.I have been asked how it feels to know that I am only a month away from testing the limits of my endurance. The short answer is unreal or maybe surreal. I mean I swing from excited to scared, euphoric to conce...rned and everything in between. My legs ache, my knees crackle and pop but my body overall feels strong. My nutrition is all kinds of messed up but I make gains with every run and I am learning. I fall apart and begin to doubt my resolve or my commitment and then someone encourages or inspires me with a simple word or a "Like" and I am refreshed and redouble my effort.
I could not be further from any reality I had anticipated for my life and so I find myself living each day only for the moment not knowing what to expect but knowing that I have placed myself in God's hands trusting that His strength will be enough for me. But wasn't that Zak's testimony during his battle with cancer? Living every minute to its fullest? Trusting that God will work things out to His greater glory and that our job is to "run our race" faithfully. I just helped put together a video tribute for friends to celebrate the life of their daughter who passed away after a long and debilitating battle with disease. In the presentation there was a quote that was used to uplift her in her darkest moments. It is one I had heard but never gotten to really absorb in the way that I saw it last night.
"Life is not measured by the number of breaths, but by the moments that take our breath away."
Breath is essential to all that I am doing and it made me stop to ponder how many times on this journey that my breath has been stolen away by God's wonder. How the fog of a cold morning rises from the streets. The beauty of the sun rising over the start line in Philadelphia. The moments I have shared with people who support this cause, some strangers, many friends, who have gone outside of themselves to show me encouragement and love, to honk or wave as I plod along the roadside. I recall each time that I thought I had stumbled and wouldn't be able to continue that I have been granted new energy, a warm ray of sun or a cloud to cool me for just a moment. I read the stories of the St. Jude patients and their amazing positivity and spirits of perseverance. I think of the sacrifices my family have made to allow me to do all of this. I look down to the bracelet on my wrist which has been with me on every run since it arrived, I think of Zak and the beauty of his faith and his courage and his endurance and it steals my breath away. How do I feel?
Breathless!
Thank you ALL for your support. We're not done yet. Far from it. Thank you God for these moments...and for running with me every step of this journey. It is a privilege for which I am grateful and unworthy.
