well friends, it's been 4 days short of a month since we ran 13.1 through the streets of downtown nashville. i'd like to have a good excuse for why it's taken me this long to post but i can't think of one. however, i have thought about how inconsistent i feel that i am.
in the beginning, han and i talked about how we both had never finished something huge. how we had never reached a huge goal that entailed us leaping out of our comfort zone and sacrificing ourselves. i feel like my lack of consistency plays into this. well, at least for blogging. but, i don't want to focus on that as much as reflect on how our consistency in running and training for the marathon led us to the finish line. how we made it. we ran 13.1. we met libby and became real friends with her. we did it. but the story is just beginning...
for about 3 months, we ran. we ran up and down hills through raleigh, NC and prayed for our legs to continue to move. fast forward to april 30th in nashville. we had done the work. our bodies were prepared. but woah, how my heart was anywhere but ready.
when we got started late, i think it threw me off a little. but honestly, that 13.1 was my hardest run. ever. i could say that it was the hardest because it was the longest distance but then i would be lying. it was the hardest because on that morning i was the least focused i had ever been. i hate that. i hate that when we got to the race i wasn't focused. i wasn't focused on Jesus. i was focused on the site seeing, and the people, and the pain. everytime i prayed during the race it was for Jesus to take the pain away and make it easy. he didn't. ha, and i'm actually glad he didn't. i'm glad that i got to feel the weight of my own helplessness. the weight of the pain, this time physical, of what it's like to try and do it on my own. i am so helpless and lost without a savior. father, thank you for your grace. i got caught up in myself. but after almost a month of reflection i have come to this conclusion: we had already run the race. for those 3 months of training, everytime han and i would fall at the feet of the Jesus and pray for endurance and focus and strength and libby and open up our hearts to be healed before we ran, we were racing. running to the finish line that is described in Hebrews 12.
it's summer now. school is out and i'm home in wilmington. han, laney, libby, and i are all scattered but i'm thankful that this experience has brought us together. (and we will see each other when we vacay to chesapeake...)
"for the joy set before us", we continue to run. together, in freedom.
Julia
Thursday, May 26, 2011
Saturday, May 21, 2011
nashville. [almost a month late]
well it has been over a month since we have blogged and almost a month since we ran our half marathon. we created this whole blog about running the half marathon and then we didn't even post about it. i could tell you that exams, babysitting, and young life kept life crazy or that i dont even know how to describe everything that weekend but basically we are just sucky bloggers. [i think i can say that without hurting julias feelings] so here is the long awaited post about nashville!!
a blog post is never going to do that weekend justice. im only twenty years old but i can say that it was the best weekend of my life so far. we arrived in nashville friday around lunch and ate at a pretty well known cafe called fido. i got my brie fixin and it was delicious. then we walked around a little bit and left to go [attempt to] check into our hotel. which didnt work out, so we packed all of our stuff back in the car and drove to the race expo to meet libby and the rest of our team! julia called angie [the leader of team libby] and angie told us where they were and gave us a key piece of information: "look for the baby stroller." julia hung up and we all screamed- "ava's going to be in that baby stroller!!!" and the tears came, we were about to meet libby and ava! in real life.
and we did. and it was so special. and normal. you would think that there would be some awkwardness after meeting someone that you've basically been obsessed with over the past 8 months, at least some awkwardness for libby and i cant speak for her but im pretty sure there wasn't.
after the expo, all of team libby went out to dinner. i think that there was over 30 of us and us three girls got to sit at the end of the table with ava and libby. we were so excited! we got to talk a little bit at dinner with lib, we were asking questions back and forth but it was almost impossible to talk about everything that we wanted to during dinner. [especially with ava choking and dry heaving on pizza dough that the waitress gave her, who gives a roll of pizza dough to a 2 year old to play with?] anyways...so towards the end of dinner, i remember lib saying to us something along the lines of...i want to be able to really talk to you guys and get to know you girls so lets make sure that we find time to do that this weekend. in fact, me and ava dont have anyone staying with us tomorrow night, wanna stay with us? um yes please! i remember thinking, even if we have to pay more money to get out of our hotel, we are going to have a sleepover with libby ryder.
after dinner, we all left to get sleep. we were finally able to check into our hotel [and cancel saturday night for free :) ] we laid out all of our race gear for the morning and went to bed!! our alarm clock went off at 5 and we were out of the hotel by 530. you would think an hour and a half would be plenty of time to drive 10 miles to the race but it wasn't. and we were late. so we didnt get to run with all of team libby but thats okay.
