Here's To Finishing....


Have you ever been so focused on a goal - steps away from crossing that symbolic finish line only to get tripped up, decelerate your pace, or even worse yet - fall? Crossing it seemed so inevitable and effortless, and yet there you sit still unable to reach out and grasp that end piece that will make your hard work complete.
What started as dealing with a grumpy gall bladder which literally slowed my pace of life, my training pace, and left me stuck in a dangerous place in my own mind eventually turned in to an attitude of "Can I really do all the things I am dreaming of and aiming for?" Can I really reach my goal of blasting 10 pounds past my original weight loss goal that used to seem so impossible? Do I really have what it takes to pull this NASM certification thing together and become a personal trainer? What if I get "there" and I can't get a job....what if I get "there" and can't do it. What if....what if....what if....blah blah blah.

Then, last Saturday I decided to participate in a 5k hosted by our local YMCA. It was a course I had run a couple of years prior - and I figured it could replace my normal Saturday gym workout routine. As I began to run, all those what if's and self doubts stayed behind in the parking lot. The fresh air, the sound of the strong currents of the Rogue River, and the feeling of my feet moving one forward step at a time began to fill those empty parts of me with a host of possibilities. I was overwhelmed with gratitude. Gratitude for the blessing it has been for me to live in a community that not only embraced me but supported me as I made the greatest changes in my life...ever. Gratitude for health and strength..for a body that can run, breath, hear, and feel everything I can at any given moment. Gratitude to be on a path in my life where I will be able to serve and lift others from a place I am very familiar with. Gratitude that age 37 feels way better than age 17 ever did and in awe that it can only get better. Gratitude for the knowledge that a loving God is responsible for it all.
Needless to say, it gave me the energy of both body and soul that I needed to finish those 5 kilometers. It was a good spring cleaning on all levels, for on that run that I made the conscious decision - yet again - to finish. Just do it. Regardless. Every time I have "jumped" it has been an exhilarating perfect experience. This is no different.

Excuses and success can't co-exist, and neither can fear and faith.

Those who have run with me expect that as the finish line gets near, I will turn and say "RUN WITH ALL YOU HAVE LEFT TO GIVE" before taking off. It's tradition, and the same thing happened on Saturday, however, this time I was the only one listening. I began to increase speed and sprint with every ounce of energy I had left inside of me. As I crossed, one man said,

"Wow....nice finish!"

Yup, and I hope to say that about my other "finishes" as well. I agree with the Apostle Paul in that I must "lay aside every weight (concern), and the sin (self doubt) which doth so easily beset ME, and run with patience the race that is set before ME." (Hebrews 12:1).
In doing do, I hope to say;

I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course,
I have kept the faith."
1 Timothy 4:7

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