To really know God's strength! LONG

WOW! What an awesome weekend! If you haven’t been reading my blog lately, Kris and I went to the Cooper Bridge Run in Charleston, SC this weekend, just the two of us. This was my very first race! Ya’ll……..I have never experienced ANYTHING like that before, it was so neat. Now, I’m sure many of you may be doing some rolling of the eyes thinking running 6.2 miles over a bridge, just doesn’t sound like fun! =) It didn’t to me either at first! In fact I had NO IDEA how big this bridge was, since I’ve never been to Charleston.

After we finally got all the girl’s settled we headed out. It was a nice quite car ride, in fact a little to quite. Do you ever find, those married with kids, that you just can’t wait to get away just you and your husband……and then….you have nothing to talk about???!!!! So, I took a good little nap! As we entered Charleston we had to drive over the Cooper Bridge to get to our hotel. Well, I have to tell ya’ll I started getting a little nervous as 1. I had NEVER ran uphill during any of my training and 2. I still had not ran further than 4 miles during my training!! But, I really just tried not to think about it. So, we got to our hotel and headed to the Expo to sign in and get our numbers and all the free goodies they give you!

There were SOOOO many people there! The news was there, I really felt like I was doing something cool! After getting our numbers and computer chip’s for our shoes (to keep track of our time) we ate a yummy spaghetti dinner. (Apparently it’s really good to eat lot’s of carbs the night before a big race???) We then walked around for a little while and went back to the hotel to get a good night’s sleep. I have never seen Kris so “prepared”, we had TWO alarm clocks set, all of our stuff laid out….had our plan on where we needed to be and everything! I was like, oh my is this all it takes to get my hubby to be organized???!!!

OK, so 5am race day!!! ALARMS GOING OFF!!! We had to be at the start line by 6:30am so we needed time to up dressed (coffee for me), and a little breakfast, plus we had to walk to the start line which was about 1.5 miles. I was very nervous, Kris was very excited. We arrive at the start line and that is where I became overwhelmed………30,000+ people EVERYWHERE. Of course since Kris is what I would consider an expert runner, he got to have a green tag number, which meant he was in the front. Me?……..I was WAY In the back, so we kissed good bye and I headed out to try and figure this whole thing out. Thankfully, I meant a really sweet girl who talked me through this whole process. It was really exciting but I couldn’t hear anything b/c there were SO many people standing around me. All I know is a few minutes later, EVERYONE was running, so I started! =) That is when it got crazy.

I kept Kris’s words in my head, “Take it slow at the beginning.” Even though it was really hard since it seems like EVERYONE was passing me. But, I did, I kept it very slow. The first two miles were flat, heading towards the bridge, they were pretty easy. It went by very quickly. Then the bridge……..now that was a challenge, I’d say I made it up half way and I told myself I’d better walk for a second or I was going to wear myself out. So, I walked for about 1 minute just up the steep part, in fact most people were walking that part, so I didn’t feel so bad………And THEN! It was DOWNHILL!!! Everyone was cheering and praising each other, it was really cool. After, that I was fine, I didn’t stop ONCE. But, I will say, I was definitely calling on the Lord to keep those legs of mine going.

The best part was the ending, when we ran through the town, everyone was cheering and there was TV camera’s everywhere and it was cool, but I was ready to die when I say MILE 6 sign!! I knew I was almost done!! SO I gave it my all, and pushed through towards the end. I kept looking for Kris, I couldn’t see him anywhere, I was like, WHERE IS HE???!!!! I crossed the finish line with so much pride…..I DID IT!!!! I was ready to fall over, but I DID IT!!! =) It took me almost 45 minutes to find Kris, we didn’t have a good finding each other plan, but thankfully, he’s tall, so I could see him! =) So the end verdict? My time was 1hr 16 minutes, Kris was 40:18!!!

So, it was awesome, and I understand this whole running thing now. Not that I would ever call myself a runner, but I understand why it’s so important to Kris. I always thought it was so stupid, paying to run……=) The most horrible part was after the race we had to take a bus back over the bridge to get back to our hotel and the bus dropped us off 3 miles away from our hotel……so we had to…..gasp!……..walk!! =) The rest of the day we spent sightseeing and just enjoying our time together, Charleston is just such a beautiful city and we had the PERFECT day weather wise.

But I tell you what I really learned, I learned what it truly means to call on the Lord for strength. Perhaps we at times think that God’s strength is there for us during hard times, not something that is supposed to be fun. But, I’m telling you what, people must have been thinking I was crazy, as I was praying the whole time I was running. I was like LORD, give me your strength and at that moment when I would pray that, He did, someone would say, KEEP GOING! Or I’d see something that would make me smile (like a man running in speedos with a blown up duck float around his waist!) God’s strength is there WHENEVER we need it, we just have to seek it, find it and claim it!

I must have prayed that verse, I can do ALL things through Christ who gives me strength the whole race, b/c I know that it was only through the power of Christ did I have the strength just to cross that finish line. Well, I could go on and on about this weekend, but girly’s await me. Taylor is on Spring break this week, Hope is next week (of course it couldn’t be the same week!) Kennedy isn’t feeling well, I feel so bad for my mother-in law who had to clean up her throw up this weekend! SO SORRY!!! We’ve got to go to the grocery store and I’ve got to get serious about packing! I’m selling a lot of our stuff just so we don’t have to pay to put it in storage, and since most of it isn’t worth what we’d have to pay to store it anyways! It’s just so hard b/c I don’t know what kind of house we are going to be living in. God is teaching me some serious patience through this process. It’s a humbling experience yet I know after living with mom and dad for three months, life will be so much easier financially.

Have a very blessed Monday!!!