What I Learned on my FIRST Half-Marathon

I've learned a lot about running these last few months of training...so here goes... (alert: embarrassing pictures ahead!) 

1. PRE-RACE EXPO'S GIVE OUT TONS OF FREE STUFF:

Israel: Totally blinged out at the EXPO.

2. PRE-RACE EXPO'S ARE FUN (and you will do embarrassing things at them, for unknown reasons)

why?

3. THE MAP (and any video of the course they show at the expo) WILL TOTALLY OVERWHELM YOU. 

Laughing on the outside, screaming on the inside..."are you kidding me??"

4. YOU WILL BE FREAKY ABOUT YOUR FEET

Sorry, no picture here! :) But, you will live in mortal fear of hurting your feet in any way. It turns out, my sister ran with a broken toe (that's perseverance!!) and my shoes had sand in them from the last time I jogged. (don't be like us) 

5. YOU WILL LOOK SCARY BEFORE, DURING & AFTER YOUR RUN. 

You can't sleep the night before. You have to get up at the ungodly hour of 4:30 a.m. to start running by 6:30 a.m. Add to that, you can't wear any makeup, because you will just sweat it off. 

6. YOU WILL BE INSPIRED. 
    YOU WILL REMEMBER WHY YOU ARE RUNNING. 

Some of my favorite things about this race were seeing all the people that were PERSEVERING. An older, not-fit woman was running in memory of her mom (her shirt said, slow & steady :) We fist bumped :) . Overweight people were running &/or walking. People were running through injuries and set-backs. The camaraderie between runners was so fun. 


The people that gave me the most encouragement were the people with these scriptures on the backs of their t-shirts: 

"Know ye not that they which run in a race run all,

but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain.And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things.Now they do it to obtain a corruptible crown; but we an incorruptible.I therefore run, not as one that beateth the air:But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection:lest that by any means when I have preached to others,I myself should be a castaway." (1 Cor. 9:24-27)

"run with patience (endurance, persistence) the race set before us, 

looking unto Jesus the Author and Finisher of our faith ... 

For consider Him that endured ... 

lest ye be wearied and faint in your minds." (Heb 12:1-3)

and I know this is simple, but I loved this t-shirt! 

FINISHER.

I recently read this and wanted to share because it totally applies to running (and everything else that requires longsuffering, patience, training, etc) :
Jesus did not quit when the going got tough. In his place of greatest need, stretched out on that cruel cross, his confession was not "I am finished" but "It is finished!" (his task here on earth). Here was a declaration of victory, not a confession of defeat. 
(from: http://dianedew.com/runrace.htm)


And most of all, for the kids that we are running for, 
the children of Ethiopia. 


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