LACE UP YOUR SNEAKERS AND COME AND RUN!

As many of you already know--I enjoy exercising!  One of the biggest accomplishments of 2011 was to run my first marathon in Washington DC.  Darla and I both did well and we qualified to run in the Boston Marathon this coming April.  We signed up in October.  Little did I know, that I would be running a totally different marathon in the coming months than what I signed up for.  The Boston Marathon will not happen for me this year but hopefully another.  Darla better run really fast for the both of us!


I'm hoping many of you will join us for a run on Mother's Day at the Susan B Komen Race in Philadelphia.  If you are interested in donating money or to actually sign up to run you can do so by clicking on the link on the right hand side of the blog.  If you want to register and join our team "Renae's Renegades"  you should follow these instructions:

1.  Click on "Join an Existing Team"
2.  Click on "Team Name:  Renae's Renegades"
3.  Team Division:  Family and Friends

Any questions, contact Darla Bergey.

Here's a little story about our marathon experience.  Darla--being the goal oriented one of us--committed to the race months before and started training diligently.  I, on the other hand, was very unsure of running that far.  26 miles?  That's insane.  But, the more miles I conquered, the more the little voice in my head said "go for it."  So I signed up--3 weeks before the marathon.  No real runner does that!  :-)

The night before the race I could barely sleep.  Tossing, turning, rolling around, troubled.  What in the world did I get myself into?  And, finally at the break of dawn, got up and started getting ready.  Finally found Mark and Darla in the sea of runners and waited for the start.  Before we knew it, we were off.

Joel and Mark had their bikes and were planning to ride ahead of us, stop, cheer us on and continue this until we reached the finish line.  But, it's very difficult to find one runner in a group of 10,000.  I was searching for Joel mile after mile, but soon gave up on finding him.  Darla and I later found out that Mark and Joel were enjoying coffee and morning snacks after they gave up looking for us. Our question?  How long were they really looking?  :-)

I told myself to "settle in" and "keep running".  Mile after mile--"just keep running".  The crowd cheering from the sides was an incredible positive lift.  At mile 14--I saw Joel on his bike!  He yelled to me and started riding by my side.  Here I was running down the interstates of DC with Joel riding his bike right next to me!  It was hilarious!  He was right with me--encouraging me, laughing with me, giving me my stats, the entire second half of the race.

As I look back on that experience, I am astounded at how many similarities and metaphors can be made with the race I am running now.  Joel is still riding his bike by my side.  Now, more than ever.  The crowd that lined DC's interstates is now all of you.  Cheering, encouraging, praying, bringing meals, writing cards, emails, texts, praying me through, loving us, remembering me, reminding me to stay strong, urging me to push harder, to hang on, to keep focused on God.  And even though I hate the road I am on, I will try to finish well.  Thank you all for helping us to run this race!