7 Days Left

"God decided to let his people know this rich and glorious secret which he has for all people. This secret is Christ himself, who is in you. He is our only hope for Glory." Colossians 1:27

Today is such a great day because I realized today that we will all achieve one day Glory. But I have also come to realize that everyday we experience Glory in some form or fashin. It's so refreshing to think that when God sacrificed is one and only son that our sins were forgiven. We are not perfect, and I know I'm far from it. By reading the bible I understand what we need to do. We need to have mercy for others, be kind, express humility, gentleness and patience. We need to teach our children these very same ideas as well.

I really can't explain it, but today I am so happy!!

Kellye's Status
Since there is 7 days left until the marathon I think Kellye is more excited about the marathon than I am. We started a cause out on Facebook and so far we have over a 100 people have joined it or become fans of it. As for the Fundraising, it's still going a little slow but I hope it will pick-up as we get closer to marathon day. Right now we are just over $100. The goal number is $500 which I fully expect to reach.

Kellye brought home a few weeks ago an 8-year old Lab mix and they have really hit it off. I have always believed that Love can be such a powerful healing mechinism. With dogs they love us unconditionally. So Chance is really helping my sister out. He forces her to exercise and stay active, which I believe is so important to people with MS (or anybody). So I'm really happy for her. We have had a dog almost our whole lives so I couldn't see how we could do without one.

Running
We are at 7 Days until the Marathon. Today was my last long run which was only 6-miles. For the most part I felt pretty good. It was very cold. The thought did cross my mind at 6:00 AM this morning to stay in bed. Especially when the temperture was 21 degrees. But it really wasn't that bad after the first mile or so.

I really love running on Saturday mornings especially when the skies are clear. The sunrise is my favorite part of the day. But lately, and I know it's because of God, the runs in the sun have been heavenly!! This morning three quarters of the way through the run I realized the moment. Sing, Sing from Chris Tomlin came on the MP3 player. This song speaks about singing and worshipping Jesus, it's got a great beat and is perfect for running. Anyway, so the song comes on, I turn the corner onto one of the last streets, and the sun is just beating down on me. It's so bright it was like looking at heaven itself. I thought at that moment "This is what running is all about!" Everything in my body was working as one it was at the moment a total high for me. It's mornings like that keep me going and help me to realize why I run.

Everyday I thank God for giving me the ability to run, it's one of the true gifts that he has given me. That's why our God is so awesome!!

The Countdown Begins

"So we do not give up. Our physical body is becoming older and weaker, but our spirit side is made new everyday. We have small troubles for a while now, but they are helping us gain an eternal glory that is much greater than the troubles. We set our eyes not on what we see but on what we cannot see. What we see will last only a short time, but what we cannot see will last forever."  2 Corinthians 4:16-18

Praying
When I look at this verse it's amazing on how it speaks to me. I'm not the young buck that I once was. I found Jesus when I was 17-years old, ironically that is the same year that I discovered how much I loved running. Isn't it amazing how God already knows what your talents will be. Granted, I'm never going to be a World Class runner, it's just not in the genes. But, I am part of a small faternity of people who run marathons.

I'm not getting any younger and yes the body does hurt and I know that next Sunday it's really going to hurt. But my sprit is stronger than it has ever been and I've realized that I will attain eternal glory someday and that my troubles will all go away. It's hard sometimes to ignore our troubles and problems, but one thing I have learned is you have to let go and turn it over to God. When I have done that, whatever is bothering me always seems to resolve itself. Don't get me wrong, I have to work at managing my life, but I don't worry as much as I used to, life is good.

Update on Kellye
Kellye is doing great. She just picked-up a new dog, Chance is keeping her real busy. Because of him she is exercising everyday, whether its walking him or working out on Wii Fit. I'm so proud of her!! She is still not on any medication, which is an amazing feat itself. I pray for her everyday, and as I get closer to next Sunday my thoughts about her will be even stronger!! Love you Sis!!

Running
We are now less than 10 days away from Marathon day. Getting some runs in over the next few days may be a little tough because of some very cold weather coming in. I also ordered a new pair of shoes since my current pair has over 400 miles on them. I'm really not that nervous about running the marathon but I'm sure that as we get closer the anxiety is going to increase. For now, it's time to taper and start resting my body.

