Famous Potato 2009

Hey there race fans!!! I'm happy to say that I finished the Famous Potato half-marathon yesterday. It was a lot of fun!!! It was so good to have lots of good friends to run it with and cheering us on. My time was 2:33:42 and I came in 84th in my division and 683 overall out of 824. I was hoping to finish by 2:45 and totally smoked my expectations! I'm a little bit sore today, but feel great and still amazed that I actually ran 13.1 miles!!! You can find all of the stats HERE--I'm listed on page 13 of the overall results by distance. We started the race at Lucky Peak and it was COLD and WINDY! There was a lot of adrenaline going on and I felt like I had climbed up to the top of a giant water slide and there was no turning back! I still couldn't believe that I was actually running a real race! Once we got started running it warmed up quickly and was such a beautiful day! We ran the greenbelt along the Boise River most of the way and also ran through some beautiful neighborhoods. The finish line was downtown at Ann Morrison Park where my family was waiting for me and Libby and Daniel ran the last little stretch with me to cross the finish line! It made me cry! It was too sweet.

Libby starting her run with me.

Libby and Daniel finishing the race with me!!! :)

On our way out of the park my friend Shiela and I decided to wade out into the river-the cold water is supposed to help post-run soreness. We didn't get out there too far or stay in the water too long-it was SO cold, but it was fun.

Here's pictures of some of our friends finishing the race...sorry we didn't get pictures of everyone!

Alan with Jordan and Makayla finishing up the race!

Here comes Shauna!

Jennifer finishing up her 10K. Great job, Jennifer!


Here's proof that you ARE a runner!!!

Carrie and Wendy-race to the finish!!

Kevin and Jordan running together!

Overall, it was such a great experience. I was surprised at how much training for this race has parallelled my walk with God. I think just about every run I went on, He spoke to me about endurance and finishing strong and not giving up! I'm so thankful that I have a healthy body to be able to run and endure long distances, but I have to train and work at it...just like I have to exercise my spiritual self by being in the Word of God and in prayer to be able to be strong spiritually and endure hard times. At one point in my race yesterday I was running along a neat stretch of the river where there was a lot tall grasses-it was so pretty! A song came on my i-pod about "dancin' with my Father God in fields of grace" at that time and I thought about how there's so much freedom in "dancing" with God. I felt so free running yesterday-no worries-just spending time praising the Lord and enjoying dancing with him along the greenbelt. It's not a religious thing about rules and looking good, but having a real relationship with the God of the Universe-my creator who knows everything about me...my weaknesses, strengths, struggles, joys and the deepest desires of my heart. He's an awesome God....do YOU know him?! I'd love to introduce Him to you!

Heb 12:1,2 NLT "Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish."