Going Out Too Fast

Col 1:10 "And we pray this in order than you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way:  bearing fruit in every good work and growing the knowledge of God."

I want to know my Heavenly Father, and it is the desire of my heart to please Him.  My struggle will always be the desire to please myself, though.  I want to do things my own way and on my own time.  This is so natural for me, that I don't even realize that I do it.  What is amazing about following Christ, though, is that He gives us a new nature.  We are children of God, and when we "walk in His spirit", we can lay aside our ways and follow a new path.  This path leads to life.  How do I know this?  Because I have, at times in my life, laid it ALL on the line to follow His righteousness, sacrificing goals and ambitions for what seemed like nothing at all to find blessing and abundance down the road.  An example would by my sweet family.  Sometimes it's hard to follow righteousness.  But, God promises in 2 Peter that He has given us EVERYTHING we need for a life of Godliness through His divine power.

Running is OFTEN used in the Bible to represent the Christian life.  As I train for my marathon, I really want to reflect on the similarities of training for a race and training for Godliness.  I hope to share these reflections along the way.  The first that I thought of this week, is "Going out too fast in a race or a run."  We have all done that.  Gotten so caught up in the excitement of wanting a PR run or just the environment of the race that we don't listen to our bodies.  We don't use the knowledge we have to pace ourselves.  We get a little "puffed up" and think we are capable of so much more what our preparation has provided us.  At the end, we hit the wall, maybe even quit.  Certainly, we do not finish strong and maybe not at all.

“I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me – the task of testifying to the gospel of God’s grace.” (Acts 20:24)

As I seek to grow in my relationship with Jesus, I often find myself going out too fast, going in my own strength, not thinking about the entire race, not thinking about what I will need to get me through to the end.  Oh, the days I have skipped reading His word, neglected prayer and then expected to walk in His holiness with my kids or to be patient when someone is unkind.  It's like going out for a run without eating or drinking before hand.  Sometimes I will get my emotional high at church, think how I am going to do things differently the coming week.  I go out too fast, only to hit the wall by Wednesday and barely make it to the weekend.  To finish and maintain this spiritual race, we need to listen for the Holy Spirit (like listening to our bodies when we run), we need to fuel during the run (prayer and His word), we need pace ourselves (apply the knowledge He has given us to our daily lives), AND we need not compare ourselves to the other runners around us (each relationship with Christ is unique).

May I continue to run THIS race, not give up, and complete the task the LORD Jesus has given me.

My marathon training has OFFICIALLY started today.  I know I mentioned that I was doing the "Run Less Run Faster" plan, but I tried it out this week, and I don't think my body can handle so many demanding workouts every week.  So, plan B is tried and true, Hal Higdon.  I am doing a combination plan.  I am using the Advanced 1 plan so I can continue to do my speed and tempo runs, but I am doing the Novice 2 for the long run portions.  I think I will have two twenty milers this training cycle.  I have every run scheduled!  So not like me. :)  Very excited though.

Run THIS Race: My First Marathon

I finally talked myself into running a marathon!  I have been going back and forth with this notion for the last few years, and I finally feel ready physically AND most importantly mentally.   I think it is funny that I am came to this decision as the last few months I have really tried to stop obsessing so much about running and races and running blogs.  I was eating, sleeping, living on running.  I felt distracted when I was with my kids and husband.  I felt really convicted about it, so I stopped reading running blogs or anything at all related to running.  I stayed off the internet and social media sites.  I even gave up TV for a week to just allow God to refocus my mind.  AND He did.   He is so good like that.  Running is a gift from Him, but nothing should be put before Him or my family.  It's amazing how easily we can lose sight of that.

So, how did I come to the conclusion to run a marathon?  Really, it was from a patient of mine.  A 53 year old male who I had the privilege to care for last month.  He was diagnosed with advanced paratid cancer with mets to the spine.  I took care of him and transferred him to rehab with the intention of hospice.  I remember asking him about his family, if he had grandchildren and he looked at me and said, "That is why I have to fight this, so I can see them some day."  He had 3 girls all under the age of 21.  Last Wednesday, when I got to work, I saw that he was back in the hospital and on my patient list.  It was not looking good.  The doctor had told him he had hours left, maybe days.  When I went into his room, he was alert, talking on his cell phone and asking questions about his care.  Within hours, he was non-responsive.  The family was brought in.  His daughters were by his side in tears.  He woke up for a few moments and responded to them.  "Daddy, can you hear us?"  "Daddy we love you so much."  He acknowledged them.  I started a morphine drip to ease his breathing.  Within a few more hours, he was gone.  I walked out of his room to officially tell the family of his passing, and everyone just broke down weeping.  We were all heartbroken.  I have never seen someone go that fast.  It made me think about how SHORT our time on this earth really is.  I got home that night, and cried.

