The first race...

On Saturday, I ran my first race, ever. It was HUGE. OK, so it was only a 5K, but still that was a big thing for someone who had never done any sort of race before (aside from Super Mario Kart, but that doesn't count, I'm guessing).

I had decided about a month ago that I was going to run the Denver Spring Fling after discovering it on www.runnersworld.com. (great site for runners, by the way!) So after praying about it, I felt the Lord telling me to go for it. He was going to be with me in every step of my training. I ran the idea by Eric, one of the high school guys in my discipleship group, and he got stoked about it pretty quick. For the next few weeks, we ran together about 5 times per week, mostly on the treadmill at the gym as we learned how to measure our speed and maintain control of it as well as our time. I did my first outdoor run the Thursday before the race and loved it. Not only was it a gorgeous day, but I ran around a beautiful lake in a park not far from where I live. This was the closest I felt to God yet while running. Being in nature, surrounded by His gorgeous creation, really connected me with Him in a new way as I ran.

The Denver Spring Fling was awesome. There were about 200 or so participants, so it wasn't an overwhelmingly large crowd. Denver City Park is an incredible place to hang out anyway, and running there was the icing on the cake. The weather was perfect--God's encouragement to Eric and me to just enjoy everything about the run. Especially Him.

We ran the race in our best time yet--30 minutes. That was a huge thing for me. I took the advice of Alice and maintained a steady pace (not too fast, not too slow), focusing more on the distance than on my speed. There is a GREAT spiritual lesson in that...focus simply on where you're headed one step at a time, NOT the amount of time it's taking you to get there; God will get you where you need to be at His pace, and a pace that He knows you can handle. Running too hard (harder than you can manage at the moment) will only pose a threat to you finishing the race.

Several times during the race, I pulled an index card out of my pocket that had a verse on it which Alice had referred me to. This verse was what gave me the encouragement not only to finish the race, but to desire to go even further and longer:

"But those who wait on the Lord will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings as eagles. They will run and not get tired, they will walk and not grow weary."
--Isaiah 40:31