2025: The Miles that Made me, and Broke me

"Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way...to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart." Deuteronomy 8:2

I thought I would do a simple monthly recap of 2025. I hit most of my goals, but I had some slip out of reach. I believe it is where we fall short, we learn the most. My racing season is not what defined me for 2025. It is FAITHFULLNESS. 

When I stay focused; failures, set-backs and injuries, what matters most is a posture of FAITHFULLNESS.

January: 267 mi

JUST START

The miracle isn't that I finished. The miracle is that I had the courage to start." John 'The Penguin' Bingham

The Best way for me to start has always been to sign up for a race. Every year I hold the same goal, to run a race a month. And 2026 I accomplished this goal. I didn't race them all, many I used as training runs. 

February: 255 mi

It's Good Training

If you run, you are a runner. It doesn't matter how fast or how far." John Bingham

My miles dropped but so did my motivation. The cold is relentless, the days are short, and the winter slumber creeps in. Add slush, ice, wind, and if you get laced up, that is the greatest victories in February. But these miles MATTER. They build more than fitness-they build resilience. 

March: 336 mi 

Trust

"Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started." Steve Prefontaine

The weather began breaking and I got to run in Florida. I even qualified for Boston in crazy heat. My brother and SIL chased me all over Stuart Florida helping me to the finish. I had put the work in, but I had to TRUST the training. These Miles were important training miles for my "A" race in June. A 100 miler. 

April: 342 mi

Discipline

"Pain is Temporary. Quitting lasts forever." Lance Armstrong

I started training more elevation and finally got to run more trails. I signed up for a 50K as part of my training runs and even placed 1st in my age group. Running can be competitive, but for me even when racing I try to stay disciplined. Races and runs all have a place when you have an "A" race. Disciplining the EGO is very important. 

 

May: 312 mi

Endurance

"Running is the greatest metaphor for life, because you get out of it what you put into it." Oprah Winfrey

I ran a new race with friends in Traverse City. It was a 100K. It was HOT. 

May was a good reminder to stay steady in both life and running. Especially as my distance was adding up, I was beginning to feel the pressures all around. 

I had gotten sick right before my "A" race, Sulphur Springs. The very end of May. I was doubling down on my prayers and trusting The Lord to give me the strength, stamina spirit to finish. And The Lord carried me through with sweet victory, 23hours 07 minutes 

 

June: 240 mi

The Prize

"I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." 2 Tim.4:7

I was exhausted. It was time to bring down my miles. I dropped over 70 miles. I took a little more time to recover and be grateful. Time to let both my body and mind heal. Time give Glory to God, I was so humbled by all the victories the Lord had given me. 

July: 293 mi

Courage

"To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift." Steve Prefontaine

I had to get back in the saddle. Marquette 50 was on the calendar for August. I was scared. 

Just being honest. My body was tired, the elevation or the race mixed with the August heat had me rattled. Courage didn't look like confidence. But I laced up anyway. 

I even did a 1/2 marathon and won my first stein, the Lord continued to heal me and strengthen me. 

August: 297 mi

Focus

"In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps." Proverbs 16:9

All the training in the world couldn't train me for the thunderstorms of Marquette. All I could do was focus on the mile I was in. I had to let go of my goals and focus on the finish. Focus can be difficult. It can often knock us off course with distractions and comparisons. It is important to stay in your own mile. 

September: 242 mi

Stamina

"Let us not become weary in well doing, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up." Gal. 6:9

This was the beginning of the end. INJURY occurred at a silly 10mile race. The injury had been flirting with me for a few weeks. It felt like someone was pulling me back. My piriformis was mad at me. I again brought my miles down and my pace. I was hoping to qualify for NYC marathon, but I was not going to die on the mountain. 

October: 150 mi

Surrender

"Success isn't how far you got, but the distance you traveled from where you started." Steve Prefontaine

I was able to line up for Chicago and let my goal go. That goal was weighing on me as this new pain in the A%% wasn't going away. I just had to trust God in the outcome. The new goal was to have fun! 

