Now we stand as one, ready to run

Arm in arm, press on, the victory’s won

You have raised the gun, fired to start the run

Now we fix our eyes, on the finish line

It is race day!

Today was a great day!  I ran my first marathon and had a wonderful time.  I finished strong with a time of 3:18:46!  What a great experience.  I ran the first 9 miles with Andy Byrd who was running the half marathon.  We were able to encourage one another and help each other keep pace.  Andy kept quoting Hebrews 12:1 – “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us”  Over the past 20 weeks I’ve been casting off hindrances in my life through the training.  Most of those hindrances were unhealthy habits and replacing them with quality nutrition, exercise, and rest.  It has been a really fun season of preparing for today.  I have been challenged many times and not wanted to continue with the training or at least to skimp on it.  I did my best to keep pressing on and train even when everything in me didn’t want to.  Ronda would kick me out the door sometimes and other times we had to make sacrifices to fit our runs in.  We all made it today!  SO FUN!

I finished in 3:18:46 and had a great time.  I had hoped to qualify for the Boston Marathon, but didn’t make the 3:10 cut off.  However, I can see that it’s within my grasp and am already looking forward to the next opportunity.  It will be a great celebration and Ronda and I hope to make the trip and enjoy that beautiful city once again.

To celebrate today’s race day I am posting both versions of the song I wrote called, “Race Day.”  You can download them for free for a limited time and I hope you enjoy them and are inspired to live out Hebrews 12:1 and run the race that is set before you!  There’s a great cloud of witnesses cheering you on…can you hear them?!