I'm So Unworthy...

My little ones and I have been singing this lately...

It's falling from the clouds
A strange and lovely sound
I hear it in the thunder and rain
It's ringing in the skies
Like cannons in the night
The music of the universe plays

You are holy great and mighty
The moon and the stars declare who You are
I'm so unworthy, but still You love me
Forever my heart will sing of how great You are

Beautiful and free
Song of Galaxies
It's reaching far beyond the milky way
Lets join in with the sound
C'mon let's sing it loud
As the music of the universe plays

All glory, honor, power is Yours amen
All glory, honor, power is Yours amen
All glory, honor, power is Yours forever amen

Running Gear

Skinceuticals spf 20 for my face!
Ponytails are a must!
Thorlo running socks:
My new Ipod shuffle that I have been enjoying.
Moving Comfort Sports Bra:
The coolest summer running top!


Wouldn't leave my house without it!
My shoes...I have also decided to buy a Mizuno stability pair to alternate with.
The Garmin 305...that makes me keep up my pace. I'm learning to ignore it somedays!

I love these shorts...they are the most comfortable out of all the ones I have.

I almost always wear this hat in white or black because my hair is naturally curly and gets wild. I like it all contained!

Lotsa lip balm is important, too!

Progress

I am feeling better and can walk, which was not true on Thursday. It is very encouraging that it is getting better-a little each day. I stayed home from church today so that I could rest. I do not like to do this, but Mike thought it would be wise. With me home alone, I can really stay sitting down. I am trying to not stand or walk around too much, but that is hard to do with 4 kids! Gracie has a mission's meeting today so I will need to get out to eat lunch with everyone and bring the younger kids home while Mike stays around for her meeting. Living an hour away from church has its challenges!

I hope this is just a muscle pull and not a stress fracture. This area has been bothering me for a while, but not enough to keep me from running or anything. When I started having trouble with walking and more pain when I put weight on it, I knew I would have to stay off of it for a while. Hopefully after this week, I can try and walk and maybe work up to a slow run. If not, I may visit an orthopedic sports doctor because if it is a stress fracture,(only a MRI can show this) I will need to know. Stress fractures will only get worse if not allowed to heal all the way, whereas a muscle pull can be stretched and used while healing.

Mary Ann has inspired me to memorize scripture this summer, so I have begun memorizing 1st John. Our pastor is preaching through this book now, so I thought it would be good to work through this book at home as well. I have been working on 1st John 1:1-3 and have them down pretty well. It takes me a long time to memorize...so unlike my children who memorize so quickly! Maybe I can memorize chapter one this week. With no running early in the mornings, I should have lots of time for memorizing. One of the blessings of being injured!

Thank you for your sweet comments and prayers! I am trying to learn more patience...the wait for the adoption has been teaching me that, but I must need to learn more. I love to run, but if God needs to move it from me, then I must respond with patience and thankfulness.

Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;
Naught be all else to me, save that Thou art.
Thou my best Thought, by day or by night,
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

Down and Out

Well, I guess this is my first real running injury. Although I have been running for years, I have been really pushing myself a lot lately and the result is my body could not handle it. I am hobbling around the house in a great deal of pain. I'm not sure what it is, but it hurts to put any weight on the injured leg. The pain is up high in the joint where my thigh joins into the hip. It does loosen up a little if I walk around, but still it is very difficult to walk. I need crutches. Seriously.

After reading up on injuries, my plan is to rest from running and walking for about a week, ice the injured area 2-3 times during the day, and maybe start stretching in a few days. Maybe I can gradually work back into walking/running when the pain is gone. I don't want to rush things and make it worse. I do not want to go to the doctor for an MRI unless I have to. So, I am going to wait it out for at least a week and see how I am doing.

I am pretty sure the speed work I was doing is was put the added stress on my hip and caused the injury. I knew I didn't like the speedy runs! : )

I would appreciate your prayers.