13.1 miles. its all a blur. probably because its almost been a month but also i remember not even really being able to tell my mom about it the hour after. i regret that its a blur. my mind was everywhere and not focused. at times it was focused on jesus, but most of the time it was on what was hurting, or where the next water station was, or i dont even know. me and julia both experienced this and i think that she will be able to explain it better.
besides that, it was such an incredible experience. me julia and laney ran together for the first 4 or 5 miles and then laney ran ahead of us [shes a little bit more speedy ] laney- i am so glad that we were able to experience nashville and the race with you. i am so sad that you have now graduated when i feel like our friendship has just started. that only means lots of visits from me and julia at app next year. and lots of hanging out this summer, especially in chesapeake:)
me and julia stuck together the entire race and for me that was what was so special. from day 1, we had trained together. she had pushed me, prayed for me, and encouraged me. through training together, our friendship had grown into something that i had never imagined. there was no one else that i wanted running next to me on april 30th. oh the excitement i felt when we saw 12...and then 13. at 12.5ish she grabbed my hand and we finished together. when we saw 13, we cried really hard. i had to stop crying because i had a little difficulty with breathing and crying at the same time. and then the sweet bliss of crossing that finish line. i can't describe it. everything that finish line symbolized and meant to me- the triumph of the cross, throwing off my past, sweet freedom in jesus, and the finish line of libby's cancer, just running 13.1 miles without stopping!! everything over the past 4 months had come down to crossing that finish line and we did it.
after a while of searching, we found some of our teammates and libby. we hugged and celebrated. 13.1 miles was done! we couldn't believe it. after cold showers, checking out of our hotel, long naps, ibuprofen, and a carb filled dinner, we all went to get tattoos! [well just me and julia got them but everyone else came for moral support, including lib] a couple of weeks before the race, i texted julia and said i kind of want to get a tattoo that has to do with the race. she was pretty on board about it and so we said if we thought of something to get then we would! we thought about it and decided on our way to nashville that we would get "set free" we decided that those words explained much of the reason that we ran the race. to celebrate our freedom and jesus setting us free.
"so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!" -john 8:36
free from sin. free from my past. free from death. free from guilt. free from cancer. free.
[mine is on my foot, i figured it was an appropriate place, and julia's is on her wrist]
after tattoos, me laney and julia went back to where lib was staying and just talked. this was my favorite part of the weekend. we got to ask more questions about cancer and hear her talk about things that she hadn't really talked about on her blog. looking back, i remember just being in awe listening to libby talk, in the same raw and real way that she typed on her blog. but this time it was in person and i loved it even more [who wouldn't?] we talked about how some people you just click with automatically and know that you are going to always be friends and we decided that was the case for us. the next morning, lib took us out to breakfast and we got to share more about our lives. and then we said our "see ya laters", not goodbyes.
close to 12 hours later after cowboy boot shopping downtown, gas stations, fro yo in a random town, and no traffic except in raleigh, we arrived home. it was such a special weekend.
thanks to everyone who read, who walked alongside us, who prayed, and who encouraged us. i hope that we will continue blogging even if its just about life. but thanks for taking this journey with us!
lib- sorry that it has taken so long for us to write but thanks for pushing us to write. nashville was so much more than it was cracked up to be and i dont know how to thank you enough for everything from that weekend. for your love, for caring about our lives, for wanting to spend time with us, for getting tattoos with us!, for being intentional, and for so much more. i remember being on the phone with my mom on friday night after dinner and saying, "mom, its crazy because she really wants to hang out with us!" saturday night and sunday morning, just us girls talking about real life,i will never forget. i couldn't have planned a better weekend. i am so thankful for your story, your blog, the person that you are in jesus and how all of those things changed me and changed the person that i am in jesus. i am so thankful for our friendship, that is now tangible and not just a cyber friendship:) cant wait for this summer at the river house! love you!
-han
a blog post is never going to do that weekend justice. im only twenty years old but i can say that it was the best weekend of my life so far. we arrived in nashville friday around lunch and ate at a pretty well known cafe called fido. i got my brie fixin and it was delicious. then we walked around a little bit and left to go [attempt to] check into our hotel. which didnt work out, so we packed all of our stuff back in the car and drove to the race expo to meet libby and the rest of our team! julia called angie [the leader of team libby] and angie told us where they were and gave us a key piece of information: "look for the baby stroller." julia hung up and we all screamed- "ava's going to be in that baby stroller!!!" and the tears came, we were about to meet libby and ava! in real life.
and we did. and it was so special. and normal. you would think that there would be some awkwardness after meeting someone that you've basically been obsessed with over the past 8 months, at least some awkwardness for libby and i cant speak for her but im pretty sure there wasn't.
