Running With My Students

I have run thirty-one 5Ks, and on Saturday, July 18th, I ran number thirty-two.

Every 5K I run is a special experience and, typically, for a special cause, and this one was no exception.  I ran this 5K with a former student of mine (Jordan) who just graduated this past May, and this was her first 5K!

Jordan is one of those students (sister in Christ, now friend, and occasional babysitter ;-) who holds a special place in my heart. To begin with, she took every course I've ever taught (10th lit/comp, American lit/comp, and public speaking), and, more importantly, she was a tremendous encouragement to me as a teacher. Truly, there are many teachers she daily blessed with her kind words and inspiration.  

Let me give you an example.  The last thirty days of school, Jordan showed up each day in my classroom with a devotional she had written as a way to encourage her teachers as the school year came to a close.  What high school senior takes the time to do such a thing?! One with a kind heart and Jesus as her King!  As a way to continue to spread the love, she printed up copies of her devotions in a book that she sells for small fee.  Jordan is taking the proceeds from the sale of these devotions to sponsor a child in Guatemala (where she recently went on a mission trip).  Contact her if you are interested in buying a copy for a teacher you would like to encourage! Her daily devotions are great!

From her Facebook page:

Okay. So I have written a devotional for teachers, called I'm Blessed. I will be putting in orders for the next couple of months and I wanted to put it out there for my fellow teachers/friends! I have really enjoyed writing this devotional. I started writing it about a month ago and I was giving a devotional-a-day to a few of my teachers, since I am about to graduate. They all loved it and told me I should publish it, so I am! They are only $8!  If you have any questions, or want to place an order, message me! Or email at blesseddevotional@gmail.com. Thank you so much!

I had a great time running with her!  Since it was her first 5K, I let Jordan set the pace and played the role of running buddy during this race, and I think she had a good race time for her first 5K as she finished in 48:06.

Jordan and I chose to run this 5K because it was in memory of a man who lost his life while bike riding - a man who helped coach the cross country team at the school I taught at and where Jordan just graduated from.  And it just so happened that he was the father of a former student of mine. That's why we had to run this particular race together above all others offered this month.

I didn't get to see my former student at the event, but if she looks at the names of those who ran that day to honor her father, I hope she sees my name and knows I was thinking of her.

My students - all of them, even the most difficult ones - have a special place in my heart.  I only ever wish them the very best once they leave my classroom.  And some, like Jordan, keep in contact with me, and some I never hear from again.  Some leave and experience great success (love hearing about those!), and some leave and experience tragedy or pass away all too soon (hate hearing about those!).

As I get ready to start a new school year, now at a different school, I am eager to connect to my new students.  I will pray for them, and we will run this race of life together for the next ten months. Part of my prayer for my students is that I can in some small way impact their lives for the better.  Sure, I want to make them better readers and better writers, but I also want to be a blessing to their lives. While they are my students and afterwards - if at all possible. Cause that's what we do. Us teachers. We invest in the lives of our nation's youth. Not just because it's our job but because it's who we are.

So let me end this post by saying, if you are a teacher, have a great new school year!  Let's go do what we do!

Today's forget-me-not: "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them."  (Ephesians 2:10) 

4 Gifts I Gained After My Miscarriage

Today, I have the honor of sharing a post my friend Carol wrote about her miscarriage - which happened about this time last year. Her words really speak to the pain that is miscarriage.  But even more than that, her words reveal how miscarriage can transform you - in a positive way.  If you have recently suffered a loss and are making your way through those depths of despair, be encouraged by this post!  As Carol shows us, God can bring "beauty for ashes" and "a joyous blessing instead of mourning" (Isaiah 61:3 - NLT).

Today's forget-me-not: 


Miscarriage is an ugly word. I don't even like to say it.

It is too much like "mistake" or "miss" -- as in "missed the mark." The pain is a private, intense humiliation that very few can understand. There is grief for a child that you did not know, for a life that was but then wasn't. For a beginning you thought was taking place only to discover that by some cruel trick of nature, the exciting debut has ended without fanfare or explanation.

And you go on, although inside you feel blank -- lost in a too-large gray sweater that has no arm-holes.

And then there is the problem with numbers. When I sit in a doctor's office filling out paperwork and there is a question about pregnancies, I pencil in 4. Then there is a question of live children, and I pencil in 2. Somewhere, in the recesses of my mind, hovers the number 3 as well -- because even though it was my fourth pregnancy, my number of live children would have increased to 3.

But there are only 2.

After my second miscarriage, there was a weariness in my bones following the hospital stay after the loss of that baby. A tiredness when I climbed into the SUV with the extra third row seat we bought to accommodate the baby. A heaviness in my arms -- falling like lead to my sides -- when I am startled by the baby's name "Addison" scrawled on a bulletin board outside my older daughter's classroom at curriculum night. A tiredness when I see pregnant women in Target, two children in tow, and I think that I might have been one of those moms  -- but I'm not.

