When you are preparing for a marathon and you are down to the wire with only weeks left in your training...you hope and pray nothing gets in the way of your plan and your training. But as we all know life doesn't always go as planned. Life happens! After my 16 mile run on August 31st I began to have some pain in my left knee. Nothing real serious but some tenderness that made me step back and evaluate my running plans. Do I keep moving forward? Do I bring this whole thing to a halt and drop out of the race? I did the only thing I knew to do...I asked the Lord for wisdom, guidance, and of course healing.
I am not an expert runner, there is still much I have to learn, but I do try to always listen to my body and back off when needed. So I decided not to make any final decisions but to just take it one day at a time. I iced my knee and took it very easy for a few weeks. This caused me to get very behind in my training. I only had one shot to run my 20 mile run....this big magical number that you are suppose to run before a marathon...and now I knew it would be next to impossible to gain lost time.
Then another situation occurred to make running even more of a challenge....my husband had to go out of town for several weeks for work. When he is the one I rely on to watch the girls for my runs...well that really puts a damper on things.
Thankfully family & friends are coming to my rescue to help and my knee has improved!!
Yesterday I ran 18 miles. It is my last long run before the big day. I will not get to 20 but that's OK. My knee did great the entire run. I was also extremely blessed to have my mom watching my girls and my dad riding alongside me the entire time.
Sometimes he was at my side, other times in front of me or behind me. I had total peace knowing he was with me from start to finish! And that was important as I ran a somewhat secluded trail with some sketchy looking men along the way. He carried a backpack and had extra fluids and food I needed during my run. He was there each time I needed his assistance. At one point we were approaching some gals walking and he said, "Serious runner coming through"...and they made way for me to pass and cheered for me! During a moment of silence I thought about how this is such a great picture of how the Lord is in our lives. He is always with us, He goes before us, behind us, and is constantly at our sides. He is our protector, our friend, and he cheers us on and believes in us! Jesus is our bread of life and He quenches our thirst...he provides us with all we need on our spiritual race!
I thought too about how God is a father to the fatherless....because my real dad actually passed away when I was 12 years old and I feel so blessed to have such an amazing step-dad in my life. He has stepped in and taken that role of a father in my life. Thank you Bob for all the many ways you bless my life...and a huge thank you for riding alongside me yesterday!
Looking forward to running 26.2 miles in a month with my Heavenly Father at my side the entire way!
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