It's amazing how fast time has flown by. It seems like yesterday when I started training for this thing. I'm excited because I know that when I finish (and I will finish) it's going to be an awesome feeling. I don't want to get my hopes up about my goal time because I know that in the past I have been disappointed.

This time is going to be different. You know why? Because God is going to be with me every step of the way.

"With God All Things Are Possible."

Good-Bye 2009, Hello 2010

"I can do all things through Christ, because he gives me strength." Philippians 4:13

When people ask me, was 2009 a good year or a bad year for you? I pause for a moment to think about how I want to answer that. I look back at where I was a year ago on the eve of 2009 and I was a very scared man.

I was about to lose my job, there were no immediate opportunities and the doom and gloom being broadcast on the news was that it was only going to get worse. And at the time, I thought I could do it all by myself that I didn't need anything or anybody to help me overcome this problem. I was afraid!!

I was disconnected with my family, my wife, my two sons and my parents. I never spoke to my sister. I was alone.

But then something happened. I started to pray to God. I needed help and he was the only one I could turn to. In late January, I was attending a Between Jobs Ministry meeting and I heard the following verse.

"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to GOD. And the peace of GOD which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus." Phillippians 4:6-7

From that moment on, my life changed. I came back to Jesus!! I turned everything over to him. The guilt and anguish was washed away. Hope came back into my life. And yes even though money was tight, we still managed to pay our bills and put food on the table. He provided for my family and took care of us. All I had to do was Love him and try and become a better man.

So the story of 2009 is this; God got me back on the road to him. He helped me see that the most important things in life are not how much money I make or possessing the latest and greatest gadgets. No, I realized that the most important thing in Life is my family and that I am here on this earth to Love people and spread the Good News about our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

And yes there are still things in my life that make me nervous about 2010, but I also know this.

"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiah 29:11

So if you ask me if 2009 was a good year and my answer is YES, because I have one thing back that I had not had for a long time, HOPE..

Happy New Year!!

Rich

The Day After Christmas

"With God's power working in us, God can do much, much more than anything we can ask or imagine. To him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus for all time, forever and ever Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21.

Praying

The Christmas holiday was so awesome!! It started by attending Christmas Service at our church Fellowship of the Woodlands. All I can say is WOW. This was the first Christmas for me where I realized the true meaning. I understand now that if it wasn't for God sending his one and only son to earth that we would be living a life without hope.

Can you imagine that? A life with no hope. I shudder at the thought. Millions of people out there who live with sickness or disease have to have hope that someday they will be cured. God provides us with that comfort. You see by sending his son to Earth to live among us, it gave Jesus an understanding of what it was like to live in this World without Hope or Grace.

I know my sister Kellye lives with Hope everyday that someday a cure will be found for MS. I live with that hope as well. The Myelin Repair Foundation is working through its research to help cure MS. One thing I have learned about them is that all their doctors doing the research are working with each other and not competing to see who comes up with a cure first.

I spoke with Kellye yesterday and she sounded great!! In fact, it was the best she had sounded in a long time, not being on the drugs has really helped her regain some of her life back. God is watching after her and taking care of her needs.

Running

It was tough to get out of my warm bed this morning. The temperture at 6:30 was 32 degrees but I knew that running in the cold weather would not be a problem. I had laid out my cloths the night before and made sure that I had a few layers to keep me warm. My biggest concern was how I would feel physically since I had just done 21-miles a week ago. Of course the big Christmas meal from yesterday would provide me with plenty of fuel for the 12-mile run.

I finished in 1:53.49 which was a pace of about 9:26 per mile. I am very suprised with that pace because it didn't feel like I was running that fast. I started out slow and for the first 6 miles or so I think I was running a lot slower, probably more like a pace of 9:45. But for the second half of the run I wanted to push it a little bit and try and run at my goal pace which is now around 9:30 or so.

I am really feeling pretty good right now, my form and balance are there and running seems to be effortless. This week I will push it one more time and then begin to taper for the big day on January 17th. Tuesday and Thursday's workouts will be especially important. I'm not sure how far I'll run next Saturday, but I'll probably end up running between 10 to 12 miles.

