I'm going to make this a short race report because it was a short race. Ready, set, GO!
Got up early and set off for the race. I caught up with my friend Dave from the Y and chatted before the race started.
He was running the 5K while I had signed up for the 10K, so we couldn't visit for very long. It was great to see him out there. The dude excels in an event called the triathlon, so running isn't exactly his cup of tea. Nice going, Dave! Finally it was "go" time. I was an idiot and went out way too fast while trying to keep with runners like this guy.
Finally, I realized it's okay to run within myself, so I went back to my normal "even-the-snail-reached-the-ark" pace. At the 3-mile turnaround point I asked the course monitor to snap this pic of yours truly at the halfway point in the race.
I was feeling pretty good so I said to myself, "Self, wanna try for a negative split in the second half of the race?" (a negative split refers, not to a nasty divorce, but to running the second half of a race faster than you ran the first half). Self said yes, so off we went. Once we crossed the finish line I stopped to check my times and -- lo and behold! -- I had run part deux of the race a full minute faster than I had managed to complete the first half in.
I had no family or friends at the finish so I just smiled and tried to pat myself on the back without looking double jointed. Somehow your blog host even managed to podium in his age group.
Some of my favorite moments in life have involved crossing finish lines in the past few years. With today's race, 10K number 25 is now in the books. Apparently I have truly fallen in love with this running thing. But, it's good to remember where I got my start. "It is not good for man to be alone," the Lord said in the Garden. When I lost Becky I too became lost in a sense. Thankfully, through running I've also learned that through vulnerability comes strength, for God's "power is made perfect through weakness" (2 Cor. 12:). Marriage is a great paradox. It makes you stronger by making you more vulnerable. Marriage exploits the fact that two human beings who marry each other know full well that humans are not immortal and that one of the them will likely die before the other one does. Yet despite our mortality, loves gets in. Marriage is a testimony to the intimacy into which God himself wishes to draw us, with the intent, as Jesus prayed, "that they may be one as we are one, I in them, and you in me" (John 17:22). To live in oneness with one's spouse or even with one's God is to walk on the edge of the sword yet never afraid of despairing, for any wound we suffer can be healed through "the balm in Gilead."
Have a wonderful weekend!