to go farther and to push past limits you thought you couldn't- with the end goal of making it to the finish line.

When I think about my walk with God, it seems there are plenty of those long-mileage seasons- where it's difficult, and He's pruning and refining me, often through difficulty and challenge. And then come the restful seasons where I delight in Him and life is set on coast. But always, there is a finish line in the distance.

I'm learning alot. Mostly, though, I am amazed every day I get out there and run by the healing work God has done in my body. It makes me want to run strong for Him. And tell you all about how He is alive and He is working and He does the unthinkable. If you don't know Him, lean in a little farther. All of His power is big enough for your unbelief and your hard places. And He is gentle and lacking in condemnation but full of love.

Thanks for supporting me, guys. Keep me in your prayers, as there's still a long way to go! Be blessed, today!