Training Update

I haven’t been the best at keeping to my training schedule lately.  Life has been a little hectic and it seems like my short runs are slipping past me and my long runs are ending short.  This makes me a bit nervous with my first half less than 3 weeks away.   I didn’t get to my long run yesterday so I planned on getting up this morning for a 10 miler before church.  Well I accidently set my alarm for 6pm instead of 6am…ooops haha so needless to say I didn’t wake up until 8:30am.  I was curious as to why my roommate, who has been my training buddy, didn’t wake me up, so I walked over to her room to find her asleep on her bed with her running shoes on!  Evidently she woke up in time but fell asleep waiting for me to get up hahaha. Fail on both of our parts!   We decided to go on a run anyways but a mile in I was feeling very convicted about the possibility of missing church so I only did 4 miles. 

Even only running 4 miles we were running late for church causing me to forget my Bible, and just my luck the projector at church wasn’t working either :( Thankfully, I have the Bible app on my phone so I managed with that.  Upon starting the app, my verse of the day popped up and it was just too perfect for today. 

It was 1 Timothy 4:8.  “For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come.”

Even though I’m annoyed with my training lately I’m glad I didn’t sacrifice a day of church for it.  I would have been kicking myself all week for it.  This might seem silly to some of you but I know my physical fitness is important for these runs but my spiritual health is even more important. Thank you God for that reminder.

I have a lot going on this week too but I’m praying for some more discipline in my training.   Hoping to get in at least one 10 miler at some point.

Color Me Rad 5K Recap

All clean before the race

This is a few weeks late but I wanted to share a Color Me Rad recap.  I’ve gotten a lot of comments/questions on the race so here’s my opinion. LOVED it!!  My roommate and I got up at 5:30am to drive to this race in Jacksonville, FL and it was so worth it.  Kelsey grumbled the entire way there about me making her get up so early to run this race.  However, at the end of the day she was thanking me for making her go.  I think she was even more excited than I was right before the race.  I’ve never seen her so giddy about something ever…especially running..she’s not usually a fan.  We got there 2 hours before race because we were told that we had to pick up race packets the day before but we were unable to do so.   I was worried they wouldn’t allow us to get set up without going the day before so I emailed and they first called me a procrastinator and then said yes we could still go just get there super early so we did :)  We were actually first in line at the registration table.  The volunteers were super helpful and got us everything we needed: bib number, RAD tattoo, Sunglasses, and the best part: dyed cornstarch (ammunition).  After registration we waited around and tried to avoid all of the people who were ripping into their color before race start (this really annoyed Kels)  We didn’t want to get colored before it was time.  Looking back at our before pics I think we were pretty successful at staying clean haha The race itself was a lot of fun, it was my first experience running in a forest.  What a work out..I’m so used to streets and sidewalks.  At every 1K, you’re attacked with color my advise is to not breath as much during this part especially through all of the powder.  Run on the outsides for more color and the inside for less.

I also liked the laid back atmosphere of the race.  It isn’t timed, everyone is just out there to get colored and have a good time.  The announcer even said over a megaphone at the start of the race “if anyone comes up to me after the race asking for their time or what place they finished I’ll punch you in the face. This is for fun people! So you there at the front, jockeying for position, knock it off! You however sir, yes you in the tutu, you win”  hahah  If you can’t tell from their website it’s a super sarcastic race, if you don’t like that, this is NOT a race for you.  You’ll probably just leave feeling like it’s the most unorganized, obnoxious races.  After the race, everyone gathered together and threw color around…we all left looking like aliens.   It took 4 showers to get all of the color off and sometimes I still think I have some in my ear.  Surprisingly, after only 2 washes most of the color came out of my white shirt.  It still has a slight hint of pink in some places but for the most part its restored.  I really wasn’t expecting that.

 I’m looking forward to doing another color run the day after the half marathon in Dec.  It’ll be a nice recovery run.  Just waiting on the registration to open :)  So in short I’m a fan of COLOR ME RAD.

Seven months ago I never thought I'd say this but I'm loving running :)

Here are some pictures and possibly a video (if I can get it to work)

One of my favorite shots.  Definitely captures the race.

The "Rules" of Christianity

I’m on a roll of blogging this week.  I usually only post about twice a month and this is my second post in one week!  Lets talk about rules…  I think one of the top misconceptions of Christianity by nonchristians is that it is just a religion with a bunch of rules.  I disagree.  If Christianity had rules…I’d say they are 1. Love God and 2. Love people.  That's it.  I don’t act the way I do because I’m told I have to act that way.  I’m actually not very good at all (I'm writing this post during class..oops).  Good deeds don’t save us.  God’s grace does.  We shouldn’t live by the rules but live by Grace. 

