I've seen miles and miles of Texas

4 months training.
Run 4 days a week rain or shine.
Have encouraging friends cheer you on via Facebook, texts or random drive-bys.
Almost 4 pairs of running shoes exhausted.
420 training miles run. (!!)
Celebrate 50th birthday.
All to complete...

26.2 miles.

I. Did. It.

I actually completed a marathon...a long-range goal I had for when I turned 50 (which was 20 days before the marathon). I finished 16th out of 33 in my age group (no complaints there).

Proudly displaying my medal

I have to say that the day I ran the marathon was one of the best days of my life.  The feeling of crossing the finish line and hearing my name called, well...I felt like a total rock star.

The weather was perfect (except for a little wind, but that's nothing compared to another race I ran in the POURING rain and 40*).  It was me and 25,000 of my closest friends who were running that weekend (there was a 5k and 10k on Saturday and half, full and ultra marathon on Sunday).

A beautiful sunrise to start the race

Right when I had just crossed over the start line and headed out, there was a group of young people who were encouraging a group of runners with signs they'd made.  One of them caught my eye immediately.  It said, "Philippians 4:13 - I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." I about lost it right there.  You see, that was my niece's, Elizabeth's, favorite Bible verse.  That verse got me through many, MANY miles of difficult training runs when I wanted to give up.  You may remember that Elizabeth was killed by a truck almost 2 years ago (tomorrow) and is the reason I started running a year and a half ago.

I saw my favorite cheerleader (husband) at mile 11.  It made me smile like crazy.  We had just broken off from the half marathoners and the crowd had finally thinned.  It was nice to steal a kiss from him at almost the halfway point.

Seeing Craig at Mile 11

By mile 17, I thought I was going to die. I was really having a hard time motivating myself to push through the proverbial wall that I'd just hit.  Then all of a sudden I heard my name being yelled.  I looked up to see a friend who'd driven from Frisco to cheer me on.  She was holding this sign:

The best sign ever at Mile 17

As you can imagine, I hugged her and couldn't control the tears.  I just knew at that point that I. Was. Going. To. Finish.

At mile 23, I saw my sweet hubby again and I held up 3 fingers to indicate just 3 more easy miles.  I was almost there.

THREE more miles!

The last few miles were awesome.  People yelling your name and saying you were almost done was so motivating.  When I turned that corner and saw "finish" I thought I was going to skip to the finish!

The homestretch...a few more yards to go!

THEN, I heard a group of people yelling my name and realized it was 2 more of my friends who brought their kids and made signs to cheer me to the finish.  How amazing. And my other friend and her family (who were at mile 17) were there to cheer me to the finish line, too.  And last and not least, my sweet husband was there at the finish with a huge smile on his face.  I crossed the finish line and yelled (to no one in particular), "I DID IT!!" I think I was a bit shocked.

Some of my sweet friends who surprised me

Wow. What an experience.

Some lessons learned:
1. Friends are the priceless.  Encouragement is not optional when training for a hard race.

2. The race is easy compared to the training.  Months of running is HARD. Having a plan is absolutely essential. Following that plan is necessary.

3. After seeing all the sizes and shapes of people running a marathon, I realized that ANYONE can put their mind to running this race and finishing if they want to bad enough.  It doesn't take a gazelle to finish.  Remember, turtles do finish the race and it's the same medal given to finisher 1 or 1000.

4. The hardest part of running is putting on your shoes and walking out the door.  Especially when you don't "feel" like it. Nike is right when they said, "Just do it."

5. Training is a lonely activity. Especially when you hit the higher mileages. It's just you, the open road and an often tired playlist on your iPod.

6. If you fall (yeah, I did in training), get up and keep going (unless you know you've broken something).  The holes in my running shirt and favorite jacket are just mere war wounds to remind me of all the hard work.

7.. No, I don't plan on doing another marathon.

8. I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. Seriously.

I can't thank all my cheerleaders enough for the encouragement you've all provided over the past few months that I've trained.  I love you all.  I especially am grateful to my husband who helped me get out the door every Saturday for my long runs and helped me crawl in the door afterwards and had a jacuzzi bath ready with my after-run hydration beverage. You rock, hon!

My loyal and best cheerleader, Craig, after I'd picked up my finisher's shirt and medal

"Running has given me the courage to start, the determination for me to keep trying, and the child-like spirit for me to have fun along the way. Run often and run long, but never outrun your joy of running." Julie Isphording, marathon winner

I get by with a little help from my friends...

Saturday was the longest run I've ever done in my life.

EIGHTEEN MILES.  Count with me...1, 2, 3...It took me 3 1/2 hours to run (I'm slow, I know).  But slow or not, I still did it.  But it was a beating.  My usual cheerleader, my hubby, was out of town.  He's always so good at getting me out the door early Saturday mornings and reassuring me that yes, I CAN do this thing.  Then when I come home, he has my post-run drink (Accelerade, not a margarita) and a hot jacuzzi bath ready for me to slide into.  It's a treat!