Wrestling with grief in the days following my most recent loss, I asked God to help me see the beautiful out of the gruesomeness of the day I spent at the hospital, my insides emptying the life I had nourished for 11 1/2 weeks. I inquired very specifically, "Lord, how can this be anything but ugly?"

And I realized that out of the anguish of my pregnancy ending early and my child not forming properly in the way she should have, there were four gifts that came out of my miscarriage.

1. Patience to Slow Down

I am not a patient person. I don't like waiting for anything. Consequently, I have a tendency to power through my day at break-neck speed, so intent on getting to the next thing that I don’t enjoy any one thing in the process. However, after my pregnancy loss, time slowed down in a very beautiful way for me. I began to notice the small – the freckles on my daughter's forehead and the new word in my son's vocabulary.

After my release from the hospital, it was such an effort for me to even get anywhere -- a trip to the grocery store unexpectedly took on meaning. In some of those first trips out to the supermarket, I shuffled slowly down each aisle, savoring sale signs and new products on the shelves. The grocery store (once just one stop in my busy day) became my day. Because I spent so much time in bed in the weeks after I was released, I became grateful for any trip outside of my house that even a trip down a pasta aisle became an interesting adventure.

I didn't have to get exasperated when the new cashier took too long or someone cut in front of me in line. For the first time in a long while, I had all the time in the world. And it was OK to be interrupted and inconvenienced. I felt that the suffering I went through helped me to slow down the fast pace of my life and appreciate the ordinary moments I had once hastily rushed past.

2.  Compassion for Others

In addition to helping me put the brakes on in my busy life, my miscarriage helped me find empathy for others’ suffering in a way I couldn’t feel before I went through my own painful ordeal. As my strength failed me, and I had to struggle through weeks of recovery, I suddenly was ashamed to remember how I treated the woman I had known who had experienced her sixth miscarriage.

Rather than approach the awkward topic, I had simply circumvented it -- and circumvented her.

I regretfully remembered rolling my eyes when reading about a friend's bout with illness on Facebook -- as this friend always seemed to be venting about a pain or malady.

I unfortunately recalled feeling very annoyed by another woman I knew who had limited her diet to just a few items in an attempt to not trigger her digestive problems.

I had a total lack of compassion for these people because I had taken my own health for granted and couldn't feel their pain without first experiencing my own. I hadn't known what to say to the woman with the multiple miscarriages or the friend with the health issues or the woman with irritable bowel syndrome.

Miscarriage helped me to remember what it felt like to suffer. I was surprised to find myself rushing over to my neighbor's house to console her after her husband's stroke -- surprised to feel a surge of caring inside of me where before there had only been a selfish need to look out for myself.

3. Increased Spiritual Awareness

Not only did I have an increase in patience and compassion after my miscarriage, I had an increase in spiritual awareness. As I mentioned, my miscarriage took a toll on my body, and I quickly realized right after my hospital release that I couldn’t walk without feeling horribly dizzy or weak.

At a follow-up visit a week later, I felt so horrible that I could barely manage the trek from the parking lot to the office. My hemoglobin level was at a 7.1 (a normal woman’s range is between 12 and 17).

Yet even in that depleted physical state, I felt God nudge me to speak to three different women at the doctor’s office within the same follow-up visit. I knew that I had a spiritual gifting in the prophetic and occasionally got a Bible verse or a few lines from God to share with someone – but those words came few and far between – and were usually for friends or family members. For whatever reason, right after my miscarriage, I began to get words of help or encouragement specifically for people in regards to their emotional or physical health. People I didn’t even know.

I had never considered that God might want me to minister to others in these areas. But out of my suffering was birthed an increased awareness in the spiritual realm and a desire to write these God experiences down (which I do regularly on my blog).

4.  Dependence on Him:

One last gift that I felt came out of my miscarriage was a greater dependence on God. From the moment that I woke up and felt that something wasn't right in my body to the moment I arrived at the hospital, I knew that I had nowhere to turn but God. On the way to the hospital I prayed, and felt peace. In the hospital, I prayed and had peace. And when I arrived home and faced the darkness of grief, I prayed and found peace. I really had no alternative -- I was in a pit and knew that I couldn't get out of it myself. I needed God!

Particularly, in the weeks following the loss, I was angry that this might be the end to my child-bearing story. The pregnancy had been unplanned, and I struggled to know why it had happened at all. What was the purpose? Why did it end this way? Would I ever have more children?

