Race Day - Part 2...

I cannot believe I have not had the time to blog about the race! It was absolutely, positively one of the most amazing days! God showed up and blessed our hearts again & again!
I am so proud of all the women who persevered and finished the race! So, I want to give a huge shout out first and foremost to God for being my Rock, and then to my sista's who endeavored this journey with me.

* Chastidy Dillon-Amelung
* Anna-Marie Beard
* Vickie Branstetter
* Crystal Buckman
* Nina Davis
* Melissa Goldsmith
* Tara Lamb
* Dana Pursley
* Heather Self
* Kay Siebert
* Tracy Wade

Special thanks to Tara for inviting me into this journey, and for to all the ladies for their encouragement!!

I really need to give a play by play of the race, just so it will always be fresh in my heart and my memory!

To start it was freezing that morning, a whoppin' 36 degrees! So warming up was almost totally non-existent. But the weather didn't shatter any of the desires of our hearts! Which was stinkin' awesome! As the race began we literally had to walk for the first minute or two because there were so many people running this race, we were packed in like sardines! For the first mile my hands were numb, but still I was in my zone, comfortable and running with my two padres Anna-Marie & Heather. About the 1.5 mile marker I got this tremendous cramp in my back (due to the lack of warm-up) and it was awesome (not the cramp), but at that moment as I shared with the girls about the cramp, Heather immediately started to pray for me, as we were running, which isn't rare for us, but come on this is race day, this just proved that this race was WAY more than a physical race! SWEEEEEET! SO my cramp subsided and at the 2 mile marker the most amazing thing happened. As I was running, thinking how in the world am I going to make it through more than another mile, I looked up and directly ahead of us was the most beautiful, amazing sight, Children's Hospital with the sun shining directly over it! Wow! I was so overwhelmed! God brought this moment to me as a reminder of how powerful He is and of the miracles He performed there that week. Here we are running, in total tears and I told the girls, okay this is it, God did amazing things there this week and we are going to give our ALL to Him throughout the remainder of this race! Steadily our pace increased and our focus was directly on Him and what this race meant to each of us. Talk about phenomenal!! This race bridged a gap between God & I that I never even knew existed. The gap was me and not allowing myself to TOTALLY rely on His strength and not mine! BEAUTIFUL MOMENT! A moment I will never forget and will treasure throughout all my runs and races of life, physically and spiritually!

Yes, I did finish the race, I didn't stop there. Heather and I ran across the finish line together, with Anna-Marie directly behind us! AWESOME! We (God & I) finished the race earlier than my goal. 28 minutes, placing 66th out of 567 women with Heather & Anna-Marie right behind! It was all God, His strength! A moment I will treasure FOREVER! God can do ANYTHING, ya know!!

I have to say thanks so much to Greg, Hannah & Ashtyn for being right there with me, waiting for me at the finish line with open arms! They woke up at 5am just to be there with me. What a blessing! I Love you guys so much!


God, I thank You for being my Rock, for being my Strength and for allowing me to run this journey with You and through You. Thank You for the beautiful encouragement and reminder and for the amazing women who accompanied me on this journey. Bless our relationships Lord, may we reach out and empower women to fully rely on You and let them know how much You love them. You are truly amazing...