Summer of Firsts

Well, it's been awhile since I've last wrote. It's now Sept. 1st and I'm 5 weeks away from the marathon. The summer has flown by. Darby swam on swim team for the first time this summer- We all enjoyed watching her improve. She went from not knowing how to back stroke at all to doing it in around 45 seconds. That girl inspires me! There were times when you could see how tired she was, but she didn't give up. I love that attitude and it helps me to not give up when I want to be done with a long run.

We also had our first camping experience as a family. If I ever get super organized, I'll post pictures- the camping was fun- we even spotted a few bears!

And recently we were able to go to the Outer Banks for the first time. We now see why so many people around here travel down there for a vacation. The beach was beautiful and the girls loved being able to ride the waves on their boards.

My running has been going well. There are always good ones and bad ones. But you hope the good outweighs the bad. Piper and Darby went to our church's Sports Camp this summer and the theme was Game Plan- focusing on how we need to trust God's plan and follow His plan.
Well, I couldn't help thinking of how this applies to training for a marathon. There are times when you don't want to trust the "plan". You think, i just finished 16 miles and I'm toast- how could I possibly do 10 more? But experience has shown that if you just trust the plan, and more importantly, follow the plan than it will all payoff in the end.

How true this is for life too!