Over the next few days, I thought more and more about my life.  I feel like I am always looking ahead and maybe missing out on the NOW.  I want to be 100% with my kids.  I want to 100% with my husband.  With running I want to be 100% but at the right time.  I just felt like marathon time is now or never.  I have wanted to do this for a long time.  My husband and I talked about it, and I am registered to run the Denver Rock and Roll Marathon.  I officially start training in 1 week.  I am using the Run Less Run Faster Boston Qualifying training plan.  Do I really expect to qualify for Boston my first marathon?  I don't know, but I am going to try and do my best.  THAT is what matters more than my race time.  I am using this training plan, because it seems more manageable with my family.

This race is so much more than 26.2 miles.  It is a mini reflection of running the race of life.  Every moment is a gift from our Heavenly Father, even the most challenging and difficult ones.  I am learning and striving to be present in each and every one of them.

Day Out with Grandma and Grandpa

Beautiful, lovely long run, 11 miles at 9:26 pace.

Grandma and Grandpa Homan are here for Easter!

 

Blueberry Pancakes + Grandpa = Happy

Day in Colorado Springs, Garden of the Gods

 

My Rock Climber!  She loves to climb, to my dismay at times!!!

Joey's First time back since he was 2 months old!  

So Photogenic!!!

We are growing out of the rocks!!

I love Colorado! This is my home!

Platte River 1/2 Marathon Recap

Sunday's race was not great, it wasn't horrible, but simply put, it did not meet my expectations.  Note to self:

DO NOT GET THE STOMACH FLU THE WEEK BEFORE A RACE!

Sunday I was up at 5:30.  I felt ok, but just not my normal.  I had a couple of pieces of toast with a little PB and a cup of decaf herbal tea.  Michael and I drove about 30 minutes to the race.  I drank half a monster drink on the way.  I warmed up with a 5 min jog, took a shot block and was ready to go.  I could tell I felt funny during my warm up jog.  I just felt tired.  My legs felt great, but the rest of me did not.  My first mile was pretty good and right where I wanted to be, 8:08 pace.  From their I started running around 8min pace miles and around mile 4 started to get into my sub 8min pace.  I still felt pretty well.  I usually feel really adjusted and in my groove by mile 5.  BUT by mile 6 I was not feeling like I was in my groove and I was started to slow a bit.  I drank all the water I had with me and by mile 9 I was running 8:30 min miles.  Everything and everyone was getting annoying.   I felt like I was in one of those movies where everything goes in slow motion, there is no sound, and everyones faces are screaming at you, but you just can't hear anything, because you are trying to process everything, and you can't process anything, and you just want to get away, but you can't!!!!  (Sorry for the longest run-on sentence of all time).  GAAAA...  Those wonderful racing fans were making me feel horribly claustrophobic. By mile 11 I started feeling dizzy and concerned that if I didn't find another water station soon, I would pass out.  Luckily there was one around the corner and I gulped down a cup of water.  I felt better within minutes.  Dang it, I was dehydrating!!  The last mile there is a pretty big hill.  I didn't stop on this hill, but was slow.  Somehow I managed somewhat of a kick the last .3 miles and my pace was somewhere in the 7:30s when I crossed the finish line.

Time: 1:46:53 8:09 pace.

When I crossed the finish line all I could think of was WATER!  I downed a bottled water down in 45 seconds, I think!!!  I am not totally disappointed with my time, considering how I was feeling.  It is still a huge PR for me considering my last half was at 2 hours.  Truth is, I just could not stomach large amounts of fluid the days after my stomach flu.  It made me nauseous.  So, I just wasn't properly hydrated.   I don't normally have such high water needs (unless it's hot out), so I wasn't even thinking I would need more than normal.  Lesson LEARNED.

