Armor of God

Its been an incredible weekend!

On Friday, I went to a book signing at the Vail Church. A woman who goes to that church has an incurable blood disease and has faced so many struggles in her life. She wrote a book about how keeping faith in God has brought her through everything she has gone through. You would never know that she has spent the majority of her life battling depression because she is just so happy, so bubbly, and has such a contagious laugh. She just loves life so much and is so grateful for every blessing she has received. She told her story to everyone there, and it was so marvelous. I think the most touching moment came when she was talking about a time she was close to death. A friend asked her what she would regret most about life if she were to die, and she responded by saying that she has not spent enough time kneeling before the Lord. She is in a wheelchair because walking causes her a lot of pain. But at the moment, she got out of her wheelchair, and knelt down before everyone there. She began praying, and it was obvious she was in incredible pain, but she said the most beautiful prayer I have ever heard. She brought the whole audience to tears. I bought her book, and I am so excited to read more about her story.

As most of you know by now, I competed in a thirty mile race yesterday. Thats right, thirty miles. As most of you also know, I can barely run a mile...haha

Our project broke into teams to compete in this race. The goal was to beat the staff team because they have won the past two years. Their team was intense! The day of the race, the entered Simba Run chanting their team name, running in a single file line...ridiculous. I had a team of five and we were Ephesians 6 - The Armor of God!

During this race, every team member had to swim four laps in the pool, do a total of twenty miles of biking, and about ten miles of hiking. They had three check points set up along the way where you could get water and fruit. Reaching the first check point was almost impossible. It was mostly up hill, and was miles and miles away. Along the way though we got to bike down a real mountain path through an Aspen grove and got to see a really nice waterfall. We eventually did reach the first checkpoint, and were so glad we did.

By this point, my legs felt so heavy and felt so impossible to move and it just hurt to sit on the bike. We mustered up the strength to continue to the next checkpoint, and there we had a challenging task. Once we got there (it was all downhill biking from the first checkpoint, so it was NICE), we had to hike up this really steep path to the top of a waterfall. At one point on the trail, we were climbing on our hands and knees up rocks...it was so ridiculous. We made it to the top though, and got to see the gorgeous waterfall! On our way down, we pretty much sat down on the ground and slid to the bottom of the path. We were covered in dirt...I could not even tell if I was getting a tan or just dirty.

Getting to the third checkpoint proved to be a real challenge. We were all so tired, worn out, and hungry. Along the way, we had a couple of bike accidents, and had to stop to catch our breath. It really just hurt to be sitting on the bike. When we did get to the third checkpoint, we were able to get some oranges and water...and then were told we had to hike Vail Mountain.

We eventually got back to Simba Run, and basically passed out. The staff had pizza, cake, and soda waiting for us. I'm not too sure if that's the food that people should be eating after a thirty mile race, but we were all so hungry we did not even care. The food sat in everyone like a rock and we all regretted it later, but felt too accomplished to care!

By that night, I was in SO much pain. I have the WORST sunburn I have ever had, and it hurts to move. I've spent all day today just lying on the couch because moving hurts too much. In fact, I wanted to cry today just getting dressed for church because I was in so much pain. Hopefully I feel better by tomorrow so I wont hurt at work.