Endure

Let me tell you that I have a lot to write about over the next couple of days. It’s been such an interesting life to live this past month. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Cincinnati of late and I must say I’ve been inspired. The young woman I’ve been seeing is the motivated sort. You know the kind of person that will climb a tree just to prove she can or the kind of person who will run a marathon because she believed she could. Well, this past weekend…she did, and then she bucked up and accompanied me to Isaac’s wedding. Talk about enduring. This was her first marathon. I met her at the finish line and she was hurt and exhausted, but she had made it through. She endured. It's really got me thinking about some of the things I missed.

You see I started the year off with a resolution to race in a hundred mile bike event this year, but as much as I love cycling, there has been an itch that I've wanted to scratch. You know, something missing that I once had hoped to do. When I was serving in Italy in 2001 a group of us guys decided that we were going to run the Venice Marathon that following October. So we started training...and training...and training...and oops I messed up my ankles following an 8 mile Saturday run. It wound up being bad enough that I had to go into physical therapy and that was my race. Only one of us made it to Venice that year, and he tore his quadriceps muscle at about halfway through the race. It was a bittersweet ending to that group.

Now here I am eight years later watching people I respect do things I'd hoped to do. I loved it when Konan did an Iron Man a couple years ago. I thought it was pretty awesome when a couple of friends started doing triathlons yet here I am once again wishing I had the courage to endure the struggles and go for it. It's ironic that I say that because anyone who knows me knows how much I've been through. However, this is different. This is personal and this seems to follow me in every activity that I take part in. I need to do it...and so I am. I'm going to run the Chicago Marathon on October 12th this year. I'm not looking to make this a career or anything. I'd much rather just choose to do this once and then go get involved with cycling. This is just something I want to do. I need to do it just to be rid of the old and in with the new.

Now I know I'm going to need accountability on this. I'm sure there will be times when I try and bum it out, so if anyone wants to hold me accountable on this, please do. I need it.

A special thanks to those who have endured me since my divorce...I haven't always made right decisions. I've made quite a few mistakes. I've hurt feelings and I've lost a couple people close to me. Thanks for sticking by me and believing in what God has been doing in me. I'm going to do this and hopefully find a way to glorify God in the process.

A special thanks to Jenn for reminding me about what it means to have determination and to follow through on what you start.

If anyone has any good marathon plans send them on over. I can use all the help I can get. I'm looking forward to enduring all that I need to do to make this happen. It's important to me now. I must endure this.