10, 9, 9 and The Religion of Running

That was our running times for the day. I dragged myself out of bed, feeling nothing like running, but knowing I need to stick to my training. After a good stretching routine I felt a little more ready to hit the road. Once on the road, I was so relaxed. The first run was so easy we decided to go for 10 minutes. At the end of the ten minutes, we knew it was time to walk. The next two cycles we stuck with 9 minutes. They were both mostly uphill and I think 9 minutes uphill should count for 11 minuted downhill, don't you?
Today, I really enjoyed stretching before and after running. I was able to breathe deeply. Deep stretching is very relaxing. It is almost meditative. In fact running has become easier in some ways, so that I can actually be calm and think during runs now. Today I was noticing how tall and straight some of the trees were. God caused those trees to stand that way in spite of storms winds, lightning, hail and snow. I prayed that he would do the same for me. Monday when I ran I focused on the clouds above instead of the long last hill we run. I kept repeating to myself, "To you, O Lord, I lift up my eyes." Getting my eyes off of that hill and focused on God's creation gave me the strength I needed to finish.
Now if I can just take these lessons out of running and place them in real life context...