The Happiest Race on the Planet

The finish line of Saturday's Color Run.  Thanks to my friend LJ for taking the pics!

Apparently the hills of Roanoke can be a little more brutal than the hills in my own neighborhood, you know, the ones I jumped off my track training and trained on these past few weeks for my first 5K ever?

There were five of us and we all started out The Happiest Race on the Planet at a nice pace.  For the first little bit I actually thought it was going to be easy.  I felt like a runner! It wasn't until I lost sight of The Yankee and our daughter (the latter having not trained AT ALL for this event, bless her little long legged naturally athletic heart!), that I started to feel like a failure.  I tell you, the devil would have had me stop that race right then and there and start walking it instead.

Somewhere passed the halfway mark, something just clicked and I felt like a runner again. I knew that God had given me the strength to do this because I had run three miles at home way more than once. But I knew something else, that if I started walking, I would not only be letting myself down, I would be telling God I was not going to do something He Himself had put on my heart.  Not only could I not let myself down, there was no way I was going to let God down.

I have a pretty rockin' playlist on my Smart Phone for when I am running, it is a must to get me through the training.  But I also threw an extra song in there, Mercy Me's I Can Only Imagine.  I know, I know..it's not upbeat, you can't dance to it, and honestly, more often than not, when I hear it, I wind up in a puddle of good tears more than anything else.

There is no particular one line of this song that gets to me the most, just the general awe-inspiring image of standing face to face with God.  And how does that pertain to this race?  I can only imagine, when He looks at me and says, "Remember when I told you to get as healthy as possible?" I want to be able to say, "Not only do I remember, but I did exactly what you told me to do!" And THAT my friends could keep me running like Forest Gump!

 

In case you don't know me and you haven't read any of my previous blogs, I DON'T RUN..really, I don't.  I have always hated running with a passion. I would have rather stuck needles in my eyes for days at a time then get out there and jolt my entire body with the torture of lifting one foot in front of the other at a faster pace than my normal walk that I enjoy so much.  It has been a steadfast rule in my life that I will not run, even though I knew God wanted me to step it up in this area.  It wasn't until my husband was home in January and encouraged us to run as a family that I finally realized it was time to listen.  And I did.  One lap everyday of the first week, two laps the second week, and so on and so on.  Rome wasn't built in a day you know.

So I kept running on Saturday even when I wanted to stop.  And I finished my first 5k in 34 minutes flat.  That won't get me into the Olympics, but it did make the Top 5 Most Proud Moments of my life list:) I will be washing blues, pinks and purples out of my hair and apparently off of my skin for days to come, but that's ok...each time I see those colors it is a reminder that I did what He asked of me in this area.

There are many, many other areas of my life I know God is telling me to step it up.  Starting this blog is one.  Another is my over all health in general.  God has shown me that my body has a zero tolerance for sugar, preservatives, and possibly even wheat. In the near future I will be stepping up, and blogging about, my experiences in these areas as well. 

How about you? What are the areas of your life that, when you see Him face to face, you want to be able to say "Yes, I did that, just like you asked me too!" There is no feeling in the world like knowing you did something to please God, it's NEVER too late...and really, shouldn't every thing we do be to His glory?

Til next time ya'll!

God Bless and Love Everyone!!!