Marathoner

I ran my first full marathon this week! It was one of the most exhausting, thrilling, dramatic, and fulfilling days of my life. I trained for well over 6 months, every single day, watched what I ate, tracked the miles, managed the injuries and prayed for strength and endurance.

I started out my training ahead of most people because I was going to be extra prepared.  My wonderful exercise-induced husband offered to train me and admittedly wanted to use me as a guinea pig for his ideas on paleo/ketotic training in regards to endurance for a marathon. I agreed because I honestly do trust his knowledge in exercise and training more than anyone I know. So I cut down my carbohydrates to between 50 and 100 grams per day.  I kept this up on and off for months.  Unfortunately it doesn't really work to do it on and off... you need to be a lot more on than off and mostly under 50 grams a day to be really ketotic, but I kept plugging away.  In late November I sprained my ankle pretty badly on a trail run and ended up taking most of December off from running. But I was back on feet before new years training again!  At this point I was treadmill bound, as so many Pittsburghers are if they do not intend to run through the snow and negative degree weather. It's not the negative degrees that get me as much as the snow.  I do not like to feel as if I do not have control over my steps.

Treadmill running is something I do not enjoy because it bores me, especially for hours on end during 8-12 mile LSD runs (long slow distance). I started a habit of watching VH1 on my runs, which proved a negative thing since I had all these songs in my head all day long.  So Nick and I decided to get a membership to Audible so I could listen to audio books on my run, rather enhancing my mind than turning it to mush.  This kept me running, but in February I started getting a lot of knee pain after a certain amount of miles on the treadmill.  Nick was very helpful in teaching me the benefits of foam rolling and stretching, but the pain began to keep me from finishing the LSD runs all at once, and eventually limited the miles I could do in a period of days.  We tried upping the incline on the treadmill, thinking I was being hard on my knees, and then I tried adjusting my running form to run every few miles on my toes, learning to cushion my knees better.

Finally come late March/early April I started running outside again in hopes this would help my knee pain.  I had asked physical therapist friends about it and they thought it might be IT band issues, so I had started incorporating other exercises into my daily routine with bands and different planes. The first weekend in April I managed to run 18 miles and finish in a great deal of pain, but the most mileage I had ever done to date. I am pretty sure I prayed my way through it and it was actually God carrying me.  The following days were painful.  I was a few weeks behind my training program so I decided to go for 20 miles at a hilly park near my house the following weekend.  After only 12 miles I could no longer lift my leg/knee at all due to the most excruciating pain I had ever felt. It was now 3 weeks before the marathon and I decided to stop running completely and finally scheduled my doctor's appointment with an orthopedic doctor.

At 2 weeks before the marathon I visited the orthopedic doctor.  He gave me 5 minutes of his time and honestly it was a complete waste.  He asked me questions and interrupted my answers and then handed me a prescription for an MRI and Physical Therapy.  Later that week I angrily headed to my MRI appointment to find out it would be much more than I was willing to pay just to be told I was fine and to go to therapy.  So I scheduled my therapy for the following Monday

At 6 days before the marathon I met with the physical therapist.  I had not run for 2 weeks and had been told by people I trust that I should probably not try to run this year.  I knew in my mind that if it was up to my physical in-shapeness/lung capacity or my mentality, I could indeed run this marathon.  I knew 26 miles was within my reach, just maybe not in my knees.  I asked the doctor point blank, Can I run on Sunday?  She gave her professional opinion that she didn't see any real medical issue with me running and she certainly understood that I wouldn't want to give up now.  She told me to be prepared for the pain and I would probably have to walk, but it was up to me. She gave me exercises and did her magic on me and I stretches like crazy for those 6 days leading up to Sunday.

Sunday came and I ran the whole thing.  I started getting some pain around mile 3, much earlier than ever before... but I took some ibuprofen and gave it to God.  The pain subsided mostly around mile 8 when I started getting shin pain, so I took a little more ibuprofen and I gave it to God.  I ran with a pace group and the pacer Monica was so awesome in keeping me going.  Somethings I need to note about my marathon is what an awesome experience it was.  Running with a pace group was a lot of fun and almost took your mind off running.  It was the first time I had run without music or audio at all.  And the spectators are so much more helpful than they ever realize.  If you are willing to get up early and make a sign and hold it there and yell for hours, you are making a difference in a runners life, I promise.  Even if I see you only for a second, you made me smile and pushed me on.  Also, always put your name on your bib.  People are great and will shout out your name and it really gets you going!

My favorite signs include a few gems like:

"It's not as long as Labor!"
"It's an awful lot of running for a free banana"
"This race needs more cowbell!"
"Worst Parade Ever"
"Hurry up, the Kenyans are drinking all of your beer!"

So after all, I finished the marathon in 4 hours, 27 minutes, and 31 seconds.

At one point I thought it would never end, but I am SOOO glad I did it.  Anyone can be a marathoner.  I saw people older than my parents and much worse shape than I expected, and they had to walk maybe, but they finished.  And so can you, if your dream is big enough.

