Half Crazy Running

I started running years ago and have competed in several half marathons, 10K’s, a Tough Mudder, and who knows how many 5K races. I started running as a way to challenge myself and to make sure I was taking care of my heart and my body. Throughout the years though, I have found that running gives me a clarity of mind that not many other exercises can do, and has brought me so many new friendships, and experiences. Today I ran my first half marathon since 2018. When people ask if I am running the half or full marathon, my answer is always “the half, I’m only half crazy”.

When I started running, my mom also took an interest in running and ran all kinds of races, both by herself, and with one of her best friends Kim. I remember how excited my mom was when she finished a race. She knew that she had accomplished an amazing goal and was proud of herself, and I was proud of her too. Mom ran her last half marathon a month before she was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer. She had the hardest time doing that BCS half and was so frustrated with her health and not being able to figure out what was going on with it. We would have never guessed that a month later we would get the awful news, and that in less than 4 months from that race she would be in her heavenly home. I am SO proud to be able to share the BCS memories with my mom.

People often ask me what the hardest race I ever ran was, and I would have to say without a doubt that it was the Tough Mudder. That race was both physically and mentally challenging. The running itself was 9 miles done through mud, briars, poison ivy, and a multitude of other environmental factors. Then throw in ridiculous obstacles, ice water, and electrical currents and you have a perfect storm of crazy. I ran it with some of my closest friends in my MOPS mom squad, and I think we killed it. I was completely sunburned and black and blue by the time I left that day, but it is an experience I would never trade.

One of my newest found pleasures of running has been by joining a running group in College Station. To be completely honest, I haven’t actually got to run with them very often, but they are more than just friends to run with. These people have become my tribe. I’m in small group with them, I pray with them, run with them, do church with them, and more importantly do life with them. I’m thankful for Jamie encouraging me to join the running group that led me to join the small group as well. This group is SO supportive. We pace each other in races, return to run our friends in across the finish line and to encourage them, and hold each other accountable for our training. This group of people of course has become much more than that through our small group. We support each other, pray for each other, and lift each other up through our walks with Christ.

On to today’s race. Bottom line for today is I WAS NOT READY. I started training for this race, but as usual life happened, and I did not train the way that I should. Now I wouldn’t say that I ran this half marathon completely cold, but almost. My goal was honestly just to finish without injury. Despite my fears of failure today with the race, I ended up finishing with a not too terrible time. My hips however started hurting horribly around mile 10, and I had to walk to hills until the end. One of the highlights of the race was that I saw so many running friends throughout the race who were excited to say hi and to cheer me on. Jamie walked back and ran in the last bit with me which was great because I totally needed the encouragement at that point. After being relieved to have finished, I texted my coworker Coach Phillips who was also running it to see how he did. He said he was about to finish up, so I got to cheer him on as he crossed the finish line too.

I never would have imagined when I started running over a decade ago that it would have such a huge impact on my life in so many different ways. The constant has been that no matter how fearful I am that I won’t be able to finish a race, or fearful that my body will fail, or fearful that I will be running alone and won’t know anyone, FEAR IS A LIAR. God created our bodies to do amazing things including running, and God has given me an amazing community of people through running, and for that, I am forever grateful!