Gaining Strength

Praying


2 Thessalonians 2:16-17 - "May our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father encourage you and strengthen you in everything good thing you do and say. God loved us and through his grace he us a good hope and encouragement that continues forever."

Wow, what an amazing verse. To me it says that God and his son Jesus strenghten and encourage us in all good things we do and say. But even when we fall short, and we all do, just know that you have eternal life and you will someday catch up. When you have this feeling pray for God's help because he will be there to help you through the tough times.

As it was said in Dueteronomy 31:8 - "The Lord himself will go before you. He will be with you, he will not leave you or forget you. Don't be afraid and don't worry."

We all experience fear at times, fear is good because if your not afraid than your not humble and being humble is so important in this day and age. There are so many people out there who all they do is boost about how they accomplished this, or how big their house is or how nice their car is. So what!! I tell my boys that if they work hard at something good things will come.
So fear is good, because once you conquer that fear you are a stronger person.

Remember this, God will always be bigger than the challanges in your life!!

Running
Week 1 of my training program is almost over. The tempertures so far have been pretty high. I can't remember the last time it was this hot. But, I believe that in the long run, training in these tempertures will pay off in the fall races and final preperation for my two goal runs.
Sunday I did about 5.5 miles on a fairly flat course. It was pretty humid out but I did ok. Tuesday nights are track workouts which can be especially difficult in 98 degree tempetures. I ended up doing 8x400 at my R-Pace which is a fairly quick pace for me. For the most part I averaged about 1:41 per 400. I was suprised with that result. On Thursday, I went to Memorial Park and did a loop which is about 3-miles. For mile 2, I picked up the pace and ran at Tempo pace which for now is about 9:00 per mile. My split for mile 2 was 8:50.
So far I think I'm doing better than normal. I'm going through the usual issues, tight muscles and some soreness but I'm trying to take care of that by stretching after every run and also with trips to my massage therapist and chiropractor.
Next week is going to be real interesting because I saw that tempertures are to be 100+ almost everyday. Oh well, it's all about faith and hard work..see you next week!

Here we GO!!

"The Lord says forget what happened before and don't think about the past. Look at the new thing I am going to do, it is already happening, don't you see it?" Isaih 43:18-19

It's important to forget the past, to forget about previous failures and things or people who hurt you. All you can really do is focus on the now. You can't change the past and you cannot worry about the future. I'm the kind person who really believes that if you do the work everyday that you will meet your goals, because that is God's plan for all of us. He wants good to happen for us.

"So don't worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will have it's own worries. Each day has enough troubles of it's own." Matthew 6:34

So I need to forget about the past and remember to look at NOW and its power. We miss the moment over and over because we are too focused on the barriers. One thought I read the other day said this, "Lord use my failures to help me make adjustments in my life that strenghen my faith."

And one thing I have to remember is that everything I do going forward I have to turn it over to God and use his power.
"You will not succeed by your own strength or by your own power, but by my spirit says the Lord All Powerful." Zechariah 4:6

Running
Day 1 of the training program. My plan for this year will be broken down into two phases. The first one will concentrate on getting my speed and endurance for a distance up to 13 miles. The test for that phase will be at the end of October. In previous years I have run my "A" race earlier in that month, but this year will be a little different.
Phase 2 will focus on training for the two marathons I am running in January and March. A lot of long mileage and the week workouts will be a little more intense. I plan on really sticking to the schedule this year because I am going to have to be stronger to accomplish this goal.
Right now it's really tough training because it is warm out. The main thing I hope to be able to do is control my diet better and really focus on staying hydrated on my workout days. Next week I would also like to try and get my physical assessment done at my company so I can begin mixing in some weight training.
It's all about getting stronger because towards the end of this adventure I'm going to need it.

New Season and New Challanges

July 2, 2011

"Trust the Lord with all your heart and don't depend on your own understanding. Remember the Lord in all you do and he will give you successes." Proverbs 3:5-7.

Well it's that time again to start the training season for 2011-2012. As the reading above states we can't have a relationship with God if we only trust him part time. We we trust God and open our hearts completly, he will make himself known to us in amazing ways.

"Those who know the Lord trust him, because he will not leave those who come to him." Psalm 9:10

This verse says it all. Part of knowing the Lord is reading the bible and praying everyday. I have figured out over the last 2 years that doing these things in the morning before I start my day, gives me a peace and confidence that NOTHING can get in my way when trying to accomplish something. My job going forward in a lot of ways is to spread this message to all my friends and family.

Running has been tough because we have had triple digit tempertures for the last two weeks. I'm a little out of shape but I know that will change over the next six weeks as I begin to prepare for 10 Miles for Texas in October. This is a big season for me as I am planning on running Houston in January and the 1st Annual Woodlands Marathon six weeks later. In order to accomplish this goal there are three things I would like to do in order to complete this successfully. First, I need to pay strict attention to my diet by eating more fruits and vegetables and protein. Second, I would like to incorporate some strength training on my off days and finally I really need to follow the training schedule more closely.

I think if I do all those things than I will complete this goal. Hopefully the other thing I will do is keep my blog up to date as well.