God is GOOD!



Before the Race w/great friends Jay and Terri

  I am not sure if I should tell ya'll right away if I made it till the end of marathon or make you read the entire entry first......I think I'll wait!  : )  We left Friday morning for Indiana, which is about 5 hours away, and had a fun time with our friends Jay and Terri in the car.  I feel as if I need to let ya'll know I am a blogger liar....I posted that we were leaving in two hours after my post on Friday BUT our friends were a little late and we didn't leave until around 4 hours later!  We got to Indy, picked up our packets (which were full of some great goodies), bought the neatest non-slip headbands (http://www.busybeeheadbands.com/), and ate at noodles and company.  Side note...our hotel had the freakiest elevator!!  It was like walking into your own coffin.  It was only big enough to fit in four people and the entire thing was dark wood paneling.  It even had a switch to turn the light on and off....which of course the boys always wanted to turn off!  I had to pray before I went in every time.  We got to the race Saturday morning and it was crazy!  32,000 people all lined up and everyone sooo different and wearing some fun outfits...there were even some firefighters in full gear!  We had about 20-30 beach balls going around and fireworks were going off right before the race started.  It was so fun right from the beginning.  : )  The race started and I was already getting choked up just being there.  I couldn't believe that I had given this up over a month ago and two weeks ago God said go.  So the race starts and my feet are already burning....they do NOT like socks or shoes!  But, it wasn't anything that made me want to stop.  We got to mile 3, stopped to use the restroom, have our gu, and went right back to running.  It was so fun seriously......both sides of the road were lined with bands and people cheering for you.  Oh, I forgot to tell ya'll something...before we started, Terri and I asked for a sign from God to encourage us....we decided to ask to see the color orange (it is the color used for MS).  No joke people, we saw this color everywhere from balloons to signs on the telephone poles.  It was so cool.  : )



During the race at Mile 4 w/Terri (Jay was at 10 Mile...he's a stud!)

Back to the run...Matt was waiting for us on mile 4 and that was great to see him.  On mile 6 we entered the Indy 500 race track.  I have to say that when you see the cars go around the track it looks LOTS smaller than when you are running it!!!  It is 2 1/2 miles long with no shade...it was like the never ending track!  By then we had also decided we were done with the Gatorade they were serving...it tasted horrible...I think it was the flavor that they never sold.  I felt really good so far...the burning in my feet started getting a little worse around mile 6 but it didn't get any worse after that.  Terri and I were having a great time laughing, singing, and talking to other runners.  It was like a big party!  : )  Around mile 9 it started feeling like a knife was being stabbed into my toe every so often....later after I took my shoes off there was a blister on that toe....go figure!  : )  I just kept thinking I can't believe God has given me the strength to make it this far.  The humidity was about 95% and it was getting around 75 degrees but I still felt good.  Then shortly after mile 10 that all changed.  As crazy as this sounds it wasn't my feet that started hurting...it was my left knee.  At first I could walk about 10-20 steps and that would be enough to stretch it out and then I could run again but by mile 11 1/2 I honestly thought I was not going to be able to finish.  I kept praying Lord I want to finish but more than anything I want to praise you if I don't.  I think also from this point on I was crying.  I was crying from the pain and also because I couldn't believe I was able to keep taking step after step.  Terri didn't have her ipod so she shared my headphones and we started singing and worshipping God and it was really awesome.  We had been singing and praying on and off the entire race but from this point on we didn't stop.  Another side note...Terri is awesome!  Seriously, she had been training up until we left and could have run circles around me, but she ran at my pace the entire time and did not complain...I am SO lucky to have a friend like that!  I need to mention that we were still seeing orange everywhere!!  At mile 12 (or a little after) I told Terri I didn't think I was going to be able to make it, so she grabbed my hand and held it until we crossed the finish line!!  God used her to not allow me to quit....I can't even remember it without tears rolling down my face.  I was limping, crying, and trying to see where we were supposed to go to find our husbands.  After grabbing our medals, food, and taking our race photo (which we of course took together), we found Jay and Matt.  I just sobbed on Matt's chest for a few moments before I could talk.  We started back to the hotel room but I didn't make it....the pain in my knee was so crazy and I started feeling dizzy (due to lack of water and emotions I am sure), that Jay had to come and pick me up.  We packed and headed back home!  : )  God is so good, He truly doesn't begin a work in you and not finish it.  I can NOT believe I finished that marathon.  But really I didn't, God in me did.  He is so powerful, so wonderful, so amazing, and this God who made the earth and all that we see by just speaking enabled me to run 13.1 miles!!!  I feel like my words are so inadequate for how I want to praise Him.  I also feel like I don't have the words to say how ya'lls prayers lifted me up while I was running.  Thank you so much........ 

After the race!!!!