Inspiring the Inspiring

So today I want to brag on someone very near and dear to my heart. She's been a best friend of mine since 6th grade. We have math class crazy stories together, roommate fun nights and fun girls outings to go on for hours about. I have a crazy love for this girl. Let me introduce to you, Ashley!!!

Ashley is always someone I have looked up to. She lead the high school tennis team, had some of the best grades in our class, was ALWAYS organized and has amazing fashion and decorating sense that I covet. And men...she's single! I will be taking applications and be performing a thorough background check and personality screening before you can date her! :) She's that awesome!

Unfortunately, we have been in separate cities ever since college. We have gotten to see each other a couple of times, but it is not enough! Thank goodness we live in a world with Facebook. We got to talk back and forth about life after college and lo and behold, she tells me she is running too! I was double shocked when she told me she was inspired by my postings about MY running journey!

This is why this is crazy people...Ashley is the one who introduced me to the Biggest Loser in the first place. An episode of the Biggest Loser is what inspired me to run a marathon in the first place! So in essence, Ashley inspired me to run. And now she's telling me I'm inspiring her!

Then Ashley tells me she's running a half marathon! I ask when and she tells me TOMORROW! I was floored and so excited for her! She ended up running the Rock and Roll Half Marathon in Dallas and finished in 2:29:58. Everyone join me in giving the girl a rousing round of applause!

I totally stole these photos off the web so acknowledge these were taken by really good people!

Look at her go!

   

Photo Finish!


So here's where the gift keeps on giving. My mom has gifted me with a sponsorship in the Walt Disney Marathon in January for my birthday (THANKS MOM!!!!!). I was really debating if I wanted to do the half or the full. But what I realized was I was giving myself excuses to not do the marathon because I am still scared. Ashley doing her half and pushing herself that far has inspired me to push that fear aside and go for it.

Ashley inspired me, I inspired her, and she has inspired me back. That is what true friendship is all about and I am honored to have her as a friend. I love you Ash!

Joy in the Unlikely Places

Hi friends. It's been a while since I've posted anything. I wanted to write after our Biggest Loser 10K and tell you all about it. But I waited a week to get the pictures. That week ended up being extremely busy. So hence I'm coming to you now, story in hand, two weeks later haha.

Jared and I just celebrated one year of wedded awesomeness. Honestly, we look at each other and go, "Wow. This is amazing. We are best friends, a great team and I never get sick of being with you!" So to celebrate God's blessings we went out to Austin and what do we do? We run a 10K! Only us crazy people!

But seriously, we got to the end of the trip and asked, "What was our favorite part?" Our answer was...the Biggest Loser run. It wasn't the most organized event we have ever attended, but it was just FUN. Pictures below:

He's such a stud!

Sprinting to the end!

I make myself smile because I remember how excited I was!

Us being...us.

Biggest Loser Scale!

When we got home we instantly got into craziness. Jared had an interview in Dallas, so we had the mad dash up there and we were so busy. Then the next week came up and it seemed as busy as the last one. I took a week off running to recoup from a running strain then started into a strength training regimen. So I didn't really run for two weeks.

Let me tell you, it was the grumpiest two weeks I think I've ever been. I thought it was just because I was stressed out. After all, everything seemed to be like paddling upstream. Besides work and volunteering, I don't know what is coming in the future for Jared's job and I was frustrated that I wasn't seeing him much.

But today, I realized my lack of running and decided I should probably go if I wanted to keep up my endurance. As I started to get ready, I started to get excited. I was HAPPY to go running, even in the rain! Duchess was especially excited to go running (if only I caught her tearing around the apartment on video)! We got out there and I was saying, "I missed this!" I only went two miles, but those were some of the best two miles EVER.

So what does this say? I think that I have actually found something that makes me unashamedly joyful. It is totally unglamorous wearing no makeup and getting sopping wet as you run in the rain. But honestly, I loved every bit of it. I was shocked to see how happy I was in those pictures from our race. But I have found that running can completely change my mood for the better and can actually help me process though things in a healthy God-given manner.

What makes laugh even more is how scared I was to train at the beginning. I was terrified of trying to run two minutes straight! I have been faithful and now have an activity that makes me feel truly alive.

There are always things in our lives that we get scared of doing. Opening up to people, being honest, having that hard conversation, or trying something new. God constantly asks us to do things out of our comfort zone so that we learn to rely on Him rather than our own strength. That freaks me out! But I am taking a page out of the Biggest Loser. Instead of looking at the issue from a standpoint of, "What if I can't do what God wants me to do?" we need to understand that we are right! We can't! But if God has asked us to do something, nothing is impossible to God! We can then ask ourselves, "What can God do through this because He can?"

