Go Jordan Go!

Big day tomorrow.

There's a big group of folks from church who are running the St. Jude Half Marathon tomorrow in memory of Nick .... Team Nick.  Annnnnd, Jordan is one of them!!

I'm so excited for her!

My niece and nephew are running too!

I'm having an unknown number of teenagers over tonight for a pasta party.  A few are spending the night. So, we'll get everybody carbo loaded, hydrated, tucked in and hope for a good night's sleep.

Then we will be out the door at dark-thirty in the morning to get downtown.

The Boyfriend and Connie are going too, and we'll find a spot along the route where we can cheer them on.

Jordan had lower body conditioning at volleyball this week and yesterday she could hardly walk down the stairs without ouching.  I'm hoping her legs will decide to rejoin her body so she can push it 13.1 miles tomorrow.

So, send some good vibes tomorrow for Jordan and the other members of Team Nick!

Run Jordan Run!

Are you ready?

I have decided not to run in the St. Jude Half Marathon Saturday. It was a tough decision. But, at the same time, it wasn't a tough decision. It kind of played out like this....

I trained for five months for the Rock 'N Roll marathon which was in June. (In case you missed that story, there's another whole blog to tell you all about it.) The marathon was super tough on my body and took quite a while for me to recover from it. But I did it and it remains the absolute highlight of my year! I was diagnosed with the stress fracture in July. Which kept me off the treadmill for twelve weeks. I decided in October that I felt well enough to start training again and wanted to attempt the St. Jude Half. However, I didn't pick my training back up at the level that I had been doing. I had really done some major training for the full marathon. Daily training. And I worked so hard and so long to get to that level of conditioning. Then in just a short period of time, I lost it. It just went away so quickly. And I just never really attempted to get it back. Basically it was a "use it or lose it" situation.

Now, don't get me wrong, I wasn't this ultra super runner athlete person. I'm soooo not that and never was. But logging in over 250 miles in five months and completing a marathon has to amount to something doesn't it? And I went from that level of activity, to absolutely nothing while I recovered from the stress fracture, to now just a mile or two every day. It just ain't the same, people.

So, to do the half this weekend would really not be smart. I just can't take part in the race without having prepared for it. I haven't put in the work and miles and effort and training that I need to successfully complete the race. I am unprepared.

It got me to thinking that it's kind of like our life. We all have challenges and tests that are thrown at us. And unless we are training and preparing on a regular, daily basis, we are not able to face these things appropriately. We are left to face these challenges completely unprepared. This could be spiritual tests, relationship challenges, work problems, parenting frustrations - just any of life's storms. It's important to read and study the Bible, to develop deeper relationships, to work daily on our thoughts and attitudes. We need to be prepared and trained to handle challenges before we are faced with them.

"Be prepared in season, out of season." 2 Timothy 4:2

How can we have deep, true, meaningful and loving relationships without working on them every single day?

How can we face a spiritual crisis or a challenge without having the knowledge of God's word?

How can we fully develop our gifts and talents without practicing these skills regularly?

All of these situations in life - "the big races" - need lots and lots of work. Every single day. If not, we will find ourselves at the starting line completely unprepared.

What races are you facing in life? Have you prepared for them? Are you ready?

Thank you Sir, may I have (half) another

OK people. Guess what I've done? I've signed up to run in the St. Jude Half Marathon. It's December 6.

I started back on the treadmill last week after being on the D.L. for 12+ weeks from my tibial stress fracture. I am taking it very slowly. Very. Slowly. I do NOT want to risk any injury again.

Running the marathon in June was truly one of my greatest accomplishments of my life and I would not trade that experience for anything. But I am beyond certain that I don't want to run another full marathon. No way. No thanks. It definitely took its toll on my body. Plus, the training for a full is just a huge commitment. The training was difficult. The recovery was challenging. (My toenail still has not grown out....) Face it -- I'm old people.

So I'll tackle another half. I have completed one other official half marathon - the Germantown Half Marathon - last March. And definitely put in the equivalent of half marathon mileage each weekend during my marathon training. But I've lost quite a bit of that conditioning after the stress fracture.

This effort may be more of a walk/run rather than a run/walk, but I know I can do this. I know there are many participants who walk the entire half marathon. They are capping the entries for the half marathon at 8,000. It's a good sized race. Last year, there were over 5,700 runners in the half and the slowest time was 4:47:00. So I could possibly be at the FRONT of the back. Ha Ha.

Anyhoo, the course looks great. It is described as being "relatively flat" (hooray since I HATE HILLS!). And goes by lots of downtown Memphis landmarks includnig the Forum, the Orpheum, the Pyramid, Beale Street and the zoo. It finishes in AutoZone Park, home of the Memphis Redbirds.

Wish me luck people.