I was pleased to finish just barely over 4 hours. 

November: 162 mi

Gratitude

"Because of the Lords great love we are not consumed, for His compassions never fail. They are new every morning." Phil. 3:13-14

The Lord was very compassionate as He helped me to help a friend do her marathon ALSO in October. 

I settled into gratitude in my broken body and victorious 2025. I was very honest on my injury, I knew I had abused my body and the Lord graciously allowed me the desires of my heart. I was humbly broken with gratitude. 

December: 130 mi

Recovery/Rest

"Running teaches us that we are capable of so much more than we ever imagined." Pattisue Plumer

And December was the shortest monthly miles I think I have had in years. I went to a Chiroprator and a Physical therapist and they both confirmed, I have a L4 L5 injury. This lower back issue is compressing and creating havoc in my piriformis and sciatica. I took several days off and hit the gym for strength and cross training. 

3,026 total miles 

2025

Last year was not a year of being FEARLESS.

It was more of a year of being FAITHFUL. 

 

Some of my miles were strong and powerful. But there were many miles that were slower and filled with uncertainty. 

I had days that I showed up confident and what I thought as control. But I had days that I felt vulnerable and showed up mostly out of HOPE. 

Clinging to HOPE. 

I learned that progress is self-determined, courage isn't fearless and showing up again and again carries more than pace. 

I ended 2025 knowing through every mile, every obstacle, God was FAITHFUL.

When my strength ran out, HIS didn't. 

When I doubted myself, He steadied my wavering spirit.

Every finish, every lesson, every ounce of endurance, every victory belongs to HIM. 

All Glory to God. 

In Peace, Not Pieces, 

Anita

(All photos are pictures of me NOT running, pics of work friends, close friends, family and misc.)

The Things we HOLD

The snow came overnight, the darkest part of the night was lit with the softest blanket of snow. 

It sure is pretty, gracefully landing, dancing really all throughout the night. 

However, it's the COLD that I hate. 

Cold is not a place I tolerate well. I start whining in September, I exercise creative positivity for weeks. 

But I pay a pretty penny for a fancy gym membership, that just went up might I add, therefore that was where I went the snowy Sunday. 

I can't say I feel any real improvements, but then I ran 2 races over the week. 

Gobbler Wobbler 5 miler on Thanksgiving. 

It was so stinking cold, I wore entirely too many layers and covered them up with a 5lb turkey onesie and tutu. 

A gamut of errors. I wasn't planning on racing but with all the layers my heartrate looked like I was racing for the last slice of pumpkin pie.

And in all my sweat and suffering I fell, tripped over a stupid Osage orange ball in the middle of the sidewalk, TURKEY DOWN! 

Black Toenail 1/2 marathon.

I went into this race knowing it was not going to feel good or be good. But I was hoping I could just maintain a 9min/ mi. 

No silly costumes, and I even brought water and nutrition and a whole lotta prayers. 

Not paying attention, the start took off. I was pretty far in the back but made my way relatively smooth through the runners down the trail. 

I caught up to a friend of mine Sandy, and we ran together for a couple miles. I thought the trails were very runnable and even though I felt good I knew the pain in my A$$ was waiting for me at any given curve.  My piriformis started aching about mile 7 but I was still holding pace, and I hadn't fell. 

I also ran a little bit with Celia, another running friend I see every year at this race, but the real shocker was when I saw Danielle running one of the aid stations with her daughter! I would look forward to this station all 4 times just to see her. 

I made it around the loop twice, ran over about a dozen slippery bridges and never fell! 

Around mile 10, it took everything in me to maintain pace. I was sweating, sore, and it felt like the brakes were on when all I wanted to do was GO. I looked at my watch and had no time to lollygag as Andy says. If I could just hold on, I could get a sub 2hour.

BUT then I remembered, the course was long. That's when my brain began working faster than my legs. 

I had 5 minutes to get out of the wood to the finish line, and I was nowhere near where my optimistic brain thought I would be. 

