Sunday, December 04, 2005

Giving Thanks

I ran a marathon ... the training for and running of the marathon was a very momentous time in my life. A time that I would not have had, had it not been for the love and support offerings of others and for this I want to give thanks.

I am so grateful to have the Lord Jesus in my life, without Him as my Rock I know I would not have even attempted something of this magnitude. With Him, all things are possible. I have said before that I ran alone ... but in actuality that just isn't the case. The one true running companion I had was my Lord and Savior. I carried on many a conversation and shared in some truly spectacular sights with Him during the long hours of training and the seemingly longer hours of the marathon. Thank you Jesus!!!

I am thankful for Jason, without his support, I literally would not have been able to do this. Training for a marathon is a very time consuming process. Towards the end there I was running almost 8 hours a week. This was time that was spent away from my family and time that I had to schedule for Jason to be home with Megan. Which in and of itself is great ... but it does make it more difficult when I am on a strict 'schedule'. I needed that schedule to get me through! He was my main source of encouragement and the external drive that I needed. When he told me he was proud of me, it made it all worth while!

I am blessed by my beautiful daughter, Megan. She is a momma's girl, but she never complained about the long hours that I spent away from her. She would get excited for me when I put my running gear on and would always talk about "momma go runnin". Training for this marathon was as much for her as it was for me. I really want to be a positive influence for my daughter.

A big thanks to my dear friend Christie, who inspired me and gave me the tools that I needed to accomplish this momentous task. I wouldn't have even considered that I, a complete non-runner ... someone who actually disliked the very act of running, could have done this without her planting the seed and nurturing it and then giving me a bit of a push and shove on occasion.

A huge round of thanks to KT, Em and Sarah Elaine who followed my progress, kept tabs on my whereabouts and spurred me on. They were a huge source of encouragement and their support meant more then they will ever know.

I also want to thank everyone who has stopped by and read my blog. The more people who read it the more I felt like I needed to finish it ... the marathon that is ... so that I could finish that chapter on my blog.

THANK YOU!!!

7 comments:

kt said...

did you think, whence upon you were writing this post, that you might move folks to tears?

well, uponce reading aforementioned post, i was feeling the chills, and awaited the tears. but you are a concise author and my tears were abated.

your welcome, of course. i hope i can do what you've done, amber!

are your feet truly STILL sore? have you run since the big day?

wish you lived closer and we could run together. i'm having a hard time gearing up to go out in 23 degree weather! ugh and yuk.

thnks for updating. love to read!

whereupon, whence, and etcetera...
kudos to you and your Lord and Savior! i thank OUR God for you every time i think of you!

kt=)

Meredith said...

Congratulations! It has been so exciting to read about your journey.

Kimberly Rae said...

I'm not sure I remember how I came across your blog, and I have yet to read the excitement of the day of the marathon yet, but my hats are tipped to anyone who trains for and completes these babies!

I can only imagine the wonderful conversations you and God had along the way, both training and during the marathon!

I'm a beginner runner, having run my first 5K on a sub zero day in Chicagoland on Thanksgiving Day and I will run my 2nd 5K this Sunday. I can only hope to consider a marathon someday.

Great job!

Sarah Elaine said...

Amber, you are truly an inspiration. I agree with you... We never run alone.

Anonymous said...

i just want to say way to go amber on not only doing the marathon itself but all the training you had to do beforehand and i know from our little chats how much you had to do, i also know how nervous you were and doubtfull of yourself just the day before the race and were dreading even just the start line, but hey you still got out there and not only started but ran the whole thing and finished, well done hon your a star and i dont want to just add my own congratulations but from everyone in our gaming league well done to our road runner :)

~Kelly * KJV~ said...

Amber, Thanks for your words of encouragement to me!! I love your blog, it's late and I only got to read this one but I'm going to bookmark your blog so I can come back to it again and read all the rest of yours [past and future!!] Thanks again!! Kelly

Kimberly Rae said...

Amber thanks for stopping by my blog! Got that book Non runners marathon guide - not even to week 1 training and I love it already.

I know my actual marathon training will have to wait until after my bodybuilding competition in May, but that would put me right in line for the LaSalle Bank marathon in chicago????