10 miles strong

We made it! Yesterday 17,800 people ran the 10-mile Broad Street Run in Central Philadelphia. The weather was nearly perfect for a race, with the temperature in the 60s, beautiful sunshine, and the wind at our backs. In a shocking twist of events, I didn't even lose much sweat! Going up to the race, most of the students had never run farther than 6 miles. I had expected 5-7 of the 23 runners to finish the 10-mile trek. Instead of only 5-7, we had 20 of 23 finish!!!! Most of the students finished on willpower alone, and it was tremendously rewarding to see EVERYONE go beyond what they thought they could do.

Personally, I had a awesome time. Races like that are so much fun! Being part of the Students Run program is the icing on the cake; when I'm encouraging students to do their best, I forget about myself. (funny...is sounds like the Bible might say something about that!) Sarah and I started with a bunch of runners, then decided to run with a 7th grade girl named "Kwaamia" for the whole race (before the race she had asked me to run with her). It was hard at times because both of us wanted to go faster and not stop to walk much, but we wanted to stay and encourage Kwaamia. The three of us finished the race in just over two hours! Kwaamia had never gone farther than 6 miles before, and she was appropriately quite proud of herself.

Surprisingly, my body feels pretty good! I was quite tired yesterday, but it was an accomplished tired. My muscles are only a little sore today. Running with Kwaamia helped my confidence. Due to our slow speed, I felt great by the end! It made me feel much better about running a half marathon, and that a marathon isn't an impossible task. We'll have to see though...one day at a time!

I'll try to get some pictures from the race and post them later today. Until then, you'll just have to imagine it!

Next task: overcome my blasted allergies. My nose has been a leaky faucet this past week. Just this past Monday, it seems like everything opened up and attacked my nostrils. Pray for healing there.