John David Pate-3years old

James Daniel Pate-3years old

Monday, February 15, 2010

26.2...is a LONG WAY TO RUN!

This Mercedes Marathon was my second full to complete and Rob's fourth half-marathon to complete. He finished at 1hr and 44 min...AWESOME! I am so proud of my husband. I finished the full in 3hr and 30min...AWESOME! I am very proud of myself. I would like to take this opportunity to boast a little bit ON MY GOD! You may be the type to think, what has God got to do with running a marathon? Well, let me tell you! As I am running (training and even racing) I spend the majority of my time in prayer and worship of my Lord. I focus all of my energy on Him. I draw strength from Him and ask Him to power me and shine through me. I don't half hearted do anything with my Lord's name attached to it. SO you see, when I am running it becomes very spiritual for me.

As I was rounding the 18th mile, I became extremely fatigued and rather exhausted. I had a terrible burn in my side and seriously wanted to stop. My immediate thought was Christ hanging on a cross beaten to almost death with blood dripping and flesh hanging from his body. I thought of all my sin that put him there. I thought of the agony He endured for me and my discomfort and pain really took a back seat. I then focused my thoughts on His glorious love and compassion for me and all of my friends that I pray for daily. I prayed for my pain to flee, my strength to boost and my endurance to remain through the end. By mile 20 I felt my Lord's Holy Spirit resound within me. Now if that is not enough to want to do it again, don't know what is...

So ya see, I don't run marathons for the Glory of myself, but my God and the opportunity to brag on how far HE takes me. I have trained for marathons while working a full time job and raising three little kids, I have trained for marathons after pregnancies that left me bed ridden and totally out of shape, I will soon be training for marathons with a full time job and raising five children and you know how I do it...MY GOD I tell ya, MY GOD!!!!

I beat my last marathon time by an entire hour. PRAISE UNTO HIM..

Doesn't matter what you are trying to do in your day (right now for me it is raising a family of five little kids) but Christ will carry you when you think you can't go anymore. God has a purpose for all He "puts you through" and living your life in Honor of Him will bless you in ways you never thought possible.



The song that replays in my head through this experience is "In Christ Alone" by Brian Littrell. If you have not heard it, look it up on itunes. It is AMAZING. It also plays on my blog.

"In Christ Alone will I glory though I could pride myself in battles won. For I've been blessed beyond measure and by HIS strength alone I overcome. Oh, I could stop and count successes like diamonds in my hands but those trophies could not equal to the GRACE by which I stand, In Christ Alone I place my trust and find my glory in he POWER of the cross, in every victory let it be said of me, my source of strength, my source of hope is Christ Alone!


This is the ONLY picture I have so far of our Mercedes Marathon Day. I will post others as I get them.
Christopher and Aimee Martin, and Me and Rob. What the picture doesn't show is the "shivers" we all had, whether it be nervers or the 28 degrees it was at the start line..or possibly a little of both. Christopher and Aimee have been our bestfriends for a long time. Rob and Christopher played sports all through highschool together and Aimee and I found each other as buddies one day sitting in the baseball stadium watching Rob and Christopher. We have all been through quite a lot together with our families and I thank our Lord many times for the friendship we all share. Oh yeah, and let me mention too, that Aimee completed her FIRST half-marathon and Christopher completed his FIRST full-marathon. And had one year ago they weren't anywhere close to being able to accomlish that..WAY TO GO guys. I am proud for you two:)

7 comments:

Unknown said...

You rock! Your time rocks!! I ran the half for the first time. I admire you! And I totally agree...I am always amazed with what the body can do thanks to God!

SouthernDogwoods said...

You are an awesome inspriration! Got on my running clothes and after reading your post - I am heading off to the treadmill. I may email me soon for some pointers! PS - are you taking the boys to Chuck E Cheese Friday for the Playgroup BAMOM? I was thinking about taking the girls

Mika said...

that's awesome Dana, very proud of you. Although I would never be able to run a marathon due to my muscle disease, CPT2, I understand your comments on pushing through the pain as you visualize what Christ did on the cross for us. Many times we forget too His daddy's heart....was breaking. Knowing how desperate I'm sure God wanted to rescue His precious Son from this horrific death, He would not- for us. Not that he COULD not, but He WOULD not. Wow! Anyway, I appreciate all the many prayers you prayed for my sweet baby, Luke, here. We prayed and prayed for his physical wellbeing, but I could have never asked for a better disposition in a baby. Love you girl! Pray for endurance and strength for you daily! :)

Amy said...

I am so impressed and proud of you! You are an inspiration for me. I ran a mile today without stopping and that is a great first step for me! Running my first 5K on March 13th maybe I will fall in love with running. I love you girl and I pray for you daily. We really do need to get together. I go back to work March 1. Yuck!

BrieAnna said...

What an awesome testiment of strength and faith in God, Dana! Congrats on your fantastic time, too!

Jessi said...

That is so awesome!!!

Congratulations to you both!

Tricia said...

Way to go Dana!! How wonderful that the Lord gave you the strength to beat your time by an hour! That is totally a God thing! Keep running for Him!

Blessings!