Behind The Scenes - This Is Only A Mountain

Linking up with Crystal Stine today for Behind The Scenes

 

This was me in February of this year.  My very first long race.  I had done others, 5k's, but this...this was different.  I had planned to do it the year before.  And then my world stopped and came crashing in.  And so here I stood, making good on a dream that seemed like an impossibility.  9.1 miles.  I had run further on my own, but this was different.  And as much as I feared failing, I looked forward the how that finish line would feel even more.  No matter what it took to get there, no matter how long.  I would finish.  It was a bridge run.  The first one, the 3 mile bridge was a gradual incline.  I can do this....and I made it, but the last couple miles brought what I thought would take me out.  That last bridge was steep and sharp and I thought oh my word......no way....but as I ran and found myself at the base of it, that mountain began to look a little different.  My perspective was changing.  Hard? You bet, but it didn't seem so imposing and before long I was over it and moving downhill fast towards the finish line.  Even after that bridge there was still a mile to go...the last mile is always the hardest...I had heard this at an EWomen's conference and it has stuck in my brain ever since.  You are almost there and then you cramp, you get so exhausted, sometimes you stumble.  But you have to get back up.  You have to.  And as I came into the finish, I felt a surge of excitement and energy that I have never felt before.  I did this.  I faced it.  I finished....and that finish was just a new beginning.  I'm back at that steep bridge yet again.  I can't see over it.  I have no idea what lies ahead, except the finish line of this leg of my journey.  And I'm tired.  And here lately I have gotten some bumps and bruises, but I can do this.  He made me for this, for long distance, for slow and steady, to get to the prize He set before me. Thankful.