So last weekend I traveled home in anticipation of Saturday. I left on a Thursday and never have two days gone by so slowly. For two nights I had nightmares about the run. Thoughts of not making it to the start line and not being able to finish raced through my mind day and night. Fears crept in as I anxiously awaited Saturday morning.
Race day was here! Liz and I woke up earlier ate our breakfast and headed to the Botanical Gardens of Clemson bunny ears and all. As they shouted go on the mic we all began trotting forward. The end of a long awaited journey had just begun. I ran and continued running for the next 2 hours and 13 minutes! This race was quite the course for this low-country girl of six years. It was for sure an up hill up battle. My saturday training on the bridge didn't much compare to the continual climb this coarse gave me. But I finished and I was pleased. Liz encouraged me the entire way and I would not had made it make to the finish line had she not been there.
Two things I was reminded of when running and now looking back at the run. One this race much like my Christian faith is nearly impossible outside the encouragement and accountability of community. The Lord put us here and gave us friends and family because he knew and knows better than us all that we can't go through life on our own. We need each other to get to tomorrow, to laugh together, to cry together, to love together, and this list could go on. I am so thankful for this reminder and wake-up call to the blessing of community I live in now. I am so often clouded by my own life that I forget that I couldn't make it without the many lives around me.
The second was that the Lord has been, is, and will be my strength and victory! When I was younger I had a bone infection and came and went on three different occasions. At the time of my first surgery the doctors were shocked I was still walking. The infection once again came back and this time after surgery I was sent home with antibiotics for a year. Still feeling of being defeated and my dreams and goals at the time put on hold. Then again 14 years after the first incident the infection returned and I again had surgery. Months later I pulled half a toothpick out of my foot. It's a miracle that I have a foot. It's a miracle that I can still run. It's a victory that I ran 13.1 miles! The Lord has much more in store for this life is has given me. As I live in His strength and claim his victory I will one day cross the finish line and my prayer is that He will call me a good and faithful servant.
But as for now I will continue running and I'm on hunt and another half! The year of first in this year of 24 is only the beginning of seeking to live fully and that life is found in the Lord.
I couldn't finish without recognizing my biggest fans!
