10 mile trail race

I decided that for my first race, since all of these medical fiascoes, I would run the Prickly Pear 10 mile trail race. After reading Ann's blog, and being totally interested in her thoughts as she completed her last race, I decided that I too should share what went through my head during the 10 mile trail race.

Upon waking up, my adrenaline was pumping, but in a good way. This was both odd and scary; a new feeling for me, in the past 9 months. It's exciting when your adrenaline pumps in good ways, and not over the top for no apparent reason. I do not know if God has chosen to heal me permanently or temporarily, but what I do know, is I have been feeling fabulous and I will bask in the glorious days He has given me!

Race: Prickly Pear 50k and 10 mile trail runs
Distance: 10 miles
Goal Time: 120 minutes (12:00 min/mi)
Actual Time: 1:51:16 (11:08 min/mi)

I started near the back, as I am not fast, and my goal was to finish in two hours or less--12 minute miles. I felt that was a good goal for my first race since May, and since I became "healthy." I looked around to see if anybody I knew was there, but I did not see any familiar faces.

I completed the first three miles, relatively easily, in thirty minutes, following a lady, who I deemed my personal pace setter. During our first water break, around mile 3, she stopped and drank the Gatorade, and so did I. I had read on some running sites that people that are not super serious about there time should stop and drink, and then throw away their cup, as you really are not going to lose that much time. I like to do that.

The two of us continue, myself, directly behind this woman. I did not want to pass her, just to keep up with her. Sadly, she tripped and fell at some point, but yay, she was okay, and got up and kept going. I continued to follow her, passing people as she passed them, but then she fell again. This time a little harder. It was at this point that she chose to slow down more, and I chose to pass her. I'm glad she was okay, but I am sad that she fell! She was such a good pace setter, oh well!

Around mile 5 or 6, I found a new pace setter for a couple miles. Until this point I thought two things primarily:

• Wow I cannot believe how easy this run is
• Thank you Lord for giving me a hedge of protection and keeping me from biting the dust!
  

My new pace setter was fabulous until she too, bit the dust. Thank God she was okay, as well, but like many, a little shaken and chose to slow down.

Somewhere around miles 6 to 8 was my personal challenge. I was done, this was getting almost boring, something had to change. Lo and behold, I found a new pace setter, an older man, and I followed him until he decided he was tired and started walking.

For my last two miles, I was by myself. The people in front of me were far enough in front that I did not want to sprint up just to run side by side them, and the people behind me stayed pretty far behind me. A lady came up on behind me for a couple minutes, she too bit the dust. And she too was okay. I am blown away at how many people took some pretty ugly spills and am thankful that God kept me safe! :) Thank you Jesus for the hedge of protection and a fabulous run this morning!

The last mile took me by surprise. All of a sudden I saw a sign that said, 100 meters to race finish. Oh, wow! I was finished and by the end of the race, I felt great. I knew I could've gone further, and I knew I had finished in under 2 hours! I completed the race in less than goal time. Yay!

Props to Andrew Kahn, who from his great ingeniousness has learned that phones can have problems if they get too wet from sweat...so before I put my phone in my back pocket, I put it in a ziplock snack bag. Worked like a charm! Thanks, Andrew for your great intelligence. I even noticed other women freaking out because their phones were soaked. Ewww! :)

Only in Texas do you finish a race, and eat fajitas! Yes, we had fabulous, oranges, bananas (this monkey ate 2), tortillas, beef fajitas, chicken fajitas, pico de gallo, black beans, borracho beans, and rice. And of course their was lots of bottled water and Gatorade. There was plently of beer as well, for the connoisseurs.

Overall, I had a blast running this race, and I am looking forward to my next race. A nice and easy 5k. My next 10-miler will be on Mother's Day...the Fort Sam Houston Army 10-miler. It will be my second time to run the FSH Army 10-miler.

On a side note...the Redbud is beautiful in bloom! :)

So are the Bluebonnets...they are just opening. In Texas, we have March flowers...forget May flowers. :)

Among the heartache is hope

A fellow Mission Society Missionary, Angela, posted parts of this on her blog, and I found it so incredibly encouraging. This past year has been challenging--spiritually, physically, and emotionally. Read on!

Among the heartache is hope, amidst the suffering is grace, behind the ambiguity is a divine plan, and I am created in the image of God.

You will find God to be more faithful than you ever dreamed He could be, but you will also learn that He is more unpredictable than you wish He was. You will discover that His grace indeed is sufficient, but His ways are so much higher than your own that you cannot even imagine what the next step will look like. Your faith will be tested as you wonder if a good God would place a precious soul inside of a broken body.