The answer to that my friends is 1 Corinthians 2:9:

'But, as it is written, "What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him."'

Still running Across America. Didn't make much progress the last few weeks but here I am today:

Over 200 miles down!

Why The Biggest Loser Is My Favorite TV Show

I admit. I have loved TV my entire life. It's something that I have had a love/hate relationship with as I try to juggle productivity with sitting on the couch enjoying a TV show. Plus, being honest, there isn't a lot being produced out there that is actually worth my time.

But there is one TV show that I must credit my roommate and long time friend Ashley for introducing me to. It had been on for a few years at that point and I was a little put off by the title. Biggest Loser? That seems really demeaning to me. But she finally got me to sit down and watch it with her and it it has gone from the "Never want to see it" category to "One of my favorites."

Sidenote. There are people and situations involved with the show where I don't necessarily agree with personal lifestyles or methods. But I'm not here to talk about that. Just like I don't want people to look into my own personal life and talk trash based on their own opinions, I'm not going to do the same to anyone else.

What I love about the show is that they show us people who are faced with a challenge. This challenge can be mental, emotional, spiritual but no matter what it manifests itself in their weight. People look down on others who try to drown their problems with alcohol or drugs but nobody talks about the abuse of food as a means to try to drown out emotional and spiritual pain. But that is what is happening. And the scary part is, they are showing us people who are just like us. We all have personal pains, frustrations and hang ups that we either decide to overcome or cower in fear from.

Then what they do on the show is not just teach the contestants about what it takes to be physically healthy, but they force them to face their pains and hang ups and deal with them. The process is dramatic, messy, gross at times and confrontational. Everybody loves watching Jillian, Bob and Dolvett kicking butt.

But there is a reason why we love the finale. The transformation is amazing.

We finally get to see the amazing difference both physically and emotionally achieved by the contestants. The beauty of it, all you have to do is watch what you eat and WORK OUT. No magic! But we all know that is much easier said than done. And so we watch these people on TV and we think, "I wish I could accomplish that" because we know how hard it is!

It was actually a moment just like this where I was watching a previous season posted on Netflix, and the last four contestants were all running a marathon. Ada, a small amazing Asian woman who I looked up to through the show got on the screen and said something to the effect, "You can do this too."

This is when I go, "Yea right."

I start thinking in my head. Yes, I love to run. Yes, I would love to run a marathon. However, I can't go for a long time. I was that kid in P.E. wheezing with asthma and could barely run around the gym. I would constantly get passed by the faster kids. Even today, I can barely keep running for up for one minute. Much less the 4-6 hours it takes to complete a marathon. You had Bob Harper to help you. I got nobody and no time.

This little voice came into my head, "Really Maddie? What about me?"

It was then I realized I was in trouble.

Truth is, I got God. God is the man. He made my body. He made my heart, lungs, legs, mind. He knows me better than I know myself. He's like, the best personal trainer anyone could ask for! He than told me, "I gave you all the things you need to run a marathon. There is nothing different about you than anyone else. What is holding you back is that you are afraid of failure so you are not going to even try."

Ouch.

Then God said, "I want you to run a marathon."

Say what?

So I know you are probably thinking I'm crazy at this point, saying to the world, "God wants me to run a marathon." But it's true. Here's the thing. He's not asking me to quit anything that I have been doing. I'm still doing my job, I'm still hanging with my husband, hanging out with friends and family. I'm not doing this to say, "Hey, look how cool I am." I'm doing it to be obedient to God and through it He is showing me how much I am capable of doing.

I started out in August just running 30 seconds every five minutes. I found a great training program that increased my running time each day. After four months of training, crying, anxiety, asthma and anger, I just ran for a full hour last Friday. I went a whole five miles. I had to get in the shower quick to take care of my asthma that was flaring up. And while in the shower and cried. I never thought I could do that. I never in my life thought that I could run that long, think it was fun, struggle at the end and still make it past my goal. I never thought I could. But I did. All because I was obedient to a call and put in the work to make it there.

I have faced my fears on this journey. I've understood I've let fear reign for too long in my life. I've let laziness keep me from doing things I wanted to. I've realized I held onto things that were keeping me from bigger and better things down the road. I've been blessed on this journey to have my husband right along side me and we have faced some of my biggest fears together (like needles!) and in the process have begun to live healthier lives. 

Am I near to a marathon? Not yet. But I'm closer than I was back in September. So as my 10K comes up and the new season of the Biggest Loser starts I watch with tears as some new people start on a journey so much like my own and I have become very reflect-ful (can you tell?) about all that God has done in my life. I also find it fitting that my 10K at the end of the month is being held by none other...than the Biggest Loser.