Spiritual Warfare for Dummies

This means WAR!

These were the lyrics to a 90s Christian rock band song that my dad and I used to listen to as I was growing up. Fun song if you don't listen to the lyrics much past the hard beat.

Spiritual warfare meant nothing to me growing up. The Holy Spirit was the only spirit I ever heard of and didn't really know what to make of Him... but I had two other persons in the Trinity to focus on, so I didn't let it get to me.

After 6 weeks in Taiwan where spiritual warfare is much more real for people, I thought I understood it, and I knew that the demons and spirits people saw and battled with were real and terrifying. But when I came back to my life in America, where spirits are ignored and laughed about, I forgot again. I never consciously made the distinction of how I would be more aware of spiritual warfare in my life.

I think I finally am getting the hang of it though, as my husband and I had an uncharacteristically bad few weeks. We thought it was odd that every time we would make a resolution of any type, some major struggles would cloud our path and set us off course. This week was a perfect example.

We had our business conference this past weekend and it was awesome. I think I always say they are awesome, but I also realized this time that the awesomeness is really dependent on taking the content and applying it quickly before momentum is lost. So we came out of the weekend swinging! We built our business Monday night after a full day of reading and audios and affirmations. Then we started Tuesday early with a workout, more readings, audios, and affirmations. Then Wednesday I allowed myself to slack because I was focused on going to see my grandma in the hospital. Then Thursday, I was cold and tired and let myself put off a workout until after work... but then let everything run late and didnt get it in or do any business calls before people arrived for our briefing. Then because I had been running late the day before and eaten some unhealthy foods, I felt pretty terrible Friday morning and skipped everything, including my readings, affirmations and audios... and let myself fall into more unhealthy eating with a bunch of chocolate. See how quickly my week, led unintentionally, went right into Satan's hands?! And not that I can blame him and not take credit, but I can actually think back and see his work. Yesterday at my worst, I remember telling myself, "I need to speak life, I need to speak positive." And somehow before I could even get an affirmation out of my mental mouth, he had put another distraction in my way. This happened 4 times, at least, yesterday.

All in all, looking back, God had given me a choice, strength and control, but I forfeited it. I could have punched the morning in the face, right from the 5am alarm... and that is the lessons learned.

This is a short entry in my overall compilation of "How to be Exactly Awesomely You for Dummies." ;-)

G is for Godly husbands!

So, people... I am going to use this medium to rant and rave about my husband for once. It deserves to be done. I may have one of the most fantastic husbands ever, being formed daily, by our Lord.

If you know Nick, you may know his personality, but you may not. I'm pretty sure it's only been revealed to a few people in his life. He keeps to himself for the most part, but when he opens up, he lights up a room.

The best part about my husband, which caused me to recently take inventory of my appreciation for him, is that he is constantly growing himself. He reads both the Bible and personal development books daily. He is very self aware and forces himself to answer for his every action.  Because of this, he is constantly challenging me to improve myself.

He has grown into a man that I am extremely proud to call my own.

Have we actually Turned Over that proverbial New Leaf?

This weekend was probably the most tiring and amazing weekend of my life. I can't think of another time I have been so blessed, excited, or completely exhausted. Here's a little overview... Nick and I now officially each work full time jobs and we now own 2 businesses. Plus... this weekend, during our first participation in the grueling 54 hour sprint of Pittsburgh Startup Weekend, we moved, to what, God willing, will be the last place we live until we buy our own house. After all that... I am feeling an interesting sense of peace and overwhelm-ment. I made up that word, thank you.
But listen to the amazing blessings of this weekend. I had an idea back in midst of planning my best friend's wedding last year. I was the maid of honor and really wanted an app that would help me organize my planning, and specifically allow me to really track the gifts on the day off the bridal shower. Not only did this not exist, but there were no bridesmaid apps at all worth using. So I began thinking and chatting about the idea to people I trusted and thought would be honest about the viability of the app.
My good friend Mandy, familiar with both the app building process and the business startup scene gave me the low down. To build this would cost me over $20,000 easy, and it wasn't exactly clear how it works make money. But then again, she said it sounded good and I might have a chance at this startup weekend if I was willing to pitch.

So, no sooner had I signed up for startup weekend, did we get a notice from our landlord that they would like us to move out in 60 days. So last weekend, we moved into our new home and started a business in about 80 hours. Unfortunately it ended on me getting sick... but that was bound to happen.

E is for Everything

I decided to pick back up on my alphabetical journey last week and wrote the title of this post with no idea what I was going to say. So I left the"E is for Everything" post black. Then today I made a decision and opened up my blog to document it... and unbelievably it fits perfectly into the title I had pre-created.

So I have a lot of personal struggles, one of the worst being a lack of self control... in many areas of my life. So I made a decision today while reading the story of Daniel and how he decided to show God's power by only eating vegetables and water. No... I am not going to only eat that or even attempt the Daniel fast program. But I did realize how being mediocre is never glorifying to God. Yes, God is able to show His strength in our weakness... but I don't think we should hide behind that to rationalize living in weakness.

