Kansas Marathon

Well, I did it. I started and finished a marathon healthy, that was my number one goal for Sunday's race. The weather was awesome and the hills were brutal, but overall it was a great experience.
A few weeks ago, I learned about the importance of my lactid threshold and how keeping my heartrate at or below a certain level could improve my ability to avoid "the wall" that many runners experience in a marathon. The wall is when your body has no more energy available for the legs to function and you just stop. It is a terrible feeling, the spirit may be willing, but the body says NO.
With my new found knowledge, I wanted to see if this scientific stuff actually worked. So I set out with the goal of watching my heartrate and keeping it from climbing above my limit (165 bpm-beats per minute). With 5 miles left in the race, I felt better than I ever had in the previous races at this point. I began to increase my pace and give it everything I had to the finish, I was going to set a new PR (personal record). Based on my time and current pace, it seemed my new marathon time would be around 3 hours and 12 minutes.
God is in control. It was at 24.7 miles that He reminded me of that. Painfully reminded me. I began to experience a stabbing pain on my right side that required me to stop and walk. After 3 or 4 minutes of walking and my heart rate slowed, I tried to run again. NO WAY!!! I could not believe that I could not even jog without having excrutiating pain in my side. So I walked, one and a half miles to the finish line.
OK, not quite to the finish line. About 200 meters out, I began to jog and crossed the finish feeling rested and healthly. The biggest hurt was my pride. 3:27:55 was my time at the finish. 2nd in my age group and 14th overall.
As I finish up this blog, I am reminded how much God loves me and wants what is best for me. I could whine and complain about how things turned out last weekend, but what does that say about my faith in Him? I am blessed to have the physical ability to run well, and thankful to have the opportunity to share His love with those in the running community who don't yet know Him.
Thanks God...