Catching up

"When we have the opportunity to help anyone, we should do it. But we should give special attention to those who are in the family of believers." Galatians 6:10

Good evening to all on this fine day. It has been awhile since I posted to my blog but timing is running short.
First, I would like to update everybody on how my sister Kellye is doing.

As many of you know Kellye has had multiple sclerosis (MS) since 2003. As of today for the first time in a few years she is no longer taking any medication. She has stopped taking the pain meds and the other drugs that can really cause some nasty side affects. Not only that, she quit smoking just over a month ago.
My sister is such a strong person and I'm amazed at how brave she is. Her faith in God never waivers. He is always with her and helps her through her bad days.

When we were growing up, Kellye was the strong one. If somebody picked on me or bullied me, she was the one who stuck up and fought them. She always had my back. If I needed my bike fixed, Kellye did it.

Before she had MS she was very active. She enjoyed snow sking, playing softball, kayaking and many other activities. She was always doing something. And every Thanksgiving and Christmas she spent time at her Church mentoring the young teens. BUT, by not being on the drugs she is making a comeback!! She is making it a point to exercise everyday and next week a new addition to her family will arrive. She's adapting a nine year old chocolate lab named Chance.

In July of this year, I decided to run the Houston Marathon for my sister and to raise funds and awareness for the Myelin Repair Foundation. Their mission is to accelerate the discovery of myelin repair treatments to improve the lives of people suffering from multiple sclerosis (MS), and to establish the Accelerated Research Collaboration™ (ARC™) model as a new paradigm for medical research.

What's really cool about them is that 85% of the funds they raise goes to this research. In this day and age that is totally amazing!! So please support my effort next month and donate to this cause.
 
Running Update
"You know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize. So run to win! All those who compete in the games use self control so they can win a crown. That crown is an earthly thing that lasts only a short time, but ours will never be destroyed. So I do not run without a goal, I fight like a boxer who is hitting something - not just the air. I treat my body hard and make it my slave so that I myself will not be disqualified after I have preached to other." 1 Corinthians 24-27.
 
The last couple of months have been filled with ups and downs. All of the races I have competed in so far have not really produced impressive results. My Half Marathon in October was one of the worst ever. I didn't run PR's in any of the races I competed in over the Thanksgiving weekend. But, I have trained hard  the last 22 weeks. In the month of November, I logged over a 110 miles on the road. That is most I have run in over 5 years. It's been tough on my wife Ginger, she has put up with me training but I know she can't wait until this thing is over. My reasoning for doing this is that my sister lives with pain everyday, so putting myself through 4 and a half hours of pain is nothing.
 
Things have started to turn though and especially at the right time. Last week I did a 3.1 mile time trial and finished in 23:18, the second fastest time for me in over 4 years. And last Saturday, I ran 21 miles in just over 3:31, which is under a 10 minute mile. What was so cool about that is I was getting stronger as the distance progressed. In the past it's usually been the opposite. So we are now four weeks away from the Houston Marathon and I'm pretty excited about it.
Finally, my running is inspiring my sister to exercise everyday. God is with us in our walk to Glory!!
 
My goal until that faithful day is to continue to add posts to keep all of you informed on what my sister and I are doing.

Back Again..It's been awhile

"All things are possible for the one who believes. Mark 9:23


What's going on with Kellye
It's been awhile since I have entered anything. Things have been pretty crazy with work. I need to pick this back up especially since it won't be long until I start my campaign to raise money for my sister's charity.

Kellye has been through a lot lately. She finally made the decision to stop taking pain medication, naturally this process took a couple of weeks and she was almost through it when God decided to put one more test on the road for her. Because of her illness she is on Long Term Disability. The insurance company, Cigna has decided to discontinue her coverage because they think she can work and that she is not very sick!!! This is such bullshit!!

What I don't understand is why do people have to make it so tough for people with MS to live their day to day lifes? This is such a terrible disease and people with it have a hard enough time getting through the day. It's just so sad. As I get closer to the marathon I want people to know what people with MS go through. What their struggles are, what emotions they go through and how they overcome them.

