(I'm just going to apologize for the long post, now... but please, read to the end... It's a good one, I promise.) ;)
The past week and a half has been a breakthrough time for me. 2 days in particular... I had to leave my comfort zone (running inside on a treadmill) Let me explain:
Monday, Feb. 3 was not my best swim... I was off.. I'm not sure why, but my body was not doing what I wanted it to do.. breathing was off, stroke was off, I was sinking! After texting my coach for some guidence and encouragement on Tuesday, I took to the pool again on Wednesday morning (breakthrough day one). There was temptation to allow the poor swim of Monday to linger, but instead of doing that, I pressed into the Lord. I prayed, asked the Lord to help me, and HE DID! (no surprise there) It was like something in my mind had shifted~ i felt like my stroke was right on, my breathing was WAY BETTER, I wasn't sinking (which is always good in a pool)... I left that pool feeling like I could conquer the WORLD! Thursday, I rode my bike, and then Saturday we had another session with Todd! This was probably the hardest session we have had, but it was soo good! It was a great opportunity to make a choice... give into my mind and body thought were it's limitations, or I could push through... I chose to push through, and it was well worth it.
Then came Saturday night... I'm not 100% sure why I texted Coach the question I did, becuse I already knew what she was going to answer (the text was about my comfort zone and how I needed to leave that, but part of her answer, I didn't expect. She offered to meet me in Brentwood (about half way between our homes) and run with me on Sunday! I immediately said 'YES!!!!' Then, I almost just as quickly started wondering why in the world I said yes?! She was going to make me run... and run a lot.. So Sunday rolled around (breakthrough day 2), I went to church, lunch, errands, then headed up to meet with Coach. As I was driving up, I had multiple conversations: 1 with a friend, 1 with my aunt and the most important one was with God.... I NEEDED THIS RUN TO GO WELL... As you all know, I've said for quite a while that 'running was my weakest event' or 'i'm no good at running'. It was time to break that down! I needed to change my mindset and the words that I spoke over myself! The Lord had been showing me that over the week, and then my coach told me on our run: "You need to start saying that you CAN do this and stop saying the negative things." So we ran... and ran... and ran... (ok, we actually walked some too, which was really helpful. We ran for 4 minutes, walked 1 (and repeat))... at the end of my run, I found out that we actually did 4 miles in 46 minutes and I ran at my fastest pace ever!! WAHOO!!! As I ran, I was talking with Coach, but I was also talking with the Lord. The Bible says that "His strength is made perfect in our weakness." This was shown during this run... Yes, I was doing the physical run, but emotionally, it was the power of the Holy Spirit that was getting me through... That was gently encouraging me to put one foot in front of the other and not give up. After we got done running, my hips and the top of my foot started hurting.. We had another text conversation about this, and it was determined that I needed to get new shoes...
Oh great... I know I need new shoes, but I serious had NO IDEA HOW I WAS GOING TO PAY FOR THEM!!!! I have ZERO EXTRA MONEY, and honestly, new shoes was not in the budget.... So, what do I do? I pray, and pray hard! This is where some people might think I'm crazy.. praying for shoes? It seems so little, or vain, or ?? But I'm a firm believer that God cares not only about the BIG things in our lives, but He deeply cares about the small details of our lives too... So I prayed and trusted that the Lord would provide shoes for me somehow.
On Monday night, I posted this to our private "Tri-team" facebook page: Stacee Strickland I'm no planning on completely following in your footsteps, but I too am taking tomorrow off of running... Yesterday's GREAT run has left me super sore, and I'm having some pretty intense tenderness on the top of my feet... Coach and I have determined that it is because my shoes are old and laces tied to tight... so, I'm going to give riding a try, but ice, ice, ICE!!! Looking forward to the pool Wednesday am!
Then i went to bed... I woke up to this private message from one of my teammates: I read your post about you shoes. You have to have good shoes - especially while training. And this cannot wait. Come to Brentwood Fleet Feet at your earliest opportunity and I will buy you a pair. Seriously. If you keep running in those shoes, you will injure yourself and we can't have that. Let me know when you can meet me there.
Um.. seriously? Did I read that right? YES I DID!!!! Oh my word! God totally just gave me shoes by the generosity of my teammate! And let me just point out that our team has only really been together for about 6 weeks... So, I met up with my teammate today and we got myself new shoes! I NEVER ONCE MENTIONED how I couldn't afford to get new shoes (prior to that message from my teammate)... GOD CARES ABOUT THE DETAILS IN OUR LIVES! HOW COOL IS GOD?!??!?!?!? He cares about the big issue of my finances, and then He also cares about the small detail of me needing new running shoes, and sends my teammate to buy them for me. I had no idea how the Lord was going to come through on this one, but He absolutely did, and I am SOO greatful! I now can't wait to get out and run with my new shoes. They are lightweight, yet supportive, and they are an awesome bright yellow! Here's a picture!
It was soo worth me leaving my comfort zone this week, in at least 2 of the 3 sports. It was scary, but it was way easier with the partnership of my coach and my team. I absolutely LOVE training with TEAM, and my TEAM in particular. I'll be honest in that it doesn't look exactly as I thought it was going to, but it is exactly what it needs to be!
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