Over 13.1 miles and I still couldn't see the finish, at that point I was convinced they were moving it to humble me even more. 

I saw it! I came out of the woods and my watch said I had less then 2 minutes to get down the hill and back up. 

Erica and Joe were at the finish shouting at me. Joe was yelling the seconds I had to cross, and seconds is all I had left to make it! 

HOLD ON.

So many things we hold on to. 

Some things we cling to. 

Some things we should let go of.  

Some things were never ours to hold in the first place. 

The last mile was my hardest and slowest mile. I kept telling myself to HOLD ON. I felt my goal slowly slipping from my grip. I was frustrated with my body, with the course and with myself. 

But I held on. Seeing my friends at the finish helped me get a better grip and I was able to hit my goal if only by seconds. 

But there are many times we give up because we don't see the finish line. Maybe it's a little farther than we thought or a little harder than we expected and we let go just a bit too soon. 

HOLD ON. 

Some of us this time of year hold onto memories. 

Some of us hold onto resentments. 

Some of us hold onto anger, or bitterness or unforgiveness. 

Some of us hold onto hope, faith and love. 

Some of us hold on to dreams, goals and ideas. 

Holding these special November memories

The RUNDOWN

"But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal.." Phil 3:13-14

In running and in life, the finish line isn't always where we expect it to be. Sometimes its farther, harder, and hidden just long enough to make us question everything we're holding onto. But that last mile taught me something: what we cling to matters. 

So, hold on to the right things, HOPE, FAITH, LOVE, the people who cheer you in, and the God who strengthens you. 

Let Go of what weighs you down, like that silly two-ton turkey onesie. Or like resentments, bitterness, fear, anger, the things that were never yours to carry. 

Because when you keep going, even when you can't see the finish, you might just find yourself crossing it..even if only by seconds.

And sometimes that is enough! 

Monthly miles: 161.1

Elevation: 12,043

Black Toenail 1/2 
I was first in my age group. 
1:59:17.39

In Peace, Not Pieces,

Anita

Get A GriP! Finding Contentment in the 1 degree

 "You will make known to me the path of life. In your presence is the fullness of joy..." 

Psalms 16:11

The difference between ice and water is one degree. That little shift, almost unnoticeable, something minimum can create such a monumental change. 

I have been thinking about that a lot lately.

We live in a world that craves instant gratification, a world that we control nearly everything with a swipe or a click...until something happens that we can no longer control. Life on life's terms tends to show up and remind us how little we actually do control. A lovely place of humility. And when life stops obeying OUR timeline, we want everything to snap back to "normal" right away.  And sometimes "normal" wasn't that normal anyway....

One DEGREE

I am now over a month into this recovery and honestly, there are days I wonder if this lingering injury is my new normal. But then I remind myself- "GET a Grip Anita". 

One degree at a time. One percent shifts add up. Change often happens quietly before it appears obvious. 

Today, I was able to get in 10 miles at Independence Oaks, and even that came with it's own questions. I couldn't quite tell if the soreness I was enduring was from injury, elevation or the exercises I'm doing to climb my way out of this injury. Sometimes, the sacrifices we make to get better or be better hurt just as much as the thing we are trying to fix! 

But to honest as I have been thinking about all this-all the time, if we want real change in our lives, it is going to COST us something. 

We are going to have to sacrifice.

We are going to have to work hard. 

And we are going to have to be patient with the process, EVEN when the process feels so painfully slow.

I am noticing that buried in the slowness of my recovery are those teeny tiny almost invisible steps towards healing. I might need a magnifying glass to see them, but they're there. 

CONTENTMENT. 

A word that has been shared multiple times in the last week, I think it was God's free commercial to me. 

Even when things are not going my way, contentment brings peace to my current moment or my circumstance. I am reminded to find joy in the little things to help me through. Today, while running with a friend, we talked about exactly this-THE LITTLE THINGS. If I don't take time to locate them then I miss out on gratitude, and that is what keeps me anchored. Without gratitude and contentment, peace will always feel just out of reach. 