You will discover, as you allow God to give you strength, that God is indeed very good. As you learn to love more and more, you'll understand more and more about God's love for broken and imperfect people. Temporal things will lose value and you will learn what is really important. Your heart will burst with joy and pride as you see small victories in life.

You'll appreciate more the fact that in heaven there will be no bad news, no pain, no suffering and no tears. You will wake up every morning aware of your need for a gracious and loving God. That is the greatest gift of all. We all desperately need Him, we just tend to become self sufficient and forget. It's not a road you would choose, but one day you will look back and you wouldn't trade that road for anything in the world.........

The Lord said to Gideon, "Go in the strength that you have......I will be with you". My advise would be...get out of bed every morning and put one foot in front of the other in the strength that you have. God will be with you every step that you take and His grace and strength will be more than enough!

Press on!

Positive and Negative consequences

Before I started my quiet time the other morning, I was thinking about positive and negative consequences...more specifically the positive consequences. I was thinking about the good things that happen when we do what we are supposed to, when we are supposed to. I was remembering how sweet it is to receive those blessings from God when we are in His will. And then, when I pulled out First Cup--one of our readings was from Deuteronomy 28.

If you will diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I command you today...all these blessings shall come upon you and overtake you if you obey the Lord your God. Fear the honoured and awesome name, the Lord your God.
The Lord your God will (not He might, or if He feels like it, He will!):

• Delight over you to prosper you, and multiply you--Yes God takes pleasure in us, He is gratified in us, He cheers for us!
  
• Set you high above all the nations of the earth
• Blessed shall you be in the city
• Blessed shall you be in the country
• Blessed shall be the offspring of your body
• Blessed shall be the produce of your ground
• Blessed shall be the offspring of your beasts
• Your heard shall increase
• Your young flock shall increase
• Blessed shall be your basket
• Blessed shall be your kneading bowl
• Blessed shall you be when you come in
• Blessed shall you be when you go out
• The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated before you
• The Lord will command the blessing upon you
• The Lord will command the blessing in all that you put your hand to (I especially like this!)
  
• He will bless you in the land which He gives you

And as great as all of this is...I struggle with the questions of, "Will God do this for me?" Which brings me back once again to Psalm 126:2-3. "The Lord has done great things for them. The Lord will do great things for me. I am glad!"

On the contrary, there are promises of curses for those who do NOT obey God--i.e. negative consequences. Take the opposite of the positive consequences and you have the curses. It continues with, "all these curses shall come on you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed." Why? "Because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statues which He commanded you."

God gives us awesome responsibilities, with spiritual and physical consequences, both positive and negative. This is a great privilege! What are you going to do with your life? What choices will you make today? Are you going to obey God, or choose the path of curses? Everyday is a new day, so maybe yesterday disobedience was chosen, but today, we can start fresh and choose to be obedient.

Humour me, please! :)

A friend shared some funnies compiled from teachers. These are some of my favourite!

This one was shared by Jessica, a fellow teacher.

Isn't it romantic?

Zoo

Mondays through Thursdays I go to the zoo to practice my monkey skills! :) Okay, really, I help kids with their homework (primarily tutoring math) and then when we are finished we play outside on the monkey bars, assuming weather is nice! I have taught the monkettes how to flip and we are having lots of fun! Today was beautiful and sunny, 80F so I took the camera out!

May I be so bold as to say...

May I be so bold as to say...If my pain and suffering is for the glorification of Godhead--God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, then it is my privilege to serve and glorify my Lord and Saviour in this manner.

Jeremiah 29:12-14
Then (Faith) will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to her. (Faith) will seek Me and find Me when she searches for Me with all of her heart. I will be found by (Faith) declares the Lord.

As I teach in the book of Mark, I am blown away by the number of times that Jesus calls out the individual. Our memory verse this past week was Mark 5:36, "But Jesus, overhearing what was being spoken, said to the synagogue official, do not be afraid any longer, only believe." I love that Jesus pulled out the individual man and spoke to him directly, after only overhearing what others were saying. He gets to the point and addresses the issue at hand. Just like Jesus cares for the synagogue official, He cares for me and you. He speaks to each of us. What is Jesus saying to you?

Isaiah 55:12
(Faith) will go out with joy and be led forth with peace

Psalm 126:2-3
The Lord has done great things for them; the Lord will do great things for (Faith). (Faith) is glad.