Life's a Marathon

So after I ran the Ogden Marathon in the Spring, I was pumped and ready to do another one. I didn't take much time off and started training for Top of Utah. I love the long summer days, when it's light at 5:30 and I'm out getting my tempo and quality runs in. I started to get weary towards the end, but knew the hard work would be worth it.

Well, if you read my last entry, you can probably guess I got a bit distracted. Mind you, it was a GREAT distraction, but frankly I wasn't prepared for how tired my body would be. I was supposed to taper the last 2 weeks anyway. I got up and ran 13 tough miles before my flight to England and figured I'd take it easy on our trip and be refreshed and ready to go. Phil ran with me in the mornings in England, and I walked all day. I was so tired!!! I felt completely out of shape from traveling, the time changes and being a tourist.

So as I ran the marathon yesterday, I realized that running a marathon is like life. You can think you're prepared, and try your hardest, then you bonk at mile 8 and finishing is the best you can possibly do (to experience the meaning of bonk, run a marathon! I was hoping to bonk later this time - like mile 25 - but I just didn't have it in me!!) However, finishing is a pretty great accomplishment, even if the road to the finish is long and torturous. We are told to endure to the end and at times "enduring" is the hardest part.

I also had to notice how dependent I am on the Lord. I woke up at 4:00 am on Saturday to hear the rain coming down. So of course I started to pray (probably with a lot of fellow runners) that it wouldn't rain too hard, that the roads wouldn't be slippery and that I would make it through. Well, it turned out, the sky was quite clear, the sun started pounding down and before mile 14, I actually started to pray for rain!!! The Lord must have been laughing, in fact, I know He was because He sent a rainbow! I'm glad He knows the end from the beginning and knows how to answer our prayers with what is best for us!

So...the moral of the story is: In life we have to be flexible, roll with the punches and take it as it comes. It's not always going to turn out exactly how we plan, but all we can do is give it our best and enjoy the ride, or run in this case. (Can you tell I'm still trying to talk myself into it!!!) Here's a picture of one me and one of my biggest fans heading for the finish line!

By the way, the top photo is from the TOU last year. It was in the Logan paper and I'm that red dot above the "F" in Life. Yep, I'm famous.