The RUNDOWN.

So, for now, I'll keep looking for the 1%. The little things that make a monumental difference. 

Because if I can be honest, "getting a grip" is just not taking myself too serious. 

Like when I'm doing my weekly workouts and adding incline to the TM and the numbers don't come near my Garmin's. My Garmin makes me look like a rockstar. If confidence was measured in treadmill/Garmin stats I'd be RECOVERED! 

But today, I was grateful for 10 trail miles. 

I was also grateful for a friend to run it with, Monday, I couldn't even find a soul to run with me and the voices in my head were awful encouragement.  

My ten miles got me to 20 miles for the week. Not perfect. Not pain free. But PROGRESS, 

one percent-at-a- time progress. 

And maybe that is what "getting a grip" means: holding tight to the little victories, the contentment, the laughter, and the small degrees of change that keep us moving forward, even when the process feels slow. 

Because right now one degree makes all the difference, and I am choosing to "grip" that tightly. 

Super thankful for my run today to get to talk all this out!

In peace, not pieces, 

Anita

The Realities of RED FLAGS: HOPE

 "And not only this, but we also exult in our tribulations, knowing that tribulations bring about perseverance, and perseverance, proven character; and proven character, hope: Romans 5:3-4

Each year older brings me to the reality the I am capping the mountain of life. My sweet Grandma always said to me, "Anita, I have climbed up the mountain, and I am on my way back down.".  The truth in my grandma's words always stung. I viewed her as the strongest women I knew. I borrowed her strength secretly, I found myself clinging to it in my infant faith, I needed hers. 

HOPE

The last few weeks I have had to surrender myself in the maze of life. The path has been a bit unmarked, and I have found myself stumbling and unclear which direction to go. 

I haven't found clear directions and the wandering feels fierce, but I cling to the Lord. I grapple in hope that He is leading me blindly and it is frightening the unknown. 

HOPE

The warm summer of comfort has dissolved, and the gloom is sneaking in. My body is creaking just a bit more this season and my injury is adding some unwanted details. 

HOPE

I am three weeks out from intentionally facing the realities of RED FLAGS.  

INJURIES from my own stupidity. 

Denial is not a river in Egypt. I saw the red flags; hey, I felt the red flags and the truth is I had friends confront me with my red flags even. 

But the reality of the red flags set in when I had to step down from running. 

I confused HOPE with HURT. I HOPED that my HURT body was not a big deal even though the Lord had shown me otherwise. 

HOPE doesn't sugar coat of circumstances. 

HOPE doesn't glaze over the heartbeat of hardships. 

HOPE doesn't give us false truths to build our ego. 

BUT what HOPE does is so much more. 

HOPE redirects our meandering into HIS message. 

HOPE strengthens us as we go out cautiously into uncharted territories. 

HOPE shines the direction that we are searching for. 

SO many of us are drifting through mine fields. We are beaten up by this broken world and broken relationships. We are scared to make a move, and we are disoriented by the damage of our last steps.

Some of us struggle to hold onto HOPE because we are still searching for the God we have heard of but the god we feel has delivered so much pain. 

HOPE

Hope didn't dissolve my red flags. Hope gave me grace to accept them and confront them. Hope gave me the courage to face my character defects, and the Lord picked me up from that ugly realization. 

Hope reaches down for me in my faults and flaws. Then Hope stands me back up, holds me and directs my feeble spirit forward. 

Some life events have reminded me that hope has no limitations. And while the visibility of hope may not always shine brightly, it still outshines the darkness. 

Hope closes the gap of discouragement and despair, but it requires action. You have to exercise it. 

HOPE

THE RUNDOWN

I continue to keep my miles down and stay off the pavement. I am still doing my McGill's 3 - 6days a week along with other strength training. I have been hitting the gym again, rowing, stair climber, weights and dreadmill work out. 

DREADMILL workout: Start the incline at 3 and pace at about 9:30min/mi. I increase the incline and do about 3.5-4 miles. I add running backwards with the incline and a I just added a decline of 3%. 

