"Lean Into the Pain!!!"

Have you ever heard that expression? As painful as something may be, you actually move towards it... INTO it! Well, that's where I think I am these days with my running. It's tough. It's difficult. It's painful.

When I was in college, I heard a "well known" expression: "Whatever doesn't kill me will only make me stronger." Do you know how many times I recite that during an intense long run? I thank my good friend Lance for telling me that when I was a 20-year-old sophomore at Baylor pledging my fraternity. It didn't kill me, and maybe all of that "stuff" I went through made me stronger in the end???

Same goes with running. Today I had two goals: Get to 9 miles (lapping White Rock Lake), then see if I could extend that to 11 miles. I met up with Jason this morning, and I felt fairly confident I could do it. This week has been fairly successful on the running circuit for me: I've run 6, 9, and 4. All of those, however, were done in the comfort of a gym and running on the treadmill.

Today was different. While it was beautiful outside, I would be facing "The Lake." It was crowded, breezy, and most of all... hilly. Chandra had asked me Friday night if it was hilly. "Nah... it's fine. Just one spot." Well, that's coming from a guy who hadn't run it since the winter of 1999 - The White Rock Marathon. So time seems to do a number on the memory.

Well, I ran pretty good. Jason and I chatted throughout it, and I hit 6 miles with ease. 7 miles started to slow me down a little... I could feel some pain on the outsides of my knees. By mile 8, I was searching for water. After finding a water fountain, I reached my truck at 8.8... but I kept going.

And GOING I did. You see, at 8.8 I had to go up the steepest hill... AGAIN! It was easy when you're just starting out. But now things are really starting to hurt. My legs were sore, and my knees were throbbing. What did I do?

I LEANED INTO THE PAIN! I made it to the top of that hill and was rewarded with another water fountain. I then went through a mixture of smaller hills and downward drops, but was fortunate to hit 10 miles. At that, I turned back. Ran until 11.

Looking back, I still am shocked... 11 miles. Seriously... 11! I did it in 1 hour and 59 minutes. Ha! But, I survived. I leaned into the pain... So that is my little inspirational message today. Life will come at you with a lot of hurts. A lot of difficulties. A lot of pain. But I do believe that when we lean into it, God is there to help us.

And whatever doesn't kill you, WILL make you stronger!

Here is a graphic of my run: