I cannot believe this...

but I'm running again!!

Quick background: In high school I began jogging casually. Freshman year of college I joined the cross country team and got a little more into it. I also had a best friend who would run with me, and I loved our fellowship time that we shared over a "good run." After that it was back to casual, and I had other running buddies, usually youth from the youth group (I was a youth leader). I got heavily into it again just before Chuck and I started dating because I wanted to look good in a wedding dress :) But eventually my running buddies all moved away and I didn't run much. Chuck didn't want me running alone for safety, understandably. Then I had kids, and that left even fewer opportunities. 6 weeks after Chance was born I joined a training group for a 5K race, and while I had all the motivation I needed, I soon realized it was too hard on Chuck, with the various times he'd have to watch the boys so I could run. So I didn't make it to the race. At that time I resolved that when the kids were older I'd someday run a 10K, which I have never done before.

So then last week I found out my aunt had been diagnosed with leukemia. The same day in the mail I received a pamplet to run for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society. I sighed, knowing that there's no way I could run a half marathon by November unless I started training now, which doesn't seem possible.

A few days later I got an email from the place I trained with a year ago. This is the first email I've gotten from them since that time. They wanted to know if I'd join the 10K training group, for a race in August. I sighed again, but didn't delete the email. So I thought on it for a day or two, but knew that it'd probably be too much on Chuck again; too big of a time commitment for me.

THEN I get an email from Karen. I met Karen in April at the Women's retreat, and we even ran together while we were there. So here it is, 2 months since we last talked, and she'd tracked down my email address and asked me if I would like to run with her! She said she'd come to my house twice a week and we could run my neighborhood while our families were sleeping in the early morning.

At this point I'm thinking, "God are you trying to tell me something?!?" All of this suddenly fell into my lap in the last week.

So I gladly accepted her invitation, and talked with Chuck and decided to join the 10K group! And Karen joined as well!

This morning Karen and I went for our first run, and I'm acutely aware of how out of shape I am...and how much I've missed it! And the fellowship is sweet, too. It's amazing to me how God meets our needs...sometimes we don't even have to try.

I'm hoping my enthusiasm will continue to help me keep up with getting up early 3 days a week (2 runs with Karen, one training meeting)... But I'm so grateful to be back in the saddle again. And will I run a half marathon in November? We'll see. I think I'll go to the informational seminar and find out!