Don't lose Heart

"Don't let the limiting, self defeating beliefs hold you up. Remember,whether you think you can or you think you can't, your right." Henry Ford

Long miles. Lonely miles. Hard miles. 

Miles trudging through the snow. 

Miles drenched in spring showers. 

Miles in the deep summer heat. 

So hot, so tired, so exhausted, burned out, fatigued, questioning the "Why". 

Miles of thoughts, miles of prayers, humbled by my human deficits, I continued to run. 

I ran through the whispers. 

I ran through the insecurity. 

I ran through the wounds. 

Running, my illustration for life. 

Every minute and every moment serves a purpose.  

The victories, the defeats, the highs and the lows. 

2 Corinthians 4:16

"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."  

I LOVE this thing called RUNNING. 

But not as much as I LOVE this thing called LIFE. 

Life is work. It is hard and beautiful all tangled together. 

I am less than 2 weeks for BEAR LAKE Ultra. 

This is the end. There is no more training I can do. I can make my ending worse but I cannot sink 4 months of training into 12 days. 

This week, my training plan has me running 50 miles. 

Last week, my training plan had me at 76, I did a step down early and did 60 miles. 

I look at where I was 4 months ago, every mile, every training run, every prayer matters. 

I think of where I was emotionally 4 months ago. I was going to bed with sleepless nights. 

I was battling the secret wounds and wondering how long I was going to suffer in silence. 

It matters. Every moment matters. 

Whether we are talking about miles or moments. 

Pace or Persecutions. 

We are training for this thing called LIFE. 

In our weakness, in our wounds, in our burn out, we keep going. 

We don't give up. 

We keep believing.

We keep hoping. 

We keep trusting. 

We keep on keeping on. 

We give ourselves Grace and we give others Grace. 

I am not the same Anita I was 4 months ago in training and in life. 

I am not the same Anita I was before Cancer, or loss, or injury, or addiction and we can go on and on. 

"In sport, people measure by winning or losing. But I think the measure of success is happiness and recognizing your own journey for self-betterment." Alysia Montano, Olympian Medalist

Do not lose Heart. 

 I am reminded as I come to a close in my training for Bear Lake that things do not happen over night. 

You can not just show up and expect to run 24 hours without doing the work. 

You can not quit when it gets hard. You can't quit when it hurts. You can't quit when you don't "Feel" like it and expect the same results. 

Do not lose Heart.

One day at a time. 

A little here and a little there.

It will pay off. You may feel so overwhelmed you can barely catch your breath. You may even feel defeated, like a black cloud is hanging over you. 

You may feel lifeless, barely able to muster energy to tackle the day, Don't give up. You may feel alone, without support or even attacked. 

Do not lose Heart. 

2 Corinthians 4:16

"Therefore we do not lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day."  

More importantly than training my body is to train my soul. There will be a day my body will have a mind of its own. This life is not meant to be focused on the external rather the eternal. Though my external body is slowly perishing my inner self is in constant growth. I continue to grow in grace, in love, in forgiveness, in faith, in Christ. 

I started painting my rocks for Bear Lake! 

Andy and I snuck away for a camping weekend in Tawas. I have never been there and fell in love. We were very blessed to get a campsite off the water. And ever more blessed to have the the whole family join. The state park has beautiful camp ground, I recommend this one! The bath houses were clean and convenient. They even have a dishwashing station for those who are staying in tents. The sites were huge, so big we had to run to the local Walmart to buy an extension cord to reach the electric box!

It was so nice to have all my family together. 

BIG SHOUT OUT to Sarah! Sarah went to Chattanooga to do a Ironman. She PR-ed her last years time by almost an hour, 12H:09! WTG Sarah! 

In Peace, Not Pieces,

Anita~

“The training field lies in overcoming trials.”―Lailah Gifty Akita