Living by rules focuses too much on our behavior and accomplishments where as living by grace focuses on Jesus and His behavior and accomplishments.  No matter how much I try to follow the rules or the good deeds I complete I’ll never amount to Jesus’ behavior.  Give me rules and I will break them.  Jesus is the perfect kind of good.  The only perfect good.  Good works are not a requirement for God’s love and saving grace but they are a fruit of the new life He grants.   I don’t try to follow “rules” because I feel like that makes me rank higher in God’s book but it’s a product of His love for me.    So go out a do something nice for someone because God already loves you :)

Acts 20:24

However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

God grants a changed life.  A new life.

Perspective

I feel like I've been praying/chasing God's plan for my life over the past few months which is great but I think I'm skipping a step.  Here's a new perspective...instead of searching for God's will, search for Him.  

"Faith isn't about knowing what God is doing but knowing that God knows what he is doing."--Mike Yaconelli 

God's will is always tied to who he is. Instead of seeking his plan for me I'm going to start focusing on his presence.  He is a loving God and everything he does is for my own good.  He may take me down roads I wouldn't choose for myself but he will always be good to me.

New perspective: yielding and seeking His presence

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.-- Psalm 34:8

"For I know the plans I have for you, plans to give you hope and a future." Jeremiad 29:11

Spreading the Magic

Hey, I hope you all had a great week!  I had a nice one myself.  I really enjoyed reading all of the comments on my giveaway.  I encourage you to go through the comments and read them if you haven’t done so already.  There were quite a few touching stories shared.  I was excited to see 32 total entries :)  This morning I put you all in an excel sheet and then used a number generator to select a random number.  The number chosen was #2!!! 

So the Disney tickets go to…

Ali!!!  Congrats girl :) 

Email me at vdsamantha@gmail.com with your address so I can get them in the mail.

I really enjoyed doing this give away and will continue to do so as long as God blesses me with the resources.  I love the feeling of giving.  Not every giveaway will be Disney tickets but I’ll come up with other fun ideas too!  So follow my blog and keep checking back!

Congratulations again Ali.  Thank you for reading and commenting!  My first half is Dec 1 and my first Disney race is the half in Jan.  Hopefully I’ll run into you at some point :)

Disney Ticket Giveaway!!

Hey friends! Yesterday’s run went as well as expected.  My knees are doing better but I could feel them tightening up around mile 2.  I stopped each time they hurt and stretched my IT band.  That seemed to help.  I’m going to start gradually increasing my miles again but I’ll be taking a lot of stretch breaks and my new foam roller will be my new best friend hahah ok now to the part you all care about...

Some of my favorite Disney memories

I’ve decided to do another contest and this time I’m giving away 2 Disney tickets!  I’m blessed to have a job that provides me with several tickets each year and last year several went to waste.  In effort to keep that from happening again I’ve decided to spread the magic to my blog readers :)  My friends and family love Disney but they can only come so much.  So the rules are the same as they were for the Starbucks give away, all you have to do is comment for a chance to win :)  I know my comment section doesn’t always work on my blog so if it won’t go through you can comment on the facebook or twitter link you got this from.   But please do that as a last resort because it’ll make it more difficult for me to collect the names of all who have commented and I don’t want to leave anyone out by mistake!  Let’s keep it positive and tell me your favorite Disney memory, why you want to go, or just something you’re thankful for right now (doesn’t have to be Disney related). 

The tickets can be used at Disney World, Disneyland, CA, Hong Kong Disney, Disneyland Paris…so my international readers can comment too!

Keep in mind the new Fantasyland in Disney World opens up Dec 6 so these would be perfect tickets for a chance to see that.  And all of my runDisney friends you can use them for post race :D  I can’t wait to hang out with all of you…I’ve got to try my first Dole Whip hahaha

Other reasons to visit Disney: 

Food and Wine Festival (my favorite)

Christmas Decorations

The Osbornes light show

Spring and Garden Festival

Mickey Supreme Bars

Happy people everywhere

Fine Print Details:  They expire 6/13/13 so they must be used before then!  Please only enter the contest if you’re certain you’ll be able to use them by that date.  Also,  please do NOT sale them for any reason.  If you can’t use them, give them back to me :)  Mickey Mouse gives them to me for free so I’m not selling them and I don’t want you to either.    Also, be sure to say hi to Minnie Mouse during your visit…she wants to give you a hug :)

Halloween in Disney World!

Contest goes until Friday 9/21/12 and winner will be announced Saturday 9/22/12 so come back and check my blog then.  The winner will have 24 hrs to claim the tickets before they are forfeited to the next person.

I hope you all have a magical week!

ºoº .•:*¨¨*:•.Samantha.•:*¨¨*:•. ºoº