It's Time for the Big Day

"I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt, you will be able to do what I did to this tree and even more. You will be able to say to this mountain, 'Go fall in the sea,' And if you have faith, it will happen. If you believe, you will get anything you ask for in prayer." Matthew 21-22

Praying
There is nothing like the power of faith and belief. Tomorrow will be a monumental test for me, but I know that through my faith and belief that God will fullfill my desires which is to finish the marathon. I have run 12 marathons and the last nine, before every one of them I was freaking out. I seemed so unsure if I could finish. But this year is different because for the first time ever I will have God running with me every step of the way. As it was said in Matthew 19:26
"for God all things are possible."
This applies to everything in life!! It says many times in the bible that this is true. All you have to do is ask. That is so amazing!! So I know that tomorrow will be a success, I have no doubt about it!!
Tomorrow I'm going to move the mountain.

As it was said in Romans 8:31 "If God is for us, no one can defeat us." I will not be defeated tomorrow!!


Kellye and Others
I learned tonight how different MS can affect different people. I spoke to Kellye tonight and I started to tell her what I was wearing tomorrow in the race and she stopped me. You see, she couldn't comprehend it and an hour later she would barely remember our conversation. Imagine if you couldn't remember conversations or movies or television shows that you had watched an hour ago.

Now with my father in-law Dave, I never saw those symptoms. It was more physical for him. Of course he lived with MS for 30+ years, and I never heard him mutter one time "why me?" Instead, he loved his family and lived like a true man. He was the kind of father/grandfather that I want to be. He was a mans-man.
I miss him and I will also be thinking about him tomorrow. When I finish I'm going to look up at the clear blue sky and say "this one was for you Dave."

Running
Well this is it. Tomorrow everything that I have worked for over the last 27 weeks will come together. I did it right this time. I feel pretty good both physically and mentally. I want to thank my wife  and kids for putting up with me. It's been tough for them because I've been gone a lot. I now understand why I only do a marathon a year if not less, it takes a lot of time to train for it.
As for my goals tomorrow, I want to try and run a 4:15, but that is really going to depend on how I feel late in the race. The weather is going to be perfect so maybe it will be perfect. I believe I can finish by 4:30 anything more and I'll be disppointed.
But it is a marathon and not everybody can do one. Every marathon for me tells a different story. The very first marathon I did was at 17. It was the Summit Marathon and went from Los Gatos to Soquel which is just south of Santa Cruz on the Northern California coast. It was 13 miles up, 4 miles flat and 9 miles down. The down hill was what did me in. But still I finished in 3:30.
The most memorable marathon for me was the 1997 Houston Marathon. It was 28 degrees out, with a windchill of -30 and raining. All I can say is I did it.
The marathon is a test. It lets us know how alive we are. It shows us that if you work hard at anything you can accomplish that goal.
I told my wife Ginger this morning that's the message I hope my sons will understand when they see me finish tomorrow.

Thanks be to God for all his Glory!! See you on the other side.