So what I decided was I need to start cutting things out of my life that are definitely not God glorifying. As far as food goes, I am going to really try (because I have been faking it for weeks) to follow the Paleo diet that my healthy husband is convinced is best for our family. That means mostly cutting out the junk that I waste money on. Money management will be a by product (gold star for me!). Also I wanted to cut out some time and productivity wasters. Nick always says that you should take action on a goal within 24 hours if you want to succeed... so I uninstalled both Facebook and Pintrest from my phone immediately.

I will try to be on the look out for other little things I can cut out... because I really want to give Everything to God. That's almost a funny statement, considering everything is God's, and He gives it to us as a gift. So what the heck are we sing with it!?

Every time I have an urge to break this goal, I will remember both God's grace, and his expectation of obedience. This will be a war with many battles and I covet your prayers and partnership.

The Fabric Of Freedom

Wow! I haven't posted in over a year. Well, time is up. I wrote a little blog on my phone at work the other day and I believe it is worthy of sharing.

Ok, so I'm at work and I'm supposed to be working and I'm listening to my favorite "hippy" music and thinking about all the things I want to do in life. Life passes far too quickly to not do what you're passionate about. I was taking to an older lady at work about how another lady was retiring early because she was going to be laid off because of health issues after putting in so many years. The lady was telling me about her dreams, to start an art school of sorts with her daughter, where they taught drawing, painting, and sewing. Then there was a cool twist that I won't give away, but it would give them an awesome edge. I was so impressed with the idea and asked her what was holding her back. The Risk.

It's insane how paralyzing our fears are. But I would go out on a limb and say most people don't fear death, falling, spiders, or snakes as much as they fear failure. But failure makes us stronger.

People used to say when Nick and I were engaged, if you're not fighting, then you're not talking things through enough. And I'm not sure that's accurate... but the idea follows through that if you're not failing, you're not trying enough things. We can convince kids to try new things and we coach them through learning and getting better at stuff even if they're not pros right away. But we can't convince ourselves, and no one else can either, that we need to fail at stuff as adults too. We just want to stick to the comfortable. But where is comfortable going to get us?

And honestly as I write this, almost every hippy song that comes on, is telling me to make the most of life, have no regrets, never forget about what's important, and so on it encourages my free-thinking spirit.  So why not?

And on a similar tangent, we complain so much about our circumstances (worst offender right here), but what about our complaints is not in our control to some degree? And for the rest of it... I believe it would make it so much easier to get through if we had a positive attitude.

Ok, so here's my last thought. A friend told me over coffee this week that her pastor laid down some deep thoughts on her recently. Here it is, and I want to simmer on it a bit.

"Joy is waking up with the knowledge that God will act on your behalf."

If I woke up knowing and expecting to see God acting for me in great ways, what amazing things will He do for us!? Yeah, wow.

D is for Devotion

It has been far too long since I have written a blog entry. Anyone who knows me knows that I am going through some changes in my life right now and might roll their eyes when I start talking about love. I have recently found the love of my life and I will be married to him in 18 days. So I decided I would write a little about what I learned about love since the past year of changes has happened in my life.

I have spent the last 18 years of my life searching for my other half. I never knew whether or not God would bless me with a relationship like this, but I always hoped and prayed that He would. Since the 1st grade when I had my very first crush, I have been looking for some man that would be able to complete me. I thought I knew what I wanted, and that was whatever I had at the time. I even began to develop patterns and I thought that was how it had to be in relationships and that was probably how it would be if I ever found a man. I have preparing to settle, based on what I thought I would be able to attain. I was prepared to accept things the way they were. But God had another plan.

When I met Nicholas, I never, in my wildest dreams, would have thought a guy like him would be interested in a girl like me and I didn't really think he was what I wanted either. It didn't take long to see that a guy like him COULD actually fall madly and ridiculously in love with a girl like me... and he was actually better than I could have ever imagined. We are very different and he is nothing like what I thought I wanted, but exactly what I needed. He is patient and kind with me when I am impatient. He is loving and needs me as much as I need him. He is protecting and strong so he's able to protect. He is funny, goofy, and not serious when no one else will play around with me. He is adventurous and likes to try new things and never leaves me bored. Most of all, he loves the Lord so much and wants to honor Him and help me to honor Him just as much.

When I think about falling in love with him, I know that there is said to be no such thing. You do not fall into Love. But it definitely came on unexpectedly. I really liked him and I thought he was awesome, but it wasn't until one day when I realized that I was in love. I would do anything for him and never wanted to be without him... and I had fallen.

I wont linger on our love forever, because I know that rarely do people care about your love as much as the two involved. However Nicholas and I know what love means. Love means choosing to witness each others lives and attest to the importance of it. Love means to actively die to myself everyday in order to put him first. Love means glorifying God by enjoying each other and lifting each other up in prayer and praise. Love means a lot of things that don't involve butterflies and giggles. Love means tears and pain and patience. Love is forever and longer. Love is devotion to God first, and your love second.

I hope all of you get the chance to love like this.