seasons

I've been meaning to update everyone on my training progress, but honestly, the marathon took a backseat to school for this past two weeks. Well, school and work and other random life occurrences. More on that later. Maybe.

All I know for sure is that the seasons seem to have changed. (The timing feels more appropriate now than it did in August when we had that rainy/cold week) Starbucks officially has their pumpkin spice lattes back in their stores, and Dreyers pumpkin ice cream is back too, which is fairly amazing, and available in slow churned/half the fat if that's what you're looking for. More of my runs will now be done in the rain, which isn't as fun, but it's a part of the training for a late fall marathon. Leaves are changing, which is still fascinating to me. And the air has this crispness that was not present just a few short weeks ago. Summer is ending, and fall is beginning. But overall, life is changing too. I've only been here in the northwest about a year, and so much change has happened already, and I know that more is coming. I like change for the most part, and in my job especially, I'm an agent for it. I think sometimes I wouldn't mind a bit of stability for awhile, but I don't think it's coming. And honestly, that's ok too. One thing that I say a lot is that God doesn't put anyone anywhere if He knows they can't handle it. God has equipped me to handle change, not always perfectly, and yeah, I cry and I"m emotional about it sometimes because well, I'm a girl. :) But I have a strong faith in God, and I know that when life changes, He doesn't. Knowing that I don't have to weather any change in seasons alone is fairly awesome in itself, but knowing that more than that, the One who is walking with me is steadfast brings more peace than I could ever hope for. So let the seasons change, and let whatever happens happen. I'm more than fine with it. Endings on some parts allow for amazing new beginnings. And maybe a change in seasons will help with schedule realignment and allow me to get back to training well. The possibilities are endless. Bring on the fall.

Hmm...now that I think about it, maybe let the sun shine as much in the next two seasons as it does in the summer. Other than that, bring on the fall ;)

yesterday.

I woke up early this morning to make sure I got a shower before my roommate...and realized post-shower that she is not home. Oh well. I have a few extra moments this morning. I prefer to not be rushed.

At the end of the 4th week, I had my first ever not-so-great long run. Yesterday I experienced a new-to-me phenomenon - the leg cramp. Good times. I prefer not to have that happen again. And it was fairly warm, and I was definitely not prepared for the heat, or for the length of the run - I had only had coffee and a bit of toast before. I forget how important food and all that stuff is to having a good run, especially in warmer temps! So, one not-as-fabulous-as-hoped run down, chance for a new and completely fabulous run still before me! Because that's one of the amazing life parallels that I see with running - there's always hope in the next day! Sub-par performance? All good, most likely you will do better tomorrow. Facing extreme difficulties? There's a high probability of all of that being non-existent after a good night's sleep. It reminds me as to why God tells us so clearly that He gives what we need for today, because tomorrow when we start over, we'll probably need something different, and He'll provide that then. I will not complete the marathon on the strength I have today because I'm simply not ready. But God will help me to keep training, and get me there, to the race. So while yesterday was not necessarily something fun, I had expected that the harder runs would come, and I'm not discouraged in the least. Good runs are still before me as well. And while I'm praying that race day is a good one, if it's not (as was seen in so many athletes in the Olympics marathon) I'm not giving up on running anymore than I'm giving up on trusting God to sustain me through life. And chances are, in the hard runs, and hard days, there is something that I'm being taught (maybe I should eat more for breakfast perhaps?) that I should be paying attention to. So if you catch me ignoring what can be learned from hard times, feel free to call me on it. I want to learn and apply it to whatever is going to happen tomorrow. Life is a constant learning experience. Which is one of the reasons that a geek like me loves it so much.