Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

Cinderella Mom

If you think Jesus would have come into your home that day and not issued a strong rebuke to the head of household, you are mistaken. These words of condemnation have been haunting me for days now. They aren’t all that different than the soundtrack I play in my head on an almost-daily basis. It’s…

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This is 40

I am nesting. On Saturday I emptied the refrigerator. Last summer’s homemade pickles in their jars. The bread ends that seem to multiply on every shelf. The eggs. The milk. The fruit and veggies. All of it sat on the floor or the counter as I carefully removed the shelves and wiped them down with…

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Beauty on the Backroads {or Why I Changed the Name of my Blog}

I’ve heard that life is like a highway. And it definitely seems like that sometimes. The pace of life swirls around me at dizzying speeds. We’re all so busy. In such a hurry. Always somewhere to be, something else to do. I’m a get-to-the-point, get-there-quick kind of girl. I don’t like to waste time on…

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Countdown to 5K

Week 8, Day 2. Another 2.75 miles. New route.

Time: 32:27

Feeling: Great! Today was the first that I thought I could actually keep running when we were done. I mean, confidently keep running without feeling like I was pushing myself too hard.

Days till 5K: 12

Training sessions left: 4

Feeling: Eek! I had a stress dream last night about the 5K. For some reason Phil wasn’t with me in the dream, and I’d been running, running, running and saw the first sign and it said .8 miles. I couldn’t believe that’s as far as I’d run. Then, I missed a turn on the route and had to go back to get back on track. That was pretty much it. We’ll see if the dreams get more interesting.

The body working together

Week 8, Day 1. I can count on one hand the number of training runs we have left before our 5K, and that astounds me. Today we ran 2.75 miles for the first time, and all that stands between us and a 5K is half a mile. Wow, again.

We clocked ourselves at about 33 minutes and 48 seconds, meaning we might make our goal of running the 5K in less than 40 minutes. Each outing seems to be an improvement over the last, which may be the most encouraging part of this whole program — progress.

Our legs were heavy today. Yesterday we visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (I’m planning to post separately about that trip.), so we walked and walked and walked some more. Also, we caffeinated ourselves more than usual to make the 2 and a half hour trip home. We were tired, and I worried that today’s run would be a killer.

In some ways, yes. I’m realizing that my body goes into autopilot for the first mile. We seem able to knock that out pretty quickly. Today was no different. The second mile and beyond, I had to keep talking to my legs to make them run. I wanted to walk. So did Phil. His calf tightened up and we were pretty close to calling it after the second mile. I don’t know what mental tricks he has to pull to keep going, but I have to work through all we’ve accomplished. I have to concentrate on my legs. I have to remember that my lungs feel great, and I lost that 2 pounds this week that I’d gained over the last two weeks.

Thank God my body is not all legs or I wouldn’t still be on this running journey.

Thank God, as well, that the body of Christ is not made up of all one kind of people. We need each other to tell us to keep going when we want to quit. To take the journey with us. To give us the strength and stamina we need to complete the task ahead. And we need to stay connected to the head, that is, Christ, who speaks truth into our lives when we want to believe differently.

The whole body works together. Amen and amen.