 This week I slowly added more miles and was grateful to get to run at Pontiac Lake today. 

I have HOPE. HOPE doesn't ignore RED FLAGS-it helps me face them with honestly and courage. It steadies my heart when my body or circumstances warn me to slow down, listen, adjust or accept. Hope gives me gives me the courage instead of fear and the peace to trust Him. 

But I have a lot of hard work today. Hope doesn't always give instant results or even the results we might think we deserve. 

Hope does give peace though. And that's what I need to settle my drifting heart and anchor me in His will for me. 

"Now may the God of HOPE fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." Romans 15:13

**PLEASE share what HOPE is to YOU, I would love to hear. 

In Peace Not Pieces

ANITA~

The Things I Do Not Want To Do

 "I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." 

Romans 7:15

Andersons orders have been to keep running, 

• but cut the load way back
• get off the pavement
• do the "McGills 3's"
• check out Squat University
• get stronger

I laughed when Dana Anderson told me to start strength training. I knew it was coming. 

So I am 2 weeks out, doing all the things he said and feel just as old and broken. I took two days off this week, reluctantly. 

I do the things I do not want to do. 

I am doing these exercises that look so basic and find myself sweating in frustration as I am humbled at the struggle in them. 

And the things I want to do I don't. 

I wanted to run so bad yesterday, but I didn't. 

I didn't run for 2 days, hoping today was going to be the day I felt like a gazelle through the woods.

The sky was as crystal clear, an endless gazing blue that invited you out to play. 

I wanted to run and run, but I knew I couldn't. I didn't even know what my body would do.  

I could see my breath as I got out of my truck at the trail head. And I smiled. 

I was going to give this run all my emotions. 

All my heart. 

All my frustrations. 

All the best and all the worst I had. 

 

I have been running mostly solo because this injury feels so burdensome and I don't want the pressure of being "Chipper" when I feel like dookie. 

I could smell the wet leaves, and the woods were calling me. Life was calling me to go forward, to lay it all down and go. I was scared to move not knowing how my body would respond. 

It only took a few steps onto the trail to feel my body want to pull back. I have learned that my body will loosen up after a couple miles, so I just needed to GO!

The trail was covered in beautiful amber and red leaves.  This beautiful path is hiding ankle breaking roots, sharp rocks and a mystery of unhinged injuries waiting to happen. 

I felt fear as my heart skipped a beat as I tried to get my body to dance around the obstacles. 

My voice was screaming over my music, "Stay Strong" and "Pick up your feet". 

My hands were in fists tucked in my jacket as I slowly warmed up. The chill faded away pretty fast as I decided I would run all the hills. If it was going to hurt, I may as well go all in. 

And I went. My body cooperated with some back talk. 

With every mile I fought off frustration and focused the finish. I welcomed the solitude in prayer and praise even in my pain. 

The woods hid me deep inside her home. The brief windows of light shattered the dim lit forest, at times blinding you. After a while, I forget about the ache in my piriformis. I was in love. 

I ran 6 miles. I would have loved 2 loops but embraced the one loop with gratitude the Lord allowed me to have those. 

THE RUNDOWN:

"I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do." 

Romans 7:15

While I was running, I was thinking of this verse. It felt rather fitting when I was thinking about my week of running/not running. 

The verse actually encouraged me. sometimes doing the right thing feels so awful. I hate following these orders. I want to do what I WANT. And the truth is, that is probably why I am in this position of pain all together! 

A good reminder that sometimes we have to do the very thing we do not want to do. And it doesn't always make sense or feel good, but it is the good thing. 

OCT 13-19-34 Miles

OCT 20-26-27 Miles

OCT 27-NOV2- 26Miles

I have cut my miles back about 40%. I will stay here for the month of November. 

In Peace, not Pieces.

Anita 

What IF....The Dream you didn't know

What if that bucket of tears was for tomorrows dream come true?

What if those nightmare of realities were paving the way for tomorrows dream come true?