It's also a comfort to know he's home and if I were to fall or hurt myself (which, yes, I've done), I can call him and he'll come find me. And it's also good to know that should I have a melt down over the mileage, he might come get me.  (Not that I would have a melt down over running a gazillion miles...)

But since he was gone this weekend, I called on 3 girlfriends who live kind of spaced out along my running route.  I asked them to be "on call" for me in case I did something stupid or decided I was doing something stupid by training for a marathon at my age.  They all said, "Yes," so I felt better about running the distance I had to cover.

Well...they not only were my go-to girls, but they became my cheerleaders! One drove by (she's done this before and it's totally awesome) and yelled encouragement out her car window.  She did this twice.  Pretty awesome since I was starting to fade at the more than halfway mark.  Then as I turned the corner to the local high school (4 miles left), I saw a parked minivan and a fabulous pink sign that said, "Go Lori!" It was just what I needed to finish my run!

So maybe I am not part of the community that I used to be a part of, but I have a community of some pretty amazing women friends who love me and encourage me.  What more could I ask for?? Thanks Kris, Michelle and Ellen.  Your love brings tears to my eyes as I type this blog.  I feel so special and privileged to call you all "friends."  You all refresh my soul.

"(S)he who refreshes others will (herself) himself be refreshed." Proverbs 11:25b

Why am I such a misfit?

When one of my boys was young, we used to watch Sesame Street.  There was a little ditty they sang that said, "One of these things is not like the other. One of these things just shouldn't belong." (Now you'll be singing that all day if you know which song I'm talking about!) It was kind of like "I Spy" finding the one item that didn't fit somehow into the scene.  Of course with Sesame Street's audience, the misfit was always obvious.

I often have moments of feeling like a misfit.  "One of these people is not like the other. One of these people just doesn't belong...."

I had that sense this morning.

I had a lovely breakfast with a good friend and enjoyed catching up with her.  But in the meantime, a group of other women walked in to meet for breakfast.  We spoke to them all, of course, but it reminded me that I didn't belong to that group of people any more.  They all are part of the same church community that I was part of for so long and it still feels so painful to realize that I just don't fit with that group any more.  Well, maybe I never did for all I realize.

The sadness welled up inside me thinking about how I'd once had such a vibrant ministry at the church and how much I missed teaching and leading other women in learning more about God and His love for them.  I miss serving others and really don't have that outlet or opportunity any more.  Maybe I never will again.  Maybe I will again.  I don't know.

I felt this way before when I had a job and I attended a Bible study and was the only one who worked.  It felt odd and I felt like a misfit. While the other women lived the life I used to live during the summers (reading books, working in the yard, going to the pool with the kids), I was stuck in a small overly-air conditioned store working.  Yes, I was grateful for the job, but it was painful to realize I could BE in the group, but I was still not really PART of the group.

I miss being a part of SOMEthing and truly feeling like I'm part of the group and not the thing that doesn't belong.

*Sigh*

What's new?

I subscribe to a great online ezine that sends me weekly articles ("Weekly Refill" is what it's called).  I LOVE these little articles and often repost them on Facebook so that my friends can enjoy them, too.

The most recent one I got was entitled, "What's new?"  The author went on to talk about how much she hated this question and how many times she was asked this question due to the new year beginning.

How do you even begin to answer that question?  Should you be honest and vulnerable and actually SHARE what's new?  Or should you just say, "Oh nothing much.  And you?" (Frankly, most of the time most people would rather tell you about themselves than hear about what's new with you anyway.)

But this reminded me of a recent discussion I was part of with a group of women that I really like.  Most of us are 40-50 something (age wise) and some of us don't work outside the home, yet we don't have small children that we are home caring for any more.  So the question we are so often asked (and so often dread) is, "What do you do?"

As if what I DO defines WHO I am.

After the answer of, "Oh I stay home," we all felt like it was necessary to apologize or explain why we stayed home without small children by our sides. See, so many of us had defined ourselves as "mom" for so long that when our little chicks left the nest, we really weren't sure how to describe who we are anymore.  Though we are still "moms", we don't have the responsibility of much of the mom responsibilities we had when our kids were very young.  We were all frustrated that we even had to feel the need to apologize that we stay home (as if we are doing nothing!).

Frankly, we are all busy with many tasks that we couldn't do when our kids were younger.  And besides that, what we do does in no way define who we are.  We all laughed and decided that we should reply that we are "sojourners seeking after Jesus" or "women learning to love others the way Jesus did" or something like the first 2 options.  Because honestly, that's WHO we are.  Women who are being made into the likeness of Jesus day by day - some days more and some days, well not so much depending on our willingness to cooperate with God's chiseling in our lives.

So what we do does matters because we are endeavoring to follow hard after Christ, but who we are matters so, so much more. And whose we are (Christ's) matters even more.

For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. Ephesians 2:10 (NIV)


**If you'd like to read the article I reference at the beginning, you can read it here.

Resolved...

...to do something new this year.

I really don't like resolutions.  See, I end up doing a great job at breaking them by the first week (if not sooner).  I'd much rather take a look at the previous year's triumph(s) and look forward to this year's big goal.

