I Win! I Win!!!

No, I didn't win in the sense of the word you may think!  I was not in first place...in fact in my age group I finished 14th out of 30, but I still WON!  I feel like this race was MY win against my pain...after 7 years of struggling wtih this nasty neck pain, I WIN!  I proved that the pain is not in control of me and that God can and will give me strength to keep on keeping on!  Last fall, my pain was at an all-time high and I was feeling hopeless.  I've been through some very down times in the past year (besides the last 7 years)...but God brings me through each of those times with flying colors, with lessons learned, growth in Him happening and achievements that make me wonder how they happened.  If you have known me very long you know that I am NOT a runner...I have never enjoyed it and in fact have mostly disliked it strongly my whole life, but I'm actually starting to enjoy it and have great satisfaction in it.  It feels good!  i can't believe i just said that!  AND, I finished the race in my personal best time, which isn't fantastic, but is my best, so I was very excited.  My time by my watch (started and stopped by my croosing start and finish vs. the gun to start) was 29: 52!!So here I am...this is about 1/2 mile into the Blueberry 5K race.

This picture is about 2.5 miles in and believe it or not, I still felt great!

We had to be there early for me to run my race, so Daddy took the kids and got McDonald's and they had a picnic breakfast before the parade, along the street for the parade route!

They are smiling bigger than me for some reason! HA!

Kiara LOVED the parade this year and screamed and clapped and waved at the floats and especially the characters dressed up in the parade.  It was fun to watch in the eyes of a 2 year old!

So, I did it.  It's over. I feel accomplished...yes, I spent money to run what I run every day anyway...but there's something about proving I can do it to the world and to my pain that gave me great satisfaction!  I truly feel like I won!!!!!