Survived & Thrived

I did survive the 11 miles this past weekend. It was hard & tedious, but I did it and in a totally respectable time too (for me!). So now I'm pumped for this weekend. I don't know if I'm more excited for this to be over or to actually run the race.

I said in my last running post that I would praise the merits of team & accountability after being so me-centered last time. And it's true, even though a majority of my running during this training process has been alone, the accountability to the team has been a major motivational factor. You have to achieve goals like this for yourself, but you also do it for the team because everyone is working hard, equally hard and you don't want to let anyone down. You don't want to quit on the team. And the team is a very ENCOURAGING part of the process, cheering each other on as you pass major milestones is so important.

On my 11 this past week, Keith biked the route next to me (he's resting his knee for the race b/c it's been acting up again), and it was so encouraging and comforting to have a partner through the 11 miles.

And you know, this is also the truth of our life and our faith. We must make our decision to follow Christ alone, and only Christ sees the solitude in our hearts, but we are a TEAM. We have to work hard because others are working hard around us and for the good of all of us, we can't let each other down, and we NEED to encourage each other through the milestones, both the wonderful and the tragic. God means for us to do this in life together, he means for this team of family, friends and relationships to be a physical aspect of Him, encouraging us and comforting us. And through it, though we have to do the work ourselves, we as a team of believers achieve GREAT THINGS!