Funny that this time last year I was actually employed.  Well, at least employed for the first 2 weeks of the year.  I miss my job some days, but I like the freedom of being able to have a flexible schedule even more than the kudos a job often brings.

Last year brought a first for me...I ran my first half marathon in March.  It was an accomplishment that I am still very proud of.  It was hard enough running those 13.1 miles, but even harder after I had twisted my right ankle badly in early December and was off running for almost 6 weeks.  I lost a lot of valuable training time and many said that I shouldn't even consider running the half.  But stubborn me decided to do it anyway.  And I'm so glad I did!

I ran several other races in 2011.  I ran a 15K in JULY - yes, in the HOTTEST TEXAS summer ever.  If you've followed my blog, you know I ran that race just to get a shirt that said, "Too Hot To Handle."  Yeah, really. I blame the insanity on the heat.

I started December with a marathon relay on the coldest and wettest day I've ever run.  5 miles of a persistent downpour in 40 degree temps - wet shoes, wet gloves, wet hair...miserable.  But still I managed to have fun.

I ended the year with a 15 mile run.  Which brings me to my biggest goal of 2012 - a marathon in late February.  I still have about 210 (give or take) more training miles to go before the big day in 55 days.

I'm terrified.

No really. TERRIFIED.

I wanted to come up with a BIG goal for the BIG occasion of me turning 50 February 6th.  How much bigger can you get than running 26.2 miles? (Ok, I guess I could run an ultra marathon, but a regular marathon seemed big enough for me.)

So if you're friends with me on Facebook or if perhaps you read my blog every now and again, please encourage me to keep on training through the pain (those long Saturday runs are a beating!).  Pray for me, too, to stay injury-free.  Tell me once in a while that I can do this thing - this really HARD thing. Believe it or not, I appreciate every ounce of encouragement I can get.


May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions.  ~Joey Adams

A Duct Tape Christmas

This is a post from 2006.  I liked it so much, I thought I'd repost it. 

Duct tape - a man's solution to life's little problems. Actually, I have been known to solve a few problems myself with a little duct tape. My husband is so proud of me!

A couple of weeks ago, the boys informed me that they would be decorating the exterior of our home for Christmas. Equipped with the boxes of Christmas lights and extension plugs, I decided, "How bad could it be?"

That question was soon answered when I went out to check their progress. To my horror, they were rigging a strand of icicle lights with DUCT TAPE. They weren't using it in a "hidden" nook, either. They had taped a strand about 3/4 of the way up the front column of the house (I guess they couldn't reach any further). At that point I realized that supervision was necessary. So I called in the big guns - Craig! He was less than thrilled and thought they were doing a splendid job and should pursue their creative...ah...endeavor. A short "discussion" later, he was out hanging lights. I must say, it all meets with my approval. And there's not a strand of duct tape in sight.

But just in case you run out of bows for your Christmas packages, check out this site and you will find instructions on how to make a beautiful bow from, yep, you guessed it...DUCT TAPE. (Git er dun.) And if you really need a chuckle, go here and check out the SERMON on duct tape and the TOP 10 LIST for duct tape. I had no idea duct tape was so versatile!

The beast behind the fence

One of my biggest fears when I run is when I am running alongside a big privacy fence and can hear (even though I have music playing in my earphones) a dog barking.  I immediately scan the fence line to see if any boards are askew or likely to shift.  Most barking dogs that I can hear over my music MUST be large (right??).

Kind of reminds me of "The Beast" in the movie, The Sandlot.  This HUGE beast of a thing lurks on the other side of the fence and constantly hoards all things that happen to go over the fence, namely baseballs.  The boys in the film have this beast built up in their minds as something to be greatly feared - after all, he might eat them all! You can watch the movie to find out the rest, but needless to say, The Beast is really not the beast that they imagine.

Fear is an interesting companion.  It goes hand-in-hand with worry and anxiety.  And as I've said before, worry could definitely be my spiritual gift.  I can get so tied up in knots over the "whatifs" of life that I can literally become paralyzed.

I recently heard that the word "anxiety" or "worry" in Greek literally means to "have a divided mind."  Doesn't that describe worry perfectly?  It divides your mind between what is sane and right versus what is illogical and often wrong.  But yet, fear is like the perceived beast on the other side of the fence...it COULD be huge.  It COULD be something fearful.  It COULD be something that could eat us up. (And frankly, fear unchecked will eat up all peace that we so desire!)

Apparently, God knows that we are fearful human beings.  I have heard (though haven't verified) that the Bible says "fear not" about 365 times - that's enough "fear nots" for every day of the year.  Even if that's not an accurate count, it still MUST be one of the most common "commands" that we read in Scripture.

Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you.  When you walk through the fire you will not be burned, the flames will not set you ablaze.  For I am the LORD, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  Isaiah 43:1b-3a


Maybe I should add, "And when you pass by the fence with the big barking dog, you shall not be bitten for I shall keep the dog surrounded by the fence."  (The gospel according to Lori)