What if those broken promises were purposeful for tomorrows dream come true?

What if the days of barely scraping by were for tomorrows dream come true?

What if the orphaned child or the bouts of depression were all for tomorrows dream come true?

What if the reckless recoveries, the mindless dreams, the raging screams of hollowed grief were all for tomorrows dream come true?

What if the childhood addiction and addiction unseen were all for tomorrows dream come true?

What if the seasons trapped in a broken body were all for tomorrows dream come true?

What if the disappointments and the discouragements were all for tomorrows dream come true?

What if the cancer that ravaged me was all for tomorrows dream come true?

What if it ALL HAD A PURPOSE? 

BECAUSE it DID. 

I can't say for certain it was all for tomorrows dream come true, but I can say this with certainty, the Lord had a purpose for it all.  

What if your dream come true was a dream you didn't even know you had. 

WESTERN STATES

There are miracles one can't explains: BUT GOD. 

In the darkest, deepest depths, The Lord is shaping that dream- 

the becoming of Tomorrows Dream Come True.

Western States is a dream come true for many ultra runners. 

In 2025, they had 9,993 applicants, The race is limited to 369 runners. 

In 2025, 109 of those 369 were automatic entrants leaving the 260 lottery spots. 

The odds of being selected with very few tickets are extremely low, making the DREAM of running Western States more remarkable. 

So, with nearly 10,000 applicants chasing 260 lottery spots, literally means you are running against the odds of getting selected, about 2.6% in a best-case scenario IF everyone had equal opportunity but that's not the case. 

BAFFLED at the RAFFLE of Western States: The BACK Story.

Western States does 2 RAFFLE DRAWINGS each year: the Friday before the race in June and at the lottery in December. Each raffle winner gets a free automatic entry to the run. 

If you are one of the lucky ones to win the raffle into the iconic race you still have to have a qualifying 100 miler. 

In December of 2024, Joe Burns had his dream come true, he won a raffle spot! These raffle spots give up to 5 winners depending on how much money they raise. The raffle is a ticket purchase raffle that awards automatic, free entries. The tickets are sold by mail/in person (5$ each; 4$ when buying 10+) 

Like me and many others Joe Burns had this same dream. And he was a lucky winner, HOWEVER, he still had to present a qualifying race. Joe worked hard all 2025 to make that happen. In October, Joe race Hennepin 100. All heart, grit and hope he did everything to finish but his feet were having no part of it and he was not able to complete the race. 

The raffles are transferrable BUT again, the person had to have completed a Western States qualifying race. 

Joe did some behind the scenes work. He contacted the RD and asked if he could transfer his entry. He shared I had run Sulphur Springs 100 in May, and it was a qualifying race. Joe then secretly contacted Andy and together they orchestrated the unforgettable surprise. 

God of the What If's

I was counting the days down until I could put my measly ticket into the lottery, knowing the odds of getting into Western States were slim to none. And then came this GIFT.

It left me speechless. 

At home processing this I was quiet in humble gratitude that the Lord would orchestrate something so extraordinary. 

My hearts dialogue was- and still is-one of complete AWE. 

Who am I, Lord?

Just a ragamuffin, a nobody by the world's standards. YET, even on the moments when I question His purpose, question the pain and can't find the point of so many things He continues to show Himself in great and mighty ways. He shows me He has never forgotten me or my dreams. 

Those moments of heartbreak and hardship, of confusion and silence are where His perseverance becomes my story. He has asked me to do the hard things in life and trusted me with great weight. They are proving grounds of FAITH. The place HOPE flickers and endurance is tested. 

WHAT if every hardship, every unanswered prayer, every tear shed in the dark is really a stepping stone- a test of faith, a lesson of perseverance, a seed of hope? Because I believe behind every tear, every trial, the Lord is shaping REDEMPTION, if we just don't give up. 

I believe the LORD wastes nothing. He has DREAMS we never thought would come true and dreams we never had available for us if we never quit doing the hard things. 

