My first 10K

On New Years Eve 2008, as I sat freezing in my drafty old Victorian rental home on the water in Northport, yet warm in my heart after wine and good company with my friends Jen and Brent, we shared our 2009 Resolutions, and one of mine was to run the Great Cow Harbor 10K, an event that draws even elite runners to this little town I now call home. I've done a few 5Ks, and I thought that my next step was a 10K, on my way to a Half Marathon. I haven't decided whether a real marathon is in my future.

So yesterday, on a picture perfect day of sunshine and cool weather, I took off on my 6.1 mile adventure through Northport. It was a steady and even run. Tim's "wave" (faster people) left about 8 mins before my "wave" (there were 5200 runners!) and when I got going, all I could think was "I am going to complete a 10K!!" It's the longest consecutive run I've done yet. I was very excited, the crowds were encouraging, the day was beautiful, the scenery stunning. After about one mile out, the kids from the 2K came rushing past me, although I never ran into my own kids. It was fun to see friends along the route - they all seemed surprised to see me out there!

I had feared that my knee would start bothering me around mile 2, which it did, of course, right before the grueling 1/4 mile up James St (aka Widow Hill). I've been reading Crazy Love by Francis Chen, about how God is really the big cheese in the world, and I am not, so I need to get over myself, and all my issues, and what I was really designed for was to glorify God, so I'm thinking, "God, how can I glorify you through this race?" And I started singing, "In my life Lord, be glorified, be glorified, in my life Lord, be glorified today..." it's a little praise chorus, like a meditation chorus, and yes I tried singing out loud, but then halfway up that hill I was too out of breath! So I just sang it in my head the rest of the way. What was funny was that as my knee started to hurt, and I'm only on mile 2 (4 to go) I started thinking about glorifying God with my whole body, and so I started singing that song and inserting the various body parts like "In my knees Lord, be glorified, be glorified.....in my lungs, Lord, be glorified, be glorified.....in my face Lord, be glorified, be glorified....." etc... And really truly, as I started giving it up to the Lord - my pains, my worry about the next 4 miles - the pain would go away and my face would light up and I would have this happiness come over me, like, "Woo hoo! I'm running this race and my body is strong and if people look at me I hope they see me THANKFUL and happy, instead of miserable and struggling!" It made all the difference. And not because I came in a minute under my 1 hr 20 min projection (!), but because I enjoyed that race, hills and all.

And so if I can glorify God while I'm doing something physically challenging, can I also glorify God when I'm folding the laundry?? Hmmm... Sure I can glorify God when I'm singing and when I'm front and center, but, can I also glorify God when I am serving, or behind the scenes, or just doing laundry? I hope so. I guess that's a new challenge.