I pray everyday for Kellye that God will ease her pain and give her the strength to overcome her day to day obstacles. I hope everybody who reads this will do the same. I am so thankful that God is in her life, so I know he will take care of her.

Running
I made it through July and now I'm almost done with August still injury free. The heat and humidity have been brutal. I can't recall the last time I ran in temperatures cooler than 75 degrees. Up until last week I was in a little bit of a slump, but I took off a couple of days and have bounced back nicely. I also changed shoes. The ones I bought at the end of June are already gone as 200 miles were logged on them. Combined with the heat and my weight they went quick.

Buying new shoes is so important, it's like tires on a car, the older and more worn they get the more you feel every bump of the road. The other thing I did is changed from a stability shoe to a neutral shoe because of my orthodics. We'll see how that works out. I think it should help my gate a little bit which help me become a more efficient runner. I have done two runs in the new shoes and have felt pretty good. I'm tempted to buy another pair and then trade them out so I don't wear them out so quickly.

There is about six weeks left until the first race of the season and I need to really buckle down and train hard for the next 5 weeks, if I want to do well. So far, I have managed the ankle issue, but big distance is not too far off and it will be tested. We still have four and a half months left till the marathon and there is a lot of work to do before then.

It's going to be a blast!! GOD IS GREAT!!!

Sunday August 2nd

"Jesus said to the father, "You said, "If you can!' All things are possible for the one who believes." Mark 9:23

Praying
It's been almost two weeks since I last wrote in here, for those who are reading I'm truly sorry. The other day I woke up and realized that I needed to pray to God to help me get close to him again. I felt like I had drifted apart from him and I needed to be reminded of who he is and that he Loves us no matter what we do. It's always amazing that when you pray how quickly he can come back with a answer. For example, at Church last night he told me the following things:

• God is faithful when we are not
• God always gives us more than we deserve
• God loves to throw a party when we are successful
• God wants us to pursue others extravagantly.
• "Love people when they least expect it and least deserve it." - A core value of National Community Church, Washington D.C.

And then today when I was watching my regular Sunday morning shows I heard the same message. "Be a healer, seek out others that need your help and support." So now we'll see who God puts into my life for me to help, he works in such magical ways. I'm so excited about the coming days ahead to see what happens.

MS Update

I have decided to run for the Myelin Repair Foundation.

Myelin is the insulation that coats the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Multiple sclerosis damages myelin, causing a range of symptoms from paralysis to cognitive disorders. Finding a way to repair damaged myelin has the potential to stop MS in its tracks.

Unlike the National MS Society, 85 PERCENT OF THE FUNDS RAISED ON THEIR BEHALF ARE USED FOR RESEARCH!! MS Society supposedly on uses 33 percent.

So that's what I'm doing!! Over the next couple of weeks I hope to have everything set-up so I can start collecting donations. We still have a long ways to go, but I want to make sure and use ALL my available resources. So stay tuned.

Running Update

The month of July was tough but very productive. I logged a total of 73 miles this month which was the highest total all year. That number will increase steadily over through the end of December. My training focus has changed now from getting faster to becoming stronger and more consistent. It's all about maintaining a steady and consistent pace that will help me reach my goal of finishing the marathon.

I plan to do this by giving Glory to God on all my days whether my training is successful or unsuccessful. There are some tough days ahead. August is typically the hottest month of the year. Humidity is a huge issue as well so staying hydrated will so important.

For the most part, I feel pretty good. My track workouts on Tuesday nights have been very productive. The other workouts have been pretty good for the most part. There have been some bad days but I'm ok with that. The ankle is manageable and seems to be holding up. I finally got my shoes broken in so maybe that has something to do with it.

As a side note, I'm using Coach Dana's program which is broken in to two parts. The first is geared towards Ten Mile Texas which is the second week of October. From there we will transition into the training program for the Marathon. The program is tough because I am running at a minimum 5 days per week, and if I feel better, that number could bump to 6.

I will finish this I know that for a fact, I have done it before, the difference this time is that Jesus will be with me every step of the way!!!

God is Great!!!