The Lords Sense of Humor:

Ironically, when Joe surprised me with the raffle ticket, I was already nursing an a piriformis/sciatica injury. Funny how dreams can come true when you are dealing with a pain in the arse! Timing is always Gods specialty, and so is His sense of humor!

CHICAGO MARATHON
Thank you for all the prayers!! 

4h02 minutes powered by mostly prayers and port-potties! I ran with Jazz and Donny, and let's just say I've never logged so many pit stops in one race.

My legs were fine, but my tush protested the first half. I found my second wind and thankfully things finally loosened up as I tried to chase a sub 4 hour with the guys. Those bathroom breaks had other plans, like over 10 minutes! However, we laughed our way through Chicago and I wouldn't trade one mile of it!

Grand Rapids MARATHON 

A week later, I committed to pacing Sara for her sub-5 marathon goal-and we came so close, finishing at 5:02. We ran in her dream weather and my ultimate nightmare: rain, wind, and chilly temps.
I shivered and shook my way through with Sarah K bandit running it for extra support!  I had instant relief when I spotted the BIGGBY coffee shop just a couple blocks past the finish line! 

After both these marathons, Joe presented his gift, and I knew to settle down and let my body heal. 

Ephesians 3:20

"Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us." 

In Peace, Not Pieces

Anita

Chicago Marathon: Prayers and Piriformis

"The will of God will not take us where the grace of God cannot sustain us." 

Jim Ryun Olympic silver medalist and world record holder

I have been on the down low about this coming weekend, probably because I have not felt really great about this coming weekends marathon. 

Sunday is Chicago Marathon, 26.2 miles. You might think "Ah, that's no big deal for you..." But it is a big pain in the a$$ right now, literally.

Holy Moly my emotions are on overdrive. The last few weeks have reminded me exactly why I HATE road marathons. They BREAK me. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. 

Up until about 3 weeks ago, training actually had me encouraged and fairly confident for a steep goal I had set for myself. Sure, I experienced the usual aches and pains (because let's be honest, at 51 years old, I wake up with these even without running,) but I was in a good place with my body and I thought my body wasn't overly angry at me. 

 

Then came the slow fade as my body quit forgiving me. NO more chances. The icing on the CAKE...Growlers Gallup 10 mile run. I can run 100 miles, and my body forgives me more than a 10-mile run. This race literally was a pain in the a$$- my piriformis is so angry at me. 

So here I am 3 days out trying to convince myself of new goals and then also trying to find peace with them...though I'm not even sure what those goals actually are. 

I always try to find the silver lining in my misfortunes, a little lesson, and always try to hear what the Lords trying to say to me. 

It seems the only thing I keep hearing is "Marathons are your nemesis, if you weren't broken you will be!"

I have stuck to the taper in hopes that Motrin counts as cross training and recovery. Today, I ran 4 whopping miles, and I would have to say "healed and recovered where NOT how I would describe my run! 

But I scheduled a massage in hopes they could fix any damage I had. It was more like a medieval torture demo, I was sweating and clenching my teeth. 

In closing, Here I am, like most of my pre-race posts-living on a prayer. It's becoming morbidly habitual, back at it again, living on a prayer again and the same slightly delusional hope: Lord, some clarity would be great, it you could untangle those thoughts, healing would be fabulous, and peace- please, the Peace that passes all understanding. 

THE RUNDOWN:

Many if you wonder WHY I keep doing this, knowing injury is part of my gamble. But this morning, on my 4-mile run, I was reminded of ANOTHER reason I continue to run. 

The air was crisp, pure October in Michigan. The sky was a soft, endless blue, and the dew drifted, dissolving in the first light. As the slow mist lifted, glory came alive around me. 

Even as my body felt broken, my heart was whole. Because this is where I meet the Lord-out in His masterpiece, surrounded by beauty that outshines the pain. This is what triumphs over the trial.

His Glory is Great

I would Love some prayers. And any opportunity to Shine His Glory in this marathon. 

Date nite to see Red Clay Strays

In Peace, Not Pieces, 

Anita