3.33 Miles

Distance--3.3 miles
Time--30:59
Pace--9:17/mi

I have been taking it easy this week trying to figure out what is going on. I have always had a tight muscle kinda in my upper thigh near where it joins into my hip on the inside of my leg---I know, a weird place. I stretch it all the time and it always feels tight and sometimes hurts just a tad, but nothing really bad. Since I ran the 5k fast last week, I have been having some very unusual pain in my pe*lv*ic area. I rested on Monday mainly because of my blister and that pain, then ran on Tuesday. It has gotten worse each time I try to run. I rested again yesterday and decided to run a short and slow run this afternoon to see how I would feel. The weather is so gorgeous here today, I just couldn't resist! It is still hurting pretty bad. I ran fine...the pain did not get worse during the actual run, but when I finished I could barely walk. It hurts the most when I put weight on that leg. It may be a strained muscle or a stress fracture and is radiating pain in that whole area. Do any of you know what this could be? I really do not want to go to the doctor and have a bunch of expensive tests run just to find out it must be muscular. I guess I need to take some time off and see if it gets better. I was hoping that it would get better this week with me running less. But, it is hurting worse today after running so that must mean I don't need to run. ) :

I am a little bit discouraged because I LOVE to run. Even on the two days I rested this week, I was feeling antsy and in need of a good run! I have gotten so used to it that I really miss it when I can't do it! Resting will be hard for me. Do any of you have any wisdom or advice to pass along? Thanks!

A Faithful God!

A nice run today with some discomfort from my blister...band aids helped. It began raining on the run which was refreshing, but I also heard thunder, so I got home as soon as I could. I do not like running when lightning is a threat! When I got home, I sat out on our covered patio and listened to the thunder roll and thanked God for His power and faithfulness to me over the years.

Distance--4.43 miles
Time--39:55
Pace--9:00/mi

I am studying this week on God's faithfulness and steadfastness in my quiet time. This attribute of God has been especially comforting to me over the years as I have struggled with doubt in regards to my salvation. When I doubt, I make it more about me than I should--instead of just seeing His faithfulness in saving me and keeping me. I look at myself and my lack of faith instead of seeing His power to save and keep me in spite of my own wicked heart. I focus on what I have NOT done in my life, instead of seeing what He HAS DONE in my heart. I have a self centered focus at times that causes my heart to think that there is no way I could be His child. I lose sight of His faithfulness to me at times. This quote has been so helpful to me to encourage me to see that the object of my faith is what is important...not how much faith I have.

“Imagine you are on a high cliff and you lose your footing and begin to fall. Just beside you is a branch sticking out of the edge of the cliff. It is your only hope and seems more than strong enough. How can it save you?

If you’re certain the branch can support you, but you don’t actually reach out and grab it, you are lost. If instead your mind is filled with doubts and uncertainty that the branch can hold you, but you reach out and grab it anyway, you will be saved. Why?

It is not the strength of your faith but the object of your faith that actually saves you. Strong faith in a weak branch is fatally inferior to weak faith in a strong branch.”

—Timothy Keller, The Reason For God (New York, NY: Dutton, 2008), 234

Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord your God is GOD, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations.

1 John 4:10 In this is love, not that we love have loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins.

I thought this blog was about running...I guess everything in my life always come back to how wonderful My God is!

Be blessed and encouraged today!

Ouchie!

I did not run today. Here's why:


Isn't it lovely? I have always heard that changing your socks can cause blisters and I guess that is what happened last week. I wore some Nike dry fit socks on a couple of days instead of my beloved thorlo running socks. Now, I have this on the side of my big toe. I'm feeling a little bit like the ultra marathon man...where is the needle to drain it, super glue, and duct tape? That should fix it. Yikes!

Happy running to you all! Maybe tomorrow for me.

Tonight I am going to take Gracie to LR for her ACT prep class(still working on her goal score!)...I think I will do a little shopping and Starbucks. Today will be a nice break.