Boston. It is one of those moments that you will forever remember exactly where you were sitting when it happened. I was in a coffee shop with a friend that had just returned from the mission field. Her back was to the tv screen and I had to interrupt her and say I am so sorry, but something has happened. Even the coffee shop crew came from behind the counter to gather around the tv to see what had happened. It’s one of those moments you have no idea what’s going on but all you can do is say the Name JESUS over and over again.
I’ve struggled with the words to say over the past week because I’m new to the running community. So new, I wonder if I have words to say, or even if I should say anything at all. When it went viral to wear a marathon shirt on Tuesday to support Boston all I had was a couple of 5k shirts. I still wanted to show my support, so I wore it anyway…but that just shows how new I am to this community! So new, I haven’t even written my whole running story on here yet, but I did want to say a few words today.
One week from today Katie and I will run our first half marathon together. We have been training since the first week of January. We’ve been running “together” since Thanksgiving. She lives in Nashville and we text almost daily holding each other accountable. I know how hard we have worked for this half next weekend and it’s a race that anyone can sign up for—Boston is a race of a lifetime. I can not even imagine someone wanting to steal that from someone….but that is not the purpose of this post.
Fear. Katie and I stayed up late Monday night talking each other out of exactly where the enemy wanted us to go—the pit of fear. I could feel it creeping up on me. As the news reports came in and as we watched the clips over and over again, we just kept talking each other through it and out of it. The questions we’ve asked each other–do we want our families standing at the finish line–something as a newbie runner you’ve been dreaming of for your first big race. And if I’m being honest with you for a split second I had the thought creep in–do I want to do this–put myself and my family at risk? Is this whole running thing worth it?
As the week has gone on…YES. More now than ever do I want to run. I was passionate about it before, and I plan on sharing my running story with you this week my first big race approaches, but running is absolutely worth it. I will not only run on Saturday, I will run more this upcoming year than I had originally planned prior to Monday. Run now for those that can’t. Pray harder that Jesus will somehow use this for His good. I will enter into Saturdays race declaring that the enemy has not won. Jesus is Victorious. Fear cannot and will not win.
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For the tangible side of things….how can you help?
Pray. That Jesus would be made known in the midst of this.
Another Mother Runner has a great blog post on 10 ways to support Boston.
Pavement Runner has organized A Week After: A Run for Boston (click that link to find your city!). There is one in Piedmont Park for Atlanta. The facebook page for that event is here.
Big Peach Company is also organizing runs for Monday night–click their page here.
Something you can do from anywhere is the Run 26.2 for Boston–it’s an event going on on Facebook that you can join and commit to run 26.2 no matter where you are. You can do it in one day, one week, one month. Click here for the event page.
And to close it out–My favorite article I have read so far can be found here–Let The Healing Begin: Running Still Matters by Brian Metzler.