So here I am. I'm on the flip side. I used to be that girl on the treadmill feeling stupid for trying to run a minute while the girl next to me was at minute 20. I used to think, "I could never do that." And now I'm the girl on the treadmill turning to the person next to me trying to run a minute and saying, "You can do this."

And I'm not just talking about running. 

Turkey Trot Dallas 2012

So today was our Turkey Trot 5K!

We began the morning at 7:00 am with breakfast then headed out for downtown around 7:40. It wasn't hard to find where to go. Not because there were tons of signs, but because there were tons of people! It was like a 45 minute wait for the bathroom alone. Thankfully, I found a small bank of porta-potties that was tucked away and no one could see! I was a little worried about missing the start of the race. However, it proved to be unnecessary to worry about because we didn't even get to the start line until 30 minutes after the gun went off. Thank goodness for RFID chips to time our run! Here's our results!

I was super proud of this race. First, there were TONS of people like I already said! Then, we also had Duchess. I was so surprised! She did so well! I was giving her verbal commands like "left" and "right." Even "up" and "down" for the curb we were running on. She was so focused on running it was amazing! I think she's a sled dog at heart.

Then, we were actually passing people running instead of being passed! It was such a good feeling! I didn't stop throughout the race...every time I wanted to I just kept on going! We beat our last time by three minutes!

What was also really cool is that they had bands along the race course for a mid course jump start. The track also went through Deep Ellum. While I would not normally go through there at night, it's still fun to look at all the store fronts. There was even a puppy day care with all the dogs barking at the runners going past the windows!

Again, I am just super proud of myself in this race. I cannot shout enough for joy!









So now it's onto the 10K! Jared and I just signed up for the Biggest Loser 10K in Austin on January 26th. We are going to make it a part of our 1st anniversary celebration! I am so excited to get better at running and to really see what my body can do!

You can check it out here:
http://www.biggestloserrunwalk.com/Austin_TX_5k_10K

One race I have also longed to do is the Disney Princess Half Marathon! The next one is in February but I seriously doubt I will be able to run it that fast...much less have the money to go! But let's say you are a girl, and lets say that you want to join me for a fun Disney weekend in 2014. Message me on Facebook and let's do it!

You can check out that race here: http://www.rundisney.com/princess-half-marathon/

Still running across America!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The Push Through

Today was one of those days I wanted to turn off the alarm and go to sleep. But man am I glad I got out of bed.

Staff meeting...great. To do list...whittled down significantly!

Then I got to my run and it was the quintessential 'butterflies in my stomach.' I didn't know if I could do it. I was nervous! The training was supposed to be the same intensity, but longer. The last run left me in pain and wheezing. I really didn't know if I could do it!

About 30 minutes in, I only had two running segments of training left and I wasn't nearly as exhausted as last time. I found it amazing! We logged 3.56 miles and I am so proud!

This reminds me of a biggest loser episode where Ashley looks at her mom and wonders, 'What if I go in there and I can't do it?' Don't we all ask that from time to time? We don't know if we can do the next day, that next task. We feel like we can't get up for work or we can't have that conversation or we can't do the thing that God asks us to!

What we need to do is change our mindsets to how Ashley's mom answers her back. 'What happens if you go in there and you can?'

If that's the case, the implications are significant.

If we can get up, go to work, do our ministry, get that workout, we have accomplished something very significant. We have allowed our minds to not put limitations on our actions.

It's kind of like what I have heard Christine Caine say:

'God told Moses to go free God's people. Moses' answer was 'I am not eloquent enough!' As if Moses' eloquence had anything to do with God sending the plagues or parting the Red Sea!'

We can't put limitations on what God can do through us. His is all powerful! All we have to do is be obedient and think of what can happen if we can push through the hard part!

I've passed the Marathon marker on my run Across America. That's a long way! Here's some pictures to kind of see my journey thus far!

A Day For Others

Today was great because we had our Redeemed monthly meeting! It was jam packed with great stuff going on between all the teams and we were able to bless a family with something great but as simple as pizza!

After I had lunch with Jared at the airport and had one of the best salads ever! Then I worked on stuff for Redeemed while listening to the Aggies give away the game. Maybe someday we will be a second half team...

Jared and I had an extremely pleasant walk in the park as it wasn't any over 86 degrees! Its time to break the fall stuff out! Then we got our butts kicked by Bob Harper lol. Jared made this amazing pineapple, mango, orange smoothie! All fruit! Fabulous!

I'm really looking forward to next week! Added 2.14 miles to our Run Across America!