1 Corinthians 9:24 says: Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize.
I am a runner in both the spiritual and physical sense. Spiritually I run the race as stated as above, to get to heaven. Here on earth I run for physical endurance, dedication, and to push myself out of my comfort zone because I can do all things though Christ Jesus.
Yesterday, I spent my normal worship and fellowship time with 17,000 strangers who had one common goal, to finish the race.
The event started with an expo on Saturday where I picked up my race bib and T-shirt.
I was happy to be in Corral A again because that is at the front of the race and the mile markers are at real time (each corral begins in 15-minute increments A-F). The rest of Saturday was spent relaxing and I went to sleep at 8 p.m. At 2 a.m., which is really, really early I got up, dressed, and was out the door by 2:20. 40 minutes later I arrived at the Epcot parking lot where I did the girl thing, I put on lipstick and mascara. I had my window rolled down and my radio blaring. Sadly I do not remember what song was on but I know it was a Christian artist because that's what I listen to and was singing along to on the freeway. When I stepped out of the van I thought I heard "good morning". I looked around and didn't see anyone until the car door next to me opened up and the lady asked, "Are you going to run a 1:40?" I laughed, seriously? I then had a great time getting to know two ladies from Oregon who were also running.
At 4:30 a.m. we were herded like...gazelles, cheetahs maybe, from the holding pen to the starting line.
This is at Disney World so there was lots of music. The morning was cool, about 59 degrees. People were dressed in costume, tiaras,and lots of sparkle. Not me. I'm not a sparkly girl.
5:45 a.m.and the race was off! This was my time to worship, my time for prayer. I prayed for my family- husband, each child specifically, my church family, leaders, elders, deacons, teachers. Then I prayed for our country and whatever else came to mind. I prayed often for my knee which by mile 3 started to hurt.
This is mile 8. My knee was really hurting and I was praying that I didn't have to walk for the next 5.1 miles. Talk about perseverance!! I would walk a minute then sprint until my knee hurt too much to run then slow down. It hurt worse to run slow so that's how I ran the next 5 miles: walk, sprint, pray, walk sprint. Pray. Pray. I prayed for the lady on her back in the grass with a bloody nose. Don't know what happened but she was being taken care of. I prayed for the lady on a stretcher at mile 13. I prayed, thank you God for letting me be able to finish this race. I remembered seeing a T-shirt at the expo that said something along the lines of "I run half-marathons because I'm only half crazy".
Knowing my injury, I had set a realistic goal of finishing in 2:30:00.
I did a little better than I had expected, not as well as I wold have liked, but I finished the race!
Later that afternoon, even though I was completely drained, my daughter talked me into a pedicure. Ahh,, thank you Chelsea!!!
My time on this earth is not yet done. I have finished this Disney Princess half marathon and my racing time is done for now. I'm taking a well-needed break (for at least a month, if I can sit still that long). My attention is now turned back to running the race for Christ, writing my book, Man in the Mirror, and praying to please the Father with my life.
One last picture. There were about a dozen men in the race. A few were normal, several wore costumes, princess costumes, kilts, fluffy skirts, prince outfits. And then there was this guy:
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