5K

Yesterday I participated in my first 5K. I have no real interest in walking/jogging for long periods of time because that's just not the type of exercise I enjoy. However, this was a good opportunity to interact with others at a time when I really needed some social interaction. So, when Karen (my boss who I did this with) first told me about it I thought that there would be a lot of people participating so it wouldn't be too hard to get lost in the crowd. It turns out that there were only 6 people participating in the 5K walk (there were more people who participated in the 5K run). I have never really enjoyed walking fast and if I have to I just think it's easier to jog than to walk fast for long periods of time. My goal going into this was to not be last as I thought that would be embarrassing. Unfortunately when there are only 6 people participating it is a lot easier to be last... Here is a picture taken by someone at the very beginning of the race. I am smiling in this picture because I can tell already that this was not going to go well.

Karen is walking right beside me. Beside her is a friend of Karen's but not someone we knew was walking this race. The person on the far end from me is Karen's sister-in-law (Leslie) and the lady in the blue shorts is her mom. Leslie has been walking with me and Karen to get ready for this. Prior to this race she already told us that she was going to be keeping up with her mom and that they are both fast walkers. So, we were prepared for Leslie and her mom to not stay with us (Karen and I are both somewhat slower walkers).

Again, I could tell right at the beginning that this wasn't going to go well and I was laughing (nervous laughter) because I could tell this. After a minute Karen's sister-in-law and mother were already way ahead of us. After a couple more minutes Karen's friend asked us if it was okay if she went on ahead... :-) There is a guy who was also walking this that brought his 3-4 year old daughter with him. He is not in this picture because his daughter started the race running so he jogged to keep up with her. After Karen's friend walked ahead of us it was just me and Karen at the end of the line. One of the funny things was that the ambulance was creeping behind us. Every once in awhile we could hear the driver push on the accelarator and it seemed like they were telling us to go faster. This made me laugh. At one point we were very far behind everyone else and Karen suggested we jog to keep up. My reply was to ask if that was cheating because we signed up to walk... In any event we ended up jogging to catch up more with the others. Once we started walking though the other walkers would pass us again. This happened a few times. To make this even more sad the guy who was walking with his daughter ended up carrying her on his shoulders most of the way and he was still faster than us... :-) When I was walking it felt like I was walking fast but I guess other people just walk faster. Another funny part was that since there were only 6 people participating we all got a medal. I actually got 2nd place in my age group. LOL Here is a picture at the finish line with all of the walker/joggers who participated. The picture isn't very clear but you get the idea. Notice the bright yellow tshirt that the guy is holding. That is the tshirt I got for participating. Unfortunately I'm not really into yellow tshirts... :-)

It was still a fun experience and I'm thinking about training for a half-marathon with Karen and Leslie. We'll see if that happens though... :-)

What to do, What to do...

Have you ever had one of those situations where you never been in that situation before and you don't know what to do? I've been in one of those situations for the past few weeks. It's a situation that I think most people would not want to admit that they don't know what to do so they keep quiet, which is exactly what I plan to do. In these situations though I am again completely reminded of how much I need God. He knows what this situation is and He knows that I need help. I'm so thankful that He doesn't get tired of hearing me say how much I need His help (cause I say it a lot). I think I've said this before but I just would be so, so, so lost without God in my life and it really makes me wonder how other people get by without God.

This song has been in my head the past few days and it won't come out:

Lord reign in me, Reign in your power, Over all my DREAMS, In my darkest hour, You are the Lord of ALL I am, So won't you reign in me again...

Over every THOUGHT, Over every WORD, May my life REFLECT the beauty of my Lord, 'Cause you mean MORE to me than any earthly thing, So won't you reign in me again....

In spite of the fact that I don't know what to do this has been my prayer. I want God to be God over all my dreams, over all my thoughts, over all my words and I most of all want my life to reflect the beauty of my Lord. I'm trusting God that He will work things out or show me what to do...