work in progress

I've been following Kristin Armstrong's blog on Runner's World.com for quiet some time now. I am never dissapointed in her posts. On the contrary, I am almost always left with the feeling that she was speaking directly to me and that she and I are somehow connected. I'm sure that seems weird considering I have never met the woman and she knows nothing about me but it's true. I love the way she writes and her words wrap you up the way an old friend would having not seen you for way too long. After reading her last blog entry and feeling like I couldn't get enough I went in search of other things she has written. In my search I discovered that she wrote a book called "work in progress - An unfinished woman's guide to grace". I went out that very night to buy it. In my first sitting with the book I'm about 1/3 of the way thru it and I already know that I will read it again the minute I'm finished- there are pages highlighted and once again, she has spoken directly to me.

So, what is it about her writing that speaks so loudly to my heart? She too is a mother raising 2 girls and 1 boy, she is a runner and most importantly she is a self proclaimed 'work in progress'. I feel about this book the way Oprah did when she read A New Earth (which I also loved). I remember her saying she went out and bought 30 copies of the book and gave them out. I intend to do the same (at least my scaled down version), I plan on going out and buying 3 copies of it to pass on (I refuse to part with my copy which will be dog-eared in no time!). I'm not sure yet who will receive them, but whomever it is they will be blessed.

I cannot expect every person I tell about this book to go out and read it, but if I could just share one paragraph from the book it would be this one. Keeping in mind I'm only 1/3 of the way thru the book, thus far this paragraph has touched me to the core and is my favorite paragraph:
"There is one surefire way to build trust with God. Scour His Word for His Promises and put them to the test! When you come up against a situation or circumstance beyond your own ability, instead of getting frightened or frustrated or calling everyone you know, try getting quiet." Now those are some powerful words! Let me think, how many times a day do I get frightened or frustrated and go on blabbing my mouth about it??? Oh maybe 1000! No matter how old I get I must be reminded, sometimes constantly, that I do NOT always know what is best and that I could use some Grace in my life and I too am a work in progress...

Will run for watermelon!!

Thursday evening Michelle, Josh and I ran the Summer Solstice Watermelon run, it was a 5 mile run thru El Dorado Park in Long Beach. It was kind of odd running on a Thursday evening and both Michelle and I thought it added a bit to the excitement. I tend to run best in the evening so I was thrilled at not having to be at a start line at 7am on a Sunday morning. Jessica went for moral support and she was given the job of "official photographer" which was kinda nice not having to worry about that part of it, but it was very nice seeing her smiling face at the halfway mark and again at the finish.
We get there, get our numbers, hit the bathrooms and line up at the Start line, which was facing the wrong way so standing behind it you couldn't see that the banner said START. This was my first indication that this run was not as organized as most we've done. Then I see a man and a woman standing on top of ladders next to the start line, wait their mouths are moving- he is giving directions! Verbally telling us what the course was (HUH????) well thank GOD I wasn't leading this pack because I couldn't hear a word he was saying.... and then she sang the National Anthem (from where we were she was lip singing!) and away we went. The course was flat with a few rolling hills, nothing major, nicely paved and overall a good course. It was a beautiful park with a lake so the scenery was nice too. I think we all did great times, Josh beat us once again with a time of about 50 min, I ran it in about 55 min and Michelle was behind me by a few minutes.
Afterward we got watermelons and took a bunch of pictures. The Honikels came to support Josh and they bought us all dinner afterwards which was very nice of them.
All in all it's been a great week of running, I finally broke my 10 mile mark with a total of 11.5 miles this week. I did 2 morning runs including one on Saturday morning, I got up early and did a nice 4 miles. I want to keep up with the morning runs as it gets hotter this may be the only cool part of the day to get a good run in.... I also want to try and get out with the running group from The Running Lab for maybe a longish run on Wednesdays.