The BIG DAY!

Well, the day I'd been anticipating, albeit with a trace of dread in my heart, finally arrived. Jeremy and I took part in the Lakeview Museum Interplanetary 5-K in Peoria this past Saturday. And, let me just say, WOW am I SLOW!!! :) It's OK, I expected to be slow and I really don't care that I came in dead last...beaten by EVERYONE by at least 5-6 minutes. All I wanted to do was FINISH THE RACE. And, I did. And, even though I was last my time of 42:15 was about five minutes faster than when I ran the distance in training. That's pretty cool! Now I can actually say I have run in a 5-K race. Amazing! Never in my life would I have dreamt of achieving such a feat. And, I'm even thinking about the next one...isn't that unbelievable? Of course thinking and TRAINING are two different things, aren't they? :)

OK, I have to back up just a little. When I say I came in last, that's not exactly true. My wonderful husband came in last and NOT because he had to. He ran right next to me for the entire race at MY pathetically slow pace so he could encourage me to keep going. Everytime I wanted to give up he was right there with a word of encouragement, reminding me that it was a great accomplishment to just be IN the race and that I COULD make it to the finish line. Then, at the very last leg of the trip...he dropped behind me so that I wouldn't be the last runner to come in. What a GUY, huh? He's my sweetie!To see more pictures, check out the Doing Life with the Traceys group on Facebook. It was a great day and I'm so glad I got out there and did it. And, I just want to encourage you...whatever it is that you've been THINKING about doing...whatever challenge you're facing...you CAN DO IT! Just find a friend or loved one to run the race with you and to help you keep going when everything inside of you SCREAMS that you can't! Latch on to that person who will remind you that with Jesus you can do ANYTHING. And, you know what? You can!!!