Today as I was out running the last 20 miles on the NYC marathon course I felt like I re-learned a very important lesson and fulfilled my purpose for coming to New York City this week. I was having one of those days where I was tired and my run wasn’t going as well as I hoped. All I could think about was how off my body felt, how tired I was from getting up at 5:30 am, how hard it was for me to navigate the city roads and traffic, how I wished I was back home in the forest. Really I was reaping frustration because I had let my heart become too self-focused. As I ran along, God was telling me this is what it is like to be running with an inward focus, but it doesn’t have to be this way. Though I heard Him, it didn’t make it from my head to my heart until after the run, as I lay on the massage table, still irritated by the morning, God impressed on my heart, get outside yourself. Read More

Because I race only race six times a year I am always really excited for race week when it finally rolls around. I was particularly pumped about racing the ING Philadelphia Distance run because I had heard so much about the event from my teammate Deena Kastor, who had set the American Record at the event a few years back. She always talked about the city, course, and event as if it was the perfect environment for supernatural running.
Even though I have had mixed results in my races leading up to marathons I couldn’t help but dream about hitting one of those special days when I feel like I’m floating on heavens clouds. I was secretly hoping to run faster than I had ever run before. So I ran my last interval workout on Tuesday of 8 by 1000 meters with high aspirations for Sundays race. Read More

This week brought the first signs of fall and with it the excitement of increasing fitness as the ING NYC marathon draws near. For the first time this summer the shirt is staying on unless we are really running hard and I have already begun craving pumpkin lattes from Starbucks. There are many parts of fall that I enjoy, but the best part of fall is the feeling of being weeks away from top form. Read More

As I sit in a warm Epsom salt bath, as is my custom on my easy days to help relax my muscles and decrease inflammation, I am not only training my physical body, but my mind and spirit as well. I like to use these “down times,” whether it be sitting in a creek, icing in my bathtub, getting a massage, or using my Normatec as opportunities to dream, visualize, pray, and recharge my mind and spirit. There are various ways methods that I use, such as music, sermons from iBethel.tv, reading books like the one I am currently working through The Biology of Belief, praying, and sometimes just sitting and putting myself on the streets of New York, where I will run my next marathon to train my mind and spirit. Tonight I just sat and reflected on something that I had spent a lot of time thinking about, not only this week, but throughout my entire running career. Read More