It was a tough morning, but I just chalk it up to the training process. I got up and ate a small bowl of oatmeal to give me some fuel. Well, I lingered around a little too long before getting out the door, and by the time I was ready to go, my stomach was growling again. haha! I "blame" my parents for being so awesome. :) haha! I couldn't pull myself away from the coffee/newspaper/FOX News time with them. That's just priceless.
So, I did it all again! haha! This time, I dumped some peanut butter in the oatmeal so that it would stick to my guts a little better. Ate more oatmeal, waited around another hour, THEN finally headed out.
The whole thing was really a comedy of errors for a while. Right before I left, I realized I'd forgotten to pack my iPod. Thankfully, my sister lent me hers. This actually turned out to be a fun blessing as I got to explore her music selection to pass the time. She has a big affinity for 80s and 90s music, so it was really a lot of fun. She even had a little Debbie Gibson on there! haha! :) :) Right when I was hitting a mental wall, "Electric Youth" totally came up. haha! Totally made me smile. :)
Well, I also underestimated the temperature and wind chill a little bit. I went out without my face mask on initially. Exactly .5 miles in, I decided that was NOT going to work. Thankfully I'd brought it with me just in case. I stopped, pulled off my ski gloves (a process), took off my ear warmers, and pulled the mask on. Well, I accidentally dropped one of my gloves, and it rolled down a snowy embankment. Had to trudge through snow and get my shoes wet to get it. THEN, I realized I'd put on the smaller ear warmer, which doesn't fit over my ski mask. Oh...It did today. But it took a little extra effort and frustration to make it happen. haha! :)
So, I finally get everything assembled again and start running, but the face mask and ear warmers didn't play well together for the rest of the first mile. That was fun. I just had to keep tugging things around until it finally settled in. Mind you, this is all on a local highway, so I'm also having to dodge the country traffic. It isn't ANYTHING to speak of, but since there's no shoulder on the road, it makes even two cars passing each other a bit of a problem.
You can see how my mindset was going. By 1.5 miles I'm just hacked off. Nothing is going right, and I just want to go home. That's when I shut off the iPod. It was time to pray. :)
Thank the LORD! :) With everything I'd been learning about praising God, I just started thanking Him for things. Thanking Him for the place to run, for the ability to run, for the beauty of the country, and for my family. And that did the trick. No, I didn't automatically love the rest of the run, but I totally settled down and began to release the anger and frustration. I was able to focus more on the run itself and the gift that He'd given me in a country road. :)
Really, where else would I have been able to run today? Back home, the sidewalks would still have been ice/snow-packed. Can't run down the middle of the road there because it's the city and cars actually are a factor there. :) Wouldn't have really wanted to do a 16-miler on a treadmill. So, the country was such a blessing! And the great weather with the calm wind and sunshine was just icing on the cake.
So, there you have it. Training continues, now two weeks in. We're in the game and on the move--quirks, hang-ups, blessings and all! :) And if I learned anything today, it's that God provides. He covered everything, and the run was great. It was hard, but that's part of it--part of the growing process with Him as much as the physical part of it. So, thank You, Lord. Thank You for challenging me and providing for me. I'm a stronger daughter of the KING for it. :)
Have a great weekend, everyone!
-Jill
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