Sunday, September 29, 2013

My Marathon Journey: #8 Twin Cities 2009 - 3:06:56

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 - "Don't you realize that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who lives in you and was given to you by God? You do not belong to yourself, for God bought you with a high price. So you must honor God with your body."

2009 was the first time in my life where I really understood what it meant to honor God with everything, not just when you show up to church on the weekend. This included how I treated myself physically. I've always cared about my physical health, but this scripture really changed things. In all I do, I needed to honor God. I took this to heart in my training for Twin Cities 2009 and I saw the fruits of what I had been doing. My training was the best I'd ever had. I was completely healthy when I toed the starting line. The weather was literally PERFECT.

I ran a P.R. on the Twin Cities course in 2009, 3:06:56, something I plan to beat in less than a week. My one downfall on the Twin Cities course each time that I have run that marathon has been Summit Avenue. The hill that begins the final 5 miles of the course leads up to St. Thomas and onto Summit. Every year, my parents and my wife are cheering for me at the top of that hill. They get a pretty good indication of how I'm doing when I get to the top of that hill. In 2009, it was probably the best I'd ever looked and I ran 4 minutes faster than I had in the rain of 2008, but I was still hurting bad at that point. Now, typically at 21.5 miles of any marathon, you are typically hurting, but on Twin Cities, the challenge of the course is just beginning at that point. I had yet to figure out how to get to Summit Avenue in a position to finish strong. Despite my best TCM performance I still walked on Summit.

However, I made it through and I had an overwhelming sense of elation as I came down the final hill past the Cathedral to the Capitol, and I let it out! It was so much fun! I couldn't help it! I also couldn't have predicted how my next marathon journey could have gone. No doubt I was happy with Twin Cities 2009, but it was a mere stepping stone to what was to come in 2010.



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