SO, I went home and signed up for another 1/2 in the beginning of June.  This one is really close to my house, only $40, and lots of family festivities afterwards.  We'll see if I can enjoy this upcoming race a little bit more!

What do you do when you have a bad race?

Tomorrow... The BIG Day!

Kids are in bed, Michael is finishing up at work.  I am alone.  A few rare moments to just wander off in my mind without the interruptions of, "MOM, MILK", "Mom, I'm hungry", "Mom, Joey stole my stuffed animal ", "MOM, I do it myself", "Mom... Mom... MOMMMMMM!!!!!!!!!"

 Ok I'm over exaggerating.....

A little.  :)

Seriously, tho, it is nice to have some time alone.

(BTW, I recently learned that linguistics are not my strength on a multiple intelligences test.  SOOOOOOO, please excuse my grammar or lack of it!)

Alright, tomorrow is my half.  I am curiously curious about this race.  I really just don't know what to expect of myself.  My training was going really well, and then Tuesday morning "Mr. Stomach Flu" dropped by and literally dropped me on my backside.  I hate this kind of sick!  Luckily I recovered within 24 hours, but the drop in my immunity allowed a minor cold to creep its way in as well!  Ummmm... who even invited ya'll???  I have been taking "Cold Snap" capsules 3 times a day, and I feel pretty well.  BUT I'm not gonna lie, I feel tired.

At the end of the day, it is JUST a race.  The main thing is to enjoy it.  I don't want to push myself to the point of hating it!  I will see how I feel and take it from there.  I usually do really well (in terms of running a smart race) when I run by feel and not by unrealistic goals.

So, off to bed I go now!

See ALL 5 of YOU,
who actually read my grammatical errors,
with an a race recaperoo!!


(BTW, I'm tired and... I don't know what my excuse is for this post.)


Nighty night!

Taper Time

My half-marathon is this coming Sunday, April 6th!  I am in taper mode, which I LOVE!  It is so nice to take things easy!  Last week I had a fairly good week of training.  My long run was 13 miles, I had 2 tempo runs, and maxed out my mileage at 40 miles, plus I worked about 25 hours at the hospital (on my feet), and chased around 2 little nuggets.  This taper week is much needed and very welcomed.

My goal pace for this 1/2 is 7:45.  I honestly don't know if I can do this or not.  I was able to run 6 miles a week ago outside around 7:40 pace overall.  I was coming off a pretty hard week of training as well, and my legs felt heavy.  The week before I ran 5 around 7:32 overall pace outside and I felt really good!   I am almost positive I will PR, since my last 1/2 was 3 years ago and right at 2:00.  I know I can run this on my worst day.  I did run a 15K last fall at 7:54 pace, so I am excited to see how things go.

I am SUPER excited for the warmer weather and the longer days!  The treadmill and I are in need of break!  I love running outside early in the morning when no one is up yet!  It just does something to set my day in the right direction.

And an update from the fam:

Relaxin at the Library

Joey enjoying his walk in Golden

Helping Dad clean at our gym???  :)

First time on the rock climbing wall!

Racing this coming weekend?

Morning runner?

Favorite Season?

I guess I should update.

I am exhausted right now.  Getting over the week!  :)  It's been a long enough time since I have updated and I just don't feel that I can encapsulate that last month in a post.  I have decided that I am NOT a very good blogger, because I just don't have the motivation to keep it up.  But I am so happy when I look back on posts, so I am TRYING!  But, I know I will never be "blogger of the month".  ;)

Running has been going pretty well!  I had a PR tempo outside last Sunday 5 miles at 7:32 and I felt great!   Yesterday's long run was turned into a tempo run.  I did 3.5 miles warm up 5.5 miles around 8 min pace with last 3 under 8 min pace and 1 mile cool down (11 miles total)!  Should have been 13, but I had a cold on Wednesday and Thursday and needed to sleep in on Friday.  I just couldn't squeeze in the last 2 miles.  My 1/2 is April 6th.  I think I am aiming a little too high for a 7:45 pace.  I am guessing I will be more of an 8 min pace and if I can be just under that I will be happy.  But I will train for 7:45.  I am guaranteed a PR, because my last 1/2 was 2 hours exactly.  Unless I am sick, I will have no problem with a speedier outcome!

Hopefully I will have a much more exciting post this week.