After getting 10 and a half hours of wonderful sleep last night, I woke up refreshed and completely recovered from yesterday's race. One thing I always like to do after a race is walk the next day just to keep the muscles in active recovery mode. Since the day had dawned with absolutely perfect fall weather, I decided to take advantage of the trails at Appomattox Court House for that purpose. I also thought I'd take the opportunity to add some pictures to my photo collection of this beautiful and historic site. Here is just a sample of the dozens of pictures I took.
Afterwards I attended a nearby Baptist church that is really making its mark in southern Virginia.
We sang all the old hymns accompanied by a piano, the choir brought a lovely special, and the Lord's Supper was accompanied by a young lady on the harp playing such hymns as "It Is Well with My Soul" and "Be Thou My Vision." The message from Romans 6 was excellent. I still remember its outline:
1. The picture of baptism.
2. The priority of baptism.
3. The practice of baptism.
Tomorrow it's back to the gym to continue my pull ups challenge. I also have my sports massage in Wake Forest and I plan to get in some writing while on campus. This week we have off for Fall Break. The weather is very promising for haying. We'll see what happens.
Today I met someone at church who also did the race in Lynchburg yesterday. I'm sure we were both thinking, "I can't believe it's humanly possible to go up that hill at the end." If, 7 years ago, a prophet would have told me, "In a few years you'll be running the Virginia 10 Miler and even longer distances," I would told him he was crazy. I would have told him that I was more likely to give birth to an elephant named Dumbo than to compete in a foot race. Then I witnessed one of my kids run a half marathon. Even though you may not know it at the time, every once in a while you have those experiences in life that shape the person you become. That was one of those moments. We did a 5K together, and the rest was history. Since then, running has become a part of me. That moment was the beginning of so many amazing experiences that have come into my life because I am a runner. I can't begin to imagine how different my life would be today if I had never started running or lifting or surfing again. Each of us is capable of so much more than we realize. I know I sound like a broken record, but I hate watching people waste away their lives because they believe they have run out of untapped potential. I cannot help but run, even if I'm terrible at it. I know of no other way to live than to be active.
You (yes, YOU!) can go out and do something awesome. Challenge yourself to go beyond the line of what is comfortable. Begin NOW.