pacing myself

it was the day, the day I have been training for since January. And somehow, even though I was excited this morning, my emotions and heart burned in my chest with the sorrow and the grief of losing Kaden, yet the joy of God's goodness through this week to Rochelle and Steve. Their faith and hope are so strong and I am encouraged by how closely they are walking with God.

I usually spend so much mental energy the week before a big race thinking about my pacing, my hydration, what I will eat to prepare, what I will wear. And rightfully so, those things became minor details pushed to the outer corners of my brain space this week. But I woke up with a determination to go out there today and do this. Something I have literally wanted to do since I saw a fellow classmate do it when we were 15 years old. Some of the miles got really hard, if I am honest, every mile after 9 was tough today. It was actually quite humorous in retrospect because I really had myself convinced at one point that I should just lay down for a few minutes on the side of the road. what?!

Thankfully Ben & Stacie were there with me to shake that fog out of my brain and tell me to eat a GU and keep going. We finished in the time we hoped and there was a lot of space on the course to talk, cheer, pray, and just plain put one foot in front of another. Here is team EGM, looking our best before the race this morning:


I just got an email from our captain, Pastor Tom & it made me laugh because in the speed category we got 2nd place for the team category! Good thing they only take the top 5 scores...none of which my time was close to touching. but just for kicks, you can check it out here.