20

(This was right before we started. We are both shivering. Don't we look great?! HA!)

Yesterday was the final HUGE run before the marathon. The next two long runs will only be 12 and 8. Which I can honestly say and have earned the right to say, is NOTHING. Yesterday was the peak of my training. Now the taper begins!

Without a doubt, running 20 miles was the hardest thing I have EVER done in my life. Giving birth to three babies was a piece of cake. An epidural is great! But there are no epidurals in running. I have no idea how I will run 6.2 miles more. Everyone tells me, you run it with your HEART so I guess that's what I will do.

Words cannot possibly describe the run. I laughed soooo HARD and at times shed tears. Heidi had me laughing so hysterically at one point that I thought I was going to pee all over myself. I think I did a little (thanks to giving birth to three kids).

Northerners, Mid Westerners (anyone who doesn't live in Texas!) could say that Texans are wimps when it comes to the cold and I would totally agree. We ran 20 miles in thirty degree temps and awful wind!!! The wind I can handle but not cold and wind together. Thirty degrees in Texas is bitter cold, especially when the day before was almost eighty degrees. I decided yesterday that I would take the Texas Summers over freezing cold ANY DAY. That's where we get our toughness. The heat! :) I'm sure when I begin training for the Chicago marathon in July, I will be cursing and wishing for the thirty degree weather to come back! But it's not July yet and the Austin marathon will be here in twenty-one days!

I will never forget yesterday. Yesterday was the first time I realized how much running hurts. I now understand why only 1% of the population run marathons. The incredible part is I never wanted to quit. It was more exciting to keep adding the mileage. There is a point you reach when you are so dang mad at your body that you basically just tell it to shut up and keep going. Many times I talked out loud and told my body to keep going. The mind is so much stronger than the body. SOOOOOOO MUCH STRONGER!

Towards the end, my lower half was in so much pain that I hobbled and then I would hobble long enough to get back on the "high" and pick up the pace. It is absolutely unbelievable how you can overcome pain. Heidi told me at the beginning of the run that Lance Armstrong's mantra was "Pain is something that leaves you but quitting stays with you forever." I LOVED THAT! The pain does leave. It does! That is what is so amazing about it! On one of the monster hills I said to Heidi "They shall run and not grow weary." Then a little bit later I felt my phone buzzing. I checked it to make sure it wasn't Jeremy. Instead it was a text message from my Dad who knew I was in the middle of my run. His text said "THEY SHALL RUN AND NOT GROW WEARY." It blew me away!!! My Dad and I had never talked about that scripture before so to get that text from him was such a God thing! WOW! That scripture will be my mantra! It was also a very emotional moment for me to have my Dad enter into my world like that. After it was over I called to tell him and he was gushing with joy and pride. He is coming in town for the marathon and I think he is more excited for me than I am. For those of you who know my testimony and my childhood, you KNOW what an incredible thing this is with my Dad.

Before we left yesterday, Jeremy and Josiah prayed over me. That was incredible hearing Father and son pray for me together. Then before Heidi I got out of her warm van and into the cold, we prayed. Many times on the course we prayed again. Something Heidi said when she prayed really stuck with me. "Lord, let this run be a time of worship." WOW! And I can honestly say that it was.

Yesterday was tough but I am absolutely in love with this sport. I simply cannot get enough. I'm already dreading the marathon being over. So for the next 21 days, I'm gonna take it all in.

This wife and mom of three is about to be a MARATHONER!

Thank you Lord Jesus for running.

Isaiah 40:31 31 but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly know how far they can go." -T.S. Eliot