I felt Him give me an answer, and it was a picture of His son dying on the cross: Jesus' mangled, disrespected, sword-pierced body. I realized that God allowed His own son's body to be abused and damaged for a purpose, and even out of that tragic event came the beauty of salvation for all mankind. Although ugly to the onlookers at the cross, that body became beautiful and whole again once Jesus did the Father's will and rose again.

If God would allow His own son to go through such treatment, I could live with the suffering I went through in my baby's death.

He helped me get past those intense painful feelings of betrayal and hurt in the first few weeks after the loss -- and even now, as I am reminded occasionally of my less than perfect circumstances.

God doesn't really see things the way that I see them. While all I saw at the hospital was the damage of my baby's not-yet-fully formed body, God saw something different: He saw who she was before she was even conceived. While I only saw a piece of her life, He saw the whole picture and still does.

I felt the imprint of her spirit on me that day in the hospital, and I wanted to see more. I asked Him if I could see a glimpse of who she was.

I didn't really expect to get an answer to my prayer, but for just a moment, I got a flash of a freckled-faced, laughing girl across the screen of my mind. I really felt for a second that I knew her.

Though I don’t wish that I had lost my baby or wish miscarriage on anyone else, as I look back, I am seeing the ways that God is bringing me good through a situation I once viewed as only bad.


I am learning how God is bringing “beauty for ashes” and “a joyous blessing instead of mourning” (Isaiah 61:3 -- NLT).


   Carol is a fellow sister-in-Christ who leads a women's blog at Beulah Girl: a spiritual life/emotional health blog filled with stories and lessons God has taught her.  She has a heart for helping women find their identity in Christ. Check out her inspirational prose!

Other posts by Carol that might encourage you include "The Saddest Thing Ever" and "Muddy Footprints (and a Soul on Trial)."

A Running Challenge

Third time's the charm?

Not when it comes to me and the Collins Dixon 5K!

I've run this race twice before, and both times I've written about it, I was very positive with my prose. (See The Gift of Running and Finish Strong)  However, this time, the course handed me my proverbial bottom, so the tone of this post is going to be, well... honest.

The event, itself, is great!  It is run very well, and it is a fantastic tribute to Collins Dixon, a young man who lost a battle with brain cancer at the age of twelve.  The only suggestion I could make to improve it would be to start the 5K by 8am or sooner rather than 8:45am.  And you'll understand more about why I would make that suggestion if you keep reading.

The course for the race is good, but it does have an AWFUL hill around mile 2.5 when your heading back toward the finish line.

Up and up and up and up....

Now, you might be wondering why I wouldn't suggest changing the course to improve the 5K, and the answer is simple.  The aforementioned hill has been endearingly named Collins' Hill, and it is the perfect metaphor for what Collins experienced as he faced the daunting battle that is cancer.  So, having this hill in this race is fitting. It's appropriate. And although I imagine that part of the course does scare away a good number of people, my friend Jaimee and I have come back and run it - for the past three years now.

before the race

And this year, the heat, the humidity, and the hill, combined together, really did a number on us!

The heat was awful! This is the main reason why I wouldn't mind seeing the race start the 5K sooner rather than later.   With each passing minute, Georgia mornings heat up quickly in July.  And after the race began, I knew I was in for a "butt" whooping! The heat, combined with the humidity, sapped my energy reserves, and about half way through the course, I knew that when I got to Collins' hill, I would have to walk it.

In years past, I have walked some of the hill and ran parts of it.  However, this year, I walked the whole hill.  In fact, there were a few times it felt as if the hill was pressing down on me, and - I hate to confess this - there were times I had to stop walking!  But even worse than that, after getting to the top of the hill, I CONTINUED TO WALK!  I couldn't even push myself to run at that point - not until I saw the finish line in sight.  THEN, I finally talked my weary body into jogging forward.

Despite all that, I did feel as if I gave it my all that day.  The time of 42:50 sure doesn't translate into that, but I know in my heart that I pushed on to the best of my ability in that oppressive heat and humidity.

I don't know that I finished strong, but I finished!  And I left it all on the course.  And I know my friend Jaimee did as well!

We were both BEAT DOWN after this race (pictorial evidence above). But truly, to end on a more positive note, our fatigue was nothing when you consider what Collins had to endure.

So, Jaimee and I want to challenge you! If you live in the north Georgia area, consider running this 5K next year.  It will test your running ability like no other course around!  But, at the end of the day, you will have an immense sense of satisfaction for having done it and for having supported brain cancer research. And for helping Collins' parents honor the life that their brave son lived.

Today's forget-me-not: Finish strong!

"Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one gets the prize?  Run in such a way as to get the prize." (1 Corinthians 9:24)

Revisiting The Peachtree Road Race

Two down, and one more to go!

Let me explain...  If you have been reading my blog this past year, you know that one of my new year's resolutions is to run three 10Ks in 2015, and I'm happy to report I completed my second 10K on the fourth of July!

