As I look back over the past 6 months, it is astonishing at how much has occurred.  I have run trained 4 to 5 days a week, went through numerous pairs of socks, suffered a few injuries, competed in four races (one of which I got 1st in my age group =) ), and ran over 400 miles.  This entire experience has been life changing, and I will remember it forever.  The people I have met, especially my fellow 9 Road Warriors and 2 coaches, have impacted my life in ways that I cannot even begin to describe.  Each and every one of you has come so far in the past few months, and it has been a pleasure training alongside each one of you.

I applied for the Road Warriors hoping to help someone else out there get through their struggles, but looking back, I think I have been the one that has been helped far more.  I encourage any of you out there who are thinking about running, training, or anything like that to join a group such as RunGR, Gazoom, or any other group because the relationships you build last forever.  I cannot tell you how many people from all walks of life I have met through the Road Warriors and RunGR.  Each one of us goes through struggles in life, and it is nice to have people around you who have experienced similar things and can give a word of advice.

Enough of my rambling, I hope each and every one of you out there has an amazing race tomorrow and good luck!  Even though it may be cold, rainy, and windy, every step is worth it.  There is nothing that compares to crossing that finish line =)

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As I write this, we are officially less than a week away from the race.  All the hard work, the miles run, everything culminates on race day.  As we prepare to go into the great “battle” of race day, take a minute and remember everything that got you to where you are today.  Take a minute to thank those around you who helped you along, and all those who sacrificed something to help get you to where you are.  I know so many people that helped me get to where I am right now, to all of you who donated to Gilda’s Club (and all the other charities), and I know that there were many things that I sacrificed to get here.  I thank each and every one of you who helped me along and put up with everything =), so here is a big THANK YOU!  This goes out especially to all my fellow road warriors.  You guys are absolutely amazing individuals, and it has truly been a pleasure getting to know all of you over the past 5+ months.

Come on race day!

“I firmly believe that any man’s finest hour, the greatest fulfillment of all that he holds dear, is that moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of battle – victorious.”-Vince Lombardi

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As we are wrapping up training and race day comes ever closer, I thought that this story might inspire a few of you who are still doubting whether or not you can do this.  Some of you may have heard of them, but some of you may not have.  I originally heard the story in church a few years ago, and it has stuck with me ever since.  Click here and click on the video to watch it, and if you have a few minutes, go to the about section and read their entire story.

Every time I read the story, it continues to amaze me.  On Monday, they once again ran the Boston Marathon and finished.  If you ever think that you cannot do anything, don’t give up.  Through trials, tribulations, struggles, and pain, stick through and persevere.  You can make it and you can overcome.

“I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.” Philippians 4:13

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Oooo how I love when stress just starts to flow out, and calmness enters into me.  The past few weeks have been extremely stressful between school, taxes, church, other odds and ends, and, of course, RUNNING =)!  Well, this week, the tide has started to shift.  I am about half-way done with all my end-of-year homework, tests, and presentations, so that has taken a large load off of me.  Also, today was my last day volunteering for taxes.  While I do love helping people get their taxes done, it is a nice relief to have the season wrapping up.  For once, I could just relax for a little while this afternoon and have some peace.

I took the day off of running to help my body recoup a little.  While my hip is getting better, it is still there, and now my right foot has been hurting somewhat.  I will probably do a little weightlifting tonight, but take it a little easy.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a 5k time trial at RunGR, but I think I am just going to do a easy jog due to the fact that we are running the Striders Saturday Classic this week.

Try to get outside, maybe go for a nice, easy run today or tomorrow and soak up some warmth and sunshine!  It is amazing what it will do for you =) even in times of immense struggles and pain.

“No matter how dark the night, somehow the sun rises once again and all shadows are chased away”-David Matthew Click

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Wow!  The race is 30 days from this morning, that is crazy!  It seemed like a few weeks ago that the race was still a ways out, but now I look up and it is less than a month away.  It is weird how sometimes things just kind of creep up on you.  While I am not going to get drastically quicker, or shave a ton of time off at this point, the last month of training is still very much important.  There is only a few more speed workouts and long, Saturday runs before we will all be lining up on the start line May 8th, and each one will help me, and everyone else training, to cross that finish line.

The bumps in the road continue to persist, but I refuse to let them get me down.  My hip is still tender, but bearable.  In the past two weeks, I have developed multiple blisters on both my feet, but those have managed to only be minor and slowly go away.  I know that many of these little things will pop up over the next month, but I am just trying to keep the mindset to do everything I can to heal properly and just not worry about the small things.

I leave you with a quote that has helped me over the past few months.  We all have those days where we feel like our workout sucked or we felt like we had lead bricks in our shoes.  This has helped me to develop a new mindset about these situations:

“Finish each day and be done with it.  You have done what you could.  Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in, forget them as soon as you can.  Tomorrow is a new day, you shall begin it well and serenely…”-Ralph Waldo Emerson

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