after the expo, all of team libby went out to dinner. i think that there was over 30 of us and us three girls got to sit at the end of the table with ava and libby. we were so excited! we got to talk a little bit at dinner with lib, we were asking questions back and forth but it was almost impossible to talk about everything that we wanted to during dinner. [especially with ava choking and dry heaving on pizza dough that the waitress gave her, who gives a roll of pizza dough to a 2 year old to play with?] anyways...so towards the end of dinner, i remember lib saying to us something along the lines of...i want to be able to really talk to you guys and get to know you girls so lets make sure that we find time to do that this weekend. in fact, me and ava dont have anyone staying with us tomorrow night, wanna stay with us? um yes please! i remember thinking, even if we have to pay more money to get out of our hotel, we are going to have a sleepover with libby ryder.
after dinner, we all left to get sleep. we were finally able to check into our hotel [and cancel saturday night for free :) ] we laid out all of our race gear for the morning and went to bed!! our alarm clock went off at 5 and we were out of the hotel by 530. you would think an hour and a half would be plenty of time to drive 10 miles to the race but it wasn't. and we were late. so we didnt get to run with all of team libby but thats okay.
13.1 miles. its all a blur. probably because its almost been a month but also i remember not even really being able to tell my mom about it the hour after. i regret that its a blur. my mind was everywhere and not focused. at times it was focused on jesus, but most of the time it was on what was hurting, or where the next water station was, or i dont even know. me and julia both experienced this and i think that she will be able to explain it better.
besides that, it was such an incredible experience. me julia and laney ran together for the first 4 or 5 miles and then laney ran ahead of us [shes a little bit more speedy ] laney- i am so glad that we were able to experience nashville and the race with you. i am so sad that you have now graduated when i feel like our friendship has just started. that only means lots of visits from me and julia at app next year. and lots of hanging out this summer, especially in chesapeake:)
me and julia stuck together the entire race and for me that was what was so special. from day 1, we had trained together. she had pushed me, prayed for me, and encouraged me. through training together, our friendship had grown into something that i had never imagined. there was no one else that i wanted running next to me on april 30th. oh the excitement i felt when we saw 12...and then 13. at 12.5ish she grabbed my hand and we finished together. when we saw 13, we cried really hard. i had to stop crying because i had a little difficulty with breathing and crying at the same time. and then the sweet bliss of crossing that finish line. i can't describe it. everything that finish line symbolized and meant to me- the triumph of the cross, throwing off my past, sweet freedom in jesus, and the finish line of libby's cancer, just running 13.1 miles without stopping!! everything over the past 4 months had come down to crossing that finish line and we did it.
after a while of searching, we found some of our teammates and libby. we hugged and celebrated. 13.1 miles was done! we couldn't believe it. after cold showers, checking out of our hotel, long naps, ibuprofen, and a carb filled dinner, we all went to get tattoos! [well just me and julia got them but everyone else came for moral support, including lib] a couple of weeks before the race, i texted julia and said i kind of want to get a tattoo that has to do with the race. she was pretty on board about it and so we said if we thought of something to get then we would! we thought about it and decided on our way to nashville that we would get "set free" we decided that those words explained much of the reason that we ran the race. to celebrate our freedom and jesus setting us free.
"so if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed!" -john 8:36
free from sin. free from my past. free from death. free from guilt. free from cancer. free.
[mine is on my foot, i figured it was an appropriate place, and julia's is on her wrist]
after tattoos, me laney and julia went back to where lib was staying and just talked. this was my favorite part of the weekend. we got to ask more questions about cancer and hear her talk about things that she hadn't really talked about on her blog. looking back, i remember just being in awe listening to libby talk, in the same raw and real way that she typed on her blog. but this time it was in person and i loved it even more [who wouldn't?] we talked about how some people you just click with automatically and know that you are going to always be friends and we decided that was the case for us. the next morning, lib took us out to breakfast and we got to share more about our lives. and then we said our "see ya laters", not goodbyes.
close to 12 hours later after cowboy boot shopping downtown, gas stations, fro yo in a random town, and no traffic except in raleigh, we arrived home. it was such a special weekend.
thanks to everyone who read, who walked alongside us, who prayed, and who encouraged us. i hope that we will continue blogging even if its just about life. but thanks for taking this journey with us!
lib- sorry that it has taken so long for us to write but thanks for pushing us to write. nashville was so much more than it was cracked up to be and i dont know how to thank you enough for everything from that weekend. for your love, for caring about our lives, for wanting to spend time with us, for getting tattoos with us!, for being intentional, and for so much more. i remember being on the phone with my mom on friday night after dinner and saying, "mom, its crazy because she really wants to hang out with us!" saturday night and sunday morning, just us girls talking about real life,i will never forget. i couldn't have planned a better weekend. i am so thankful for your story, your blog, the person that you are in jesus and how all of those things changed me and changed the person that i am in jesus. i am so thankful for our friendship, that is now tangible and not just a cyber friendship:) cant wait for this summer at the river house! love you!
-han
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)