The Peachtree Road Race is a fourth of July tradition in Atlanta, Georgia. I have run it only once before.  It was my first 10K back in 2013.

Now, you might be wondering why I didn't run it in 2014?  Well, I wrote about that in the race report of that run.  Suffice it to say, the course is NOT an easy one.  AND after running 6.2 miles for the first time, I realized why I love 3.1 miles (5Ks) more (you have to go back and read that post), so I let my husband run The Peachtree with a friend in 2014 while I stayed home with the kids.

But as I said before, when thinking of new year's resolutions for this year, I just felt compelled to run a few 10Ks in 2015.  So, it just made sense that I would tackle The Peachtree once more - one of the largest 10Ks in the world.  Besides, I felt as is the first time I ran it, the course conquered me instead of me conquering it, so I wanted to run it and have no regrets this time around!

However, training in June for this 10K proved almost impossible.  I think I got in a total of three or four short 30 minute runs inside the YMCA the month before this race.  Why? Life happened!  First, post-planning (I'm a teacher) was longer because of added make-up days due to snow back in February.  Then, I got caught up in planning for VBS, and then there was VBS.  After that, I left on vacation to Indiana for my second cousin's wedding where the cold I got before that vacation worsened, so when we got back from vacation, I was on antibiotics and self-imposed rest to overcome that illness.  And before I knew it, The Peachtree was the next week!

I knew this run would be rough, so I just resolved to run it.  No expectations to meet or beat past 10K times.  I just wanted to run, pace myself, enjoy this unique event that is The Peachtree, and finish strong!

The morning of the fourth of July proved to be very stormy! Hence the reason for the garbage bags we are wearing in the photos below...

It doesn't look stormy in those pictures because it had rained somewhat before we took them, but then the heavens really opened up once the race started!  So much so that the race (which was first ran in 1971) experienced its first ever race delay due to lightning!

Fortunately, I had already started running when they began to try to stop the race due to the weather. I probably should have stopped when I saw the lightning, but I had already started running.  And just an FYI, you can't stop a runner after a race has started - especially if it is a chip timed race.  There was no way I was stopping!  Granted, my only goals for this race were to pace myself and enjoy the event, but I still wanted to see what my race time would be having approached the run in that manner. So, I kept running even though they tried to usher runners off to the side of the road to find shelter. And it was all good.  No more lightning. Thank the good Lord!

Pouring rain, but I totally enjoyed it!

Overall, I had a good run.  Mile four still kicked my butt though...

Finished three miles!

This is where the famed "cardiac hill" begins.  After you finish mile three and see its marker, things start to go uphill. You see, the first half of The Peachtree is downhill - for the most part - and then you start mile four. You hit what is known as "cardiac hill," but after that, the course is filled with even more uphill battles. It's tough!  I must confess, after seeing the sign for the completed mile three, I walked a good bit of mile four. I don't do hills well, and I knew if I let mile four wear me out, miles five and six would be disastrous.

My race time this year for the 10K was 1:23.  The first time I did the course back in 2013, my time was 1:20, so I was three minutes slower this year.  Part of that may be due to the fact that the start of the race wasn't really an "official" start.  People just began walking slowly forward and over the start line only to find out later that the race had been delayed, so it was hard to actually start running when I was supposed to start running.

But, I'm making excuses really.  The truth is that numbers never tell the whole story - runners know this.  Even though my time was a bit slower, I felt so much better about my run this year than I did the previous time I ran this course.  I feel as if this time I conquered this course!  It was a good run, and I have no regrets about it!

If you ever run The Peachtree Road Race, know that it is a very physical course - even after the run! Once you cross the finish line, you still have to walk about two miles (or so it seemed to me) to get to the bus that will take you to the train that will take you to where you parked your car.

On the bus trying to get to the train that would take us back to our car! #tired

We were very tired after the race, and the next day, I was very sore!  Contributing to the soreness was the fact that I had accidentally stepped in a pot hole during the race and almost twisted my ankle. I know it looked pretty bad when I did it because the crowd gasped when they saw me stumble, but I was able to maintain my ground and keep running.  I didn't feel any pain at the time, but the next couple of days after the race, my right foot was very sore!  I've never had a race injury, so this kinda scared me.  But I'm happy to report, the soreness went away, and I am able to maintain my running schedule for July - which is pretty full.  So, get ready for more race reports headed your way!

All in all, The Peachtree Road Race is a must do for the 10K runner.  When you finish the race, the first thing they give you is the coveted Peachtree Road Race t-shirt - a symbol of having been there and done that which is envied by all :-)

It's all about that shirt, bout that shirt. Yeah, baby!

Yeah. You know your jealous ;-)

Today's forget-me-not: Just keep running, just keep running, just keep running. :-)