The Day After Christmas

"With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21.

Praying
The Christmas holiday was so awesome!! It started by attending Christmas Service at our church Fellowship of the Woodlands. All I can say is WOW. This was the first Christmas for me where I realized the true meaning. I understand now that if it wasn't for God sending his one and only son to earth that we would be living a life without hope.

Can you imagine that? A life with no hope. I shudder at the thought. Millions of people out there who live with sickness or disease have to have hope that someday they will be cured. God provides us with that comfort. You see by sending his son to Earth to live among us, it gave Jesus an understanding of what it was like to live in this World without Hope or Grace.

I know my sister Kellye lives with Hope everyday that someday a cure will be found for MS. I live with that hope as well. The Myelin Repair Foundation is working through its research to help cure MS. One thing I have learned about them is that all their doctors doing the research are working with each other and not competing to see who comes up with a cure first.

I spoke with Kellye yesterday and she sounded great!! In fact, it was the best she had sounded in a long time, not being on the drugs has really helped her regain some of her life back. God is watching after her and taking care of her needs.

Running
It was tough to get out of my warm bed this morning. The temperture at 6:30 was 32 degrees but I knew that running in the cold weather would not be a problem. I had laid out my cloths the night before and made sure that I had a few layers to keep me warm. My biggest concern was how I would feel physically since I had just done 21-miles a week ago. Of course the big Christmas meal from yesterday would provide me with plenty of fuel for the 12-mile run.

I finished in 1:53.49 which was a pace of about 9:26 per mile. I am very suprised with that pace because it didn't feel like I was running that fast. I started out slow and for the first 6 miles or so I think I was running a lot slower, probably more like a pace of 9:45. But for the second half of the run I wanted to push it a little bit and try and run at my goal pace which is now around 9:30 or so.

I am really feeling pretty good right now, my form and balance are there and running seems to be effortless. This week I will push it one more time and then begin to taper for the big day on January 17th. Tuesday and Thursday's workouts will be especially important. I'm not sure how far I'll run next Saturday, but I'll probably end up running between 10 to 12 miles.

1st Big Race Week

"Your born crying, and everyone around you smiling. Live your life so that when you die, you will be smiling and everyone around you will be crying." Anonymous

So the question of the day is how are you living your life, when that day comes, what will people say about you? Will they say you lived a good life? A complete life? A life where you served God and your brothers and sisters?

I know that's a deep question, but it's something I ask myself everyday. Am I living my life to the fullest? Am I living today like it's my last day on earth? I try, but it's tough. You have to take things one step at a time and trust Jesus to help you do the right thing.

Catching Up

The last time I wrote to my blog it was the end of August and I felt like I had really hit a wall with my training. Not to mention my sister was really going through some tough times. Well, I really had to pray about this, so everyday in September I prayed to God that he would take care of Kellye and help her get better and that he would help me with my running.

Well, I'm happy to say that he works in wonderful ways. Kellye is doing much better and is off the pain medication. Of course, she has her bad days but I noticed that she is not spending as much time in bed as before. She is out hiking and walking her dog Casey. She still has MS but she so determined to live her on life on her terms, it's amazing.

For me, September was tough and at times it was tough to stay motivated, but then I think about Kellye and how she deals with MS everyday and that she has such a strong will to say "I'm not going to let you beat me MS!! You will not win."

So I kept chugging along with my longest run being 12 miles. My mileage for this month stayed in the 70's but I know that this month and next, that number will go up.

I have been running for a long time, and at my lowest point this month I finally figured it out!! I needed to turn it over to God. One day when I really down, I was talking to my wife Ginger, and she told me, "You have to let go Rich, God has to run for you!! Let him take you through each step."

You know what? She was right. I finally figured out, I can't control my running, only God knows how good I will feel on that day. All I can do is do the right things and use my experience. That means eating, staying hydrated and stretching after every workout. Running hard on days I'm supposed to run hard and easy on the days I'm supposed to run easy.

So from then on, things changed. Now it's October and we are 16 weeks away from the Marathon. It will be here before you know it!!

This week is a big, I finally get to race. Granted it's only 10 miles but it's racing 10 miles not running 10 miles.

"A race is a work of art that people can look at and be affected in as many ways they’re capable of understanding." Steve Prefontaine

Racing is what I train for, its what we train for!! This summer was brutal, but the racing season is finally here!! Yahoo!!