A Poem for Me

In our church we have a program called visiting teaching. Every woman in our congregation over the age of 18 is assigned a pair of visiting teachers. These ladies visit together once a month. The purpose of the progra,m is to develop connections, friendships, and stewardship. Sure, sometimes the connections and friendships feel superficial and forced and sometimes the pairs just don't work out. And yes, sometimes women don't want to visit or be visited. Overall, however, the program works how it is supposed to and women do feel connected.

My current visiting teacher didn't have a chance to actually come and visit me in my home before they switched up the routes and she was reassigned. However, she took the time to find out a little bit about me (I only see her at church) and then got me a couple of things to let me know she was thinking of me. She got me some yummy smelling lotion and some gardening tools. But perhaps the most meaningful gift was the poem she wrote to honor my running.

The Runner

What others don't always get to see, the runner see,s

Beautiful fields, rivers, lakes & trees.

She smells fresh cut grass, leaves and flowers in the summer.

She runs past beaches with ocean views beside her.

Each step in her race puts her closer to the finish line and further from the beginning.

But her running is more about the journey and less about

winning.

She loves to run no matter how far,

These are a few things she cannot enjoy in a car.

For the runner is blessed beyond measure with health, strength,

and peace.

The wonders of her world will never cease.

Thank you so much Debi Bickelhaupt. That poem means so much to me--especially the line about running being more about the journey than winning. Running is all about the journey for me. It is the time when I connect with my friends. And lately, it has been the time when I have heard the clearest messages and lessons from my Heavenly Father.

Quotes of Comfort for My Journey

Every mile earned, never given.

I don't need easy, just possible.

Keep your dreams just out of reach, not unreachable.


The first two were quotes that I saw frequently along my marathon route. I would repeat them to myself as I could feel the discouragement and fatigue set in. The last quote I had read a couple of weeks previous and that one also echoed through my mind during those last long 16.2 miles. I don't know that I am usually motivated (or comforted for that matter) by quotes, but I during my run I did find comfort and motivation in these quotes. I think the became embedded in my psyche and pushed me forward when I didn't think I could go on.

Then today during sacrament meeting those same quotes came back into focus as I listened to the speakers share their messages about discipleship. Becoming a true disciple of Christ isn't always easy, but it is possible. It will take courage, determination, and faith. There will certainly be times (and there already have been many) when movement along the path towards Christ will be an earned moment. I know that becoming like Christ and returning to live with my Savior and God, my Heavenly Father is a goal that right now is just out of reach. However, as I turn to Jesus and seek after Him, those goals of discipleship and eternal life are attainable through Jesus Christ;  how comforting it is to know that those goals are not unreachable.

On this Sabbath day, may you find comfort and joy in knowing that Christ is with us every day. He guides us through our journey here below; sometimes making us earn that forward progress, but making all things possible through Him.

26.2...I Did It!

Saturday I participated in the Wenatchee Marathon. I can't say "ran" because truth is, I ran/walked it. That certainly wasn't my intention and definitely not what I had trained for. My finishing time was certainly off of the goal I had set while training. But there were some obstacles that appeared that I hadn't trained for.

I hadn't trained for:

• stomach issues that plagued me all week the week before the race.
• said stomach issues rendering me useless about mile 14; fortunately there was a porta-pottie about that time where I spent a couple of minutes. From there on out I just had to run/walk as the cramps waxed and waned.
• my nutrition totally not working for me. I had been very diligent in my training in regards to nutrition. I found a system that worked for me on all of my long runs. Unfortunately, on Saturday that regimen didn't work. Every time I took in some sort of nutrition I immediately began to feel sick. That was most likely due to the stomach issues during the week.
• running 22 miles by myself. I am a social runner. I train with a large group. I don't run with music because our group usually spends the entirety of our long runs talking. Going into Saturday's marathon, the intention was to stick together. It became apparent by mile 3 that that wasn't going to happen. The race was relatively small in participants so there were times when it really felt as if I was the only one on the course. That was a little hard to mentally overcome.

From that description, it probably sounds like I had an awful race and experience. And at moments during the marathon I wouldn't have disagreed. There were moments that felt completely awful and discouraging. BUT, there were some great moments as well. Moments that I want to remember because they were wonderful learning and faith-building moments.

