26.2 in the Books!

 

I did it, ran 26.2 miles to complete my first marathon!!!

 

April 27, 2013 finished in 4:53!

 

I was SO scared of failure in my first attempt, which made completing it just that much sweeter!

 

The Lord's hand was so so obvious in every step of the way too, which is just awesome!

 

Example 1:

We had planned to road trip to Nashville for the Rock n Roll Music Marathon that same weekend, but my class schedule made that nearly impossible, so we changed plans.

Thank goodness, because it POURED there, which would have made running for almost 5 hours pretty miserable!

I was so thankful to find another marathon within a 2 hour drive that same weekend.

The King's Mountain Marathon.

The hills were intense, but we had a beautiful overcast day with sprinkling in Clover, SC, which was the perfect weather!

 

Example 2:

The race I ended up signing up for was an open course, so DJ and Peyton spend the parts of the race that weren't gravel or dirt zipping around to meet me ~2 miles.  Which was HUGE around mile 22 when I needed all the encouragement I could get!  I absolutely loved having them pull up beside me, Peyton's head hanging happily out the window and DJ sitting smiliing right next to him saying "you're doing it! you got it!"  I love my husband so much!

 

Peyton was more exhausted than I was afterwards due to all of the attention he received and new things going on :)

 

Example 3:

At mile 23-24, I was hurting.  I was actually to the point that I preferred uphill runs because the eccentric muscle control required on the downhills were SO painful.  I had some awesome praise songs come on that just drove me forward.  Lots of Chris Tomlin, Kristian Stanfill, and Matt Redman! With my emotions running high, this Michael W Smith instrumental especially just recharged me!

 

 

Anyways, I have a number of friends telling me "I told you so" because in training I kept saying "what was I thinking, this is horrible, I am never doing this again"

But, it really wasn't that bad, the last 2 miles were brutal, but after and even during up to that point, I felt such a sense of accomplishment and drive. It was motivational to the point that even almost a week later, I continue with the drive not to work for mediocrity, which was a rut I have been stuck in for quite awhile.  To walk my talk and keep my eyes focused on bigger things is my ultimate goal.

 

While I am completely excited that I completed the race, it wasn't about me at all, it was about the Lord trying to reveal things that I needed to change, and He needed to stretch me that far to open my eyes.  It was an emotional race, yes, my legs carried me, but my mental and emotional strength were what got me across the finish line.  That strength is what came from the Lord.

 

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—
where does my help come from?
My help comes from the Lord,
the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

 

Happy Day!