Friday night I had prayed that I would, 1) have a good race and meet my goal time; 2) if I couldn't meet my goal time that I would just be able finish the race; 3) that if things got tough I would have the mental fortitude to just push through them and 4) that I would always have a happy face and kind words when I saw my support crew of family members.

God is a god of miracles. He certainly could have healed my stomach issues and helped me meet my trained for goal finish time. However, He is also an omniscient God and knows how to best teach me. It would have been so easy for Him to have helped me achieve my goal. I think, though, He wanted me to learn a greater lesson.

 He knew that I once and for all needed to learn that I do have the mental fortitude to persevere even under difficult and trying circumstances. I have often told one of my running friends that she is mentally tougher than I am. I think at times I have used it as an excuse to not give a 100% effort, back off a training run, or even quit a run saying "I just can't". Well, finishing Saturday's marathon proved that I can. The way the course was configured we had to run by the finish line twice before we finished. Once was at mile 6, the other at mile 16. I got sick at mile 14. I spent the next 2 miles seriously contemplating just quitting when I reached mile 16. I was sick. I had an excuse. But I had prayed that Heavenly Father would help me finish the race. So as I approached mile 16, I said to myself  "Just keep going. Get past mile 16 and then you are past the point of no return." Mile 16 came and went. I had mentally willed myself beyond the easy quitting point. I can do hard things.

Now, I didn't feel significantly better, but I did notice that Heavenly Father was sending me blessings. So another lesson I learned was how to recognize blessing when things are really crappy. I noticed that the cloud cover came just as I was beginning to overheat. The wind always seemed to be at my back. My piriformis muscle that had been hurting on the last two long training runs and even the week leading up to the marathon was not an issue at all. Matter of fact, with the exception of a really bad calf cramp at mile 10 which worked itself out, I didn't have any problems with my legs until mile 25. My sweet husband always seemed to show up with just the right things to say when I needed him. And even though I was so discouraged, felt horrible, and really wanted to quit, I was still happy to see him and never got snippy or mean (I was really concerned about my ability to be nice when I was feeling crappy; that's why I prayed for that particular assistance).

Saturday I was pretty sure that I was one and done as far as marathons go. Even on Sunday I was still pretty sure that I wouldn't run another. Today? Well today I think another marathon is possible...

More News from Katelyn

Mom,

My favorite talk was also Elder Holland's talk, he just kind of slaps you in the face. I love it!

Ok one of the biggest things that annoys me being out here are the members!! Each night when we have dinner, we share a message and challenge them to invite someone to something that's church related. When we do that a lot of people get super offended because they think we're just passing our work off to them! NO! We are asked to do that by general authorities! And people think the missionaries are more spiritually inclined than everyone else because we're wearing the name tag. The only difference between us and members is a name tag.. That's it. Don't expect the missionaries to do everything. We need help. I don't think people realize how much work we have to do each day. And when we're having dinner all the members want to do is sit and chat. That's another no-no. They need to allow us to share a message and talk about missionary work. We rely on the members to help give referrals. Members should offer to help in anyway they can.

~Sister Graham



She also sent a couple of pictures. The first is with her companion at the Mesa Temple Easter Pageant. The second is with her companion and the ashtray one of their investigators gave them when she committed to quit smoking.

Kate Sent Pictures

This will be a brief blog up-date from Katelyn...just like her weekly e-mails, brief. I think she must have spent her computer time last week uploading pictures because that is about all we got.

First up, she wanted us to know that she wasn't starving and that her pantry is full. Apparently they love the dollar store there. But after looking at the food in her pantry, I know why she was wanting some dieting tips. I suggested she go to a more paleo diet. From the pictures, it looks like she didn't like that idea.

The next picture is one she titled "slightly embarrassing war wound". I think it is from when she crashed on her bike. She must have recovered sufficiently because there wasn't very much description with the picture or the story, just "I crashed"

Apologies for the sideways picture. Blogger wouldn't download the picture when I rotated it. Weird.

And final picture is a 3rd verse for the hymn "Called to Serve

So aside from a bike crash and too many processed foods (in my opinion), she seems to be doing great. She continues to enjoy the work and sharing the good news of Christ.

 

 



Quotes for Today

I shared these quotes in the letter I wrote to Katelyn today. To me, they all were connected; although I did not draw the connection for Katelyn because I wanted her to come to her conclusions on what that connection might be.

Quote 1

Incredible change happens in your life when you decide to take control of what do have power over instead of craving control over what you don't. --Steve Maraboli

Quote 2

As we temporarily endure the challenges we can solve and as we continue to endure the challenges we cannot solve, it is important to remember that the spiritual strength we develop will help us successfully endure all the challenges we face in life.-- Elder Richard J Maynes 

Quote 3

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference. Living one day at a time;
Enjoying one moment at a time;
Accepting hardships as the pathway to peace;
Taking, as He did, this sinful world
as it is, not as I would have it;
Trusting that He will make all things right
if I surrender to His Will;
That I may be reasonably happy in this life
and supremely happy with Him
Forever in the next.
Amen.

--Reinhold Niebuhr  

Scripture and Song:

Proverbs 3:5-6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;
in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will direct your paths.


Lead, Kindly Light
Lead, kindly Light, amid th'encircling gloom;
Lead thou me on!
The night is dark, and I am far from home;
Lead, thou me on!
Keep thou my feet; I do not ask to see
The distance scene, one step enough for me

So long the pow'r hath blest me, sure it still
Will lead me on
O'er moor and fen, o'er crag and torrent, till
The night is gone.
And with the morn those angel faces smile
Which I have loved long since,
and lost awhile!


Where is the connection for all these? For me, it is simply in that the only things we can control is the things we have power over (like our choices, attitudes, faith, etc). Difficulties and challenges will arise that will often having us seeking control over things that we just don't have power over. We need God to help us accept that we don't have that power or control, endure those things and strengthen us along the way. If we seek for His guidance, He will guide us with his light and give us courage to face the dark. Our vision of how things might/should be is often clouded and skewed; God's vision is perfectly clear and we need to rely and trust in that.

So what do you think? What do you draw from these quotes, scripture and song? I would love to hear your thoughts.

16 Felt Harder than 21

Last week I ran my longest ever run. I went 21 miles (well, technically 20.65 but close enough). I have to say that I felt pretty darn good for most of that run. I tried some new fueling techniques. Here's what I did:

• Mile 3:  about 3 sips of flat Coke
• Mile 6:  one Gu (vanilla, I think) and 3 sips of water
• Somewhere between mile 9 and 10:  3 more sips of Coke
• Mile 12:  another Gu (Jet Blackberry flavor)
• Somewhere between mile 15 and 16:  more Coke

I think I took another Gu about mile 18, but I can't remember for sure. I really liked that routine and felt pretty good mentally (no cloudy thinking). I also didn't seem to have an GI issues following that routine. I was physically tired, but I suppose that is to be expected when you run almost 21 miles. Feeling that good running that far was a pretty good confidence booster.

I need to remember that run because this week's run sucked! It was only 16 so it shouldn't have felt so dang hard, but we picked a really tough route that kicked my trash today. The first mile and a half was good, but then we hit the hills going towards the county park and in the dark, they felt like they were never going to end! Instead of heading down into the county park, we stayed to the left and went up, up, up Idaho Road. We stayed on that until we hit Mission. I thought I had remembered that Mission was just down, down, down. It is mostly that but you do have to climb for about 1/2 mile before you get the nice down, down, down. Ugh! I was dying by time we hit the intersection of Mission and Molter and we still had 8 miles to go. Fortunately for the second 8 miles it was a flat route and I was able to finish, but man it was hard. Felt more tired today than last week.

I also was messing with my fueling a bit, too. I wanted to see how I would do without the Coke and all of the Gu's. I can tell you...not good. Having the sips of Coke every so often is like having a caffeine drip. And the fact that the Gu's I take also have caffeine, with the jet blackberry having a double shot. Anyway, today I was using Dots candies and water for most of the run. And while they were a good carb source I missed the boost of the caffeine. So for next week's 22-miler, I'll be carrying Coke, water and Gu's.

Oh, why the Dots you might be wondering? Well, those dang Gu's are about $1.50 a piece and I'm cheap so I was trying to find an alternative fuel source that would be cheaper. Plus I just like Dots and figured I could stand to eat a handful of  those every 3 miles.