God is so faithful, and He care about the small details of our life!

(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! 

Find the "why" behind your "what", and the the "how" will come.

Hey guys-

Stacee here-

I've been racking my brain trying to decide what to post first, and while I am going to cover a lot of things, including gluten, I felt like I needed to start with 2 passions of mine- cycling and Jesus. Please don't stop reading just because of the name of Jesus. He is a major part of my health story. As I wrote in my first post, I was almost 200 lbs in high school. I was able to drop some of that through my college years, but I still was never happy. I lost my "why". This past year, I've started the journey again on finding it...

Weight-loss starts in the mind and spirit. You must get to a place where you are determined beyond all doubt that you will stick to it. I never, truly, had that determination. It wasn't until my mindset was changed that i started losing the weight. For years, I told people that I was giving my weight-loss/health journey to The Lord, but that was a lie. I never really thought that God cared about the small things in my life like health. Here's the thing... HE DOES!!!! He has created our bodies to function at a certain weight and way. When I finally realized that, and asked God what weight HE wanted me to be at, the journey became so much easier! And, knowing that "number", actually freed me from the scale! It became a journey towards health, not just a nice body. Now, don't get me wrong, I am still concerned about the number and what I look like, but it doesn't consume my thoughts. Honestly, I'm still struggling through this, but I am trusting The Lord to help me with this.

The other thing that really helped to kick start my journey is finding something that I loved that would give me a good cardio workout... CYCLING!!!! Y'all, I'm obsessed with it. In 2010 I participated in my first triathlon, and when training in the cycling portion, i got sucked in!! It has sucked living in the south where it is could during the winter (unlike so cal), so I haven't been able to ride all winter, but, I just rode for the first time this spring! My heart is so happy! I did 5.5 miles and it was great fun! I could tell that I got a little it of shape this winter, because hills were way harder than I remembers in the fall... :) cycling provides a time for me to spend some good time with Jesus. I take to the back country roads of Tennessee, iPod in my ears and I just ride. It's glorious, and sometimes, I forget I am working out. The great thing about cycling is that there is so much to learn about it and how to improve (sorry-another bunny trail, I'll save that for another post).

I guess the point of this post is this: you have to find the "why" behind the "what", and the "how" will follow. Far too often, we jump straight to the "how will I accomplish this" instead, we need to first figure out they "why" behind our journey to health. For me, it is about way more than just getting to a "good number" or fitting into a certain size; it is about complete whole-ness (mind, body, spirit). I'm finding out my "why" even now. I've been going through a small period of time where I have had practically no motivation, but The Lord is gracious in helping me, I've been able to identify quite a few mindsets that have been preventing me from attaining the health .. (I'll cover all my "how's" in another post). Over the past 3 weekends, I've run two 5k races and the weather finally started cooperating and I was able to get out on my bike this past weekend and did 21 miles!!! These past 3 weeks (and nice weather) has kick-started a flame within me again to get out and exercise!!

Here's the deal-
God loves you so much, so much that He became man in Jesus Christ, He lived the life we should have lived and died the death we should have died, in our place. Three days later, He rose from the dead, proving that He is the Son of God and offering the gift of salvation for all who repent and believe the gospel.

Because of that, if we accept Jesus and submit our lives to Him, then we will succeed. I'm not promising a life of ease when you accept The Lord, but I am promising that you will never be alone, no matter what journey you are on. This journey towards health has not been easy but I have comfort in knowing that I am not alone in it. Not only do I have The Lord but He has also brought great friends, like Annie, along side of me to walk (or run) this journey with me.

Be encouraged though. You are not on this journey alone... Please contact us if we can help you in any way (mind, body or spirit).

Annie's Journey, Part 2: How I became a Runner

Hi Guys!

Hope you all have had a fabulous week so far, it's Friday!!!

Today I'm going to go into how I became a runner. As I'm sure you've picked up from previous posts, I have no Athletic background. In fact, I'd classify myself as a band geek and theater nerd LOL but that's another story.

If there's one thing you figure out about me, it's that I LOVE Disney! Yup, I'm that girl. I will do anything if it has some tie in to Disney... including running.

I'm going to back up a bit and tell u a little of my running background before all this.
But wait! You just said you weren't athletic!
You're right, I'm not. Haha but I did for one year in high school decide that I was going to join Track and Field.
I actually "trained" for Track and Field by joining a club cross country team that my friend's dad coached. I definitely got in shape but I gave out minimal effort and was always the last to finish. Everything. When T&F season hit, I was pretty much over it after a coach (specifically my high jump coach at the school) showed little effort in helping me or anyone else actually succeed in the event. He had more interest in being on the phone with his business during practice than dealing with us. After the school year ended I said good bye to sports and advanced in my music, theater, and art classes.

Fast forward to January 2012. My cousin who's an avid runner had asked me numerous times before if I wanted to ever go running with her. Usually my answer was a laugh and a polite no. By this time I had lost the weight and was feeling pretty good, but I had also noticed that I didn't have any muscle definition. The diet had melted away a lot of my muscle mass with the fat. This is a normal reaction when your body drops weight, which is why it's important to combine BOTH diet and exercise.
One day i got a text from her saying that she needed a driving buddy down to Orange County. She had signed up for the inaugural Tinkerbell Half Marathon! Promising me that it wasn't a trick to get me to run she asked if I would go down with her and check out the expo at the hotel before her other running buddy arrived. All the while full well knowing I'd have a hard time passing up a chance to experience something new at Disneyland. She hooked me.

If you want to see photos from the Tinkerbell Half, I have a similar post on my Disney blog here

Long story short, I was completely sucked in to the whole RunDisney movement that weekend.  Even though I wasn't running, everything, including the expo, was extremely exciting and all the merchandise... all the merchandise!  Did I mention the medals?!

The morning of the race my cousin had to be at the start line suuuuuuuper early in the morning.  With Disney races, the entire race route in the parks has to be cleared and cleaned before the parks open to the public.  Disneyland opens at 8am.   Disneyland park is not the start line.  This means crazy early call times!
We had set up a system where she would text me when she got within a couple miles of the finish.  Standing there watching all the runners come through the finish line before her was so inspiring! I saw a lot of people that looked like my level of fitness finishing the race! Not only were they finishing at a great time, they were finishing with huge smiles on their faces!

It was at that point I said to myself.... "If they can do it.... why couldn't I?"


That was all it took.


The next month the 2012 Disneyland Half Marathon registration opened up and I was among the 17,000 runners who signed up.  A few weeks later, I joined a local running club, got my feet fitted for the right shoes, and worked my booty off training for my upcoming Half Marathon which was months away in September.

It was one of the most fulfilling days of my life when I crossed that finish line.  It changed me.  It changed the way I feel about myself, the way I fuel my body with food for training, and the way my body works and feels now.  I honestly can say that Disney - RunDisney specifically - changed my life.

I wrote up a post on that day.  You can check it out here: Disneyland Half Marathon 2012

I hope that this post inspired some of you on getting into shape or finding something that you're passionate about.  Fitness doesn't have to be going to the gym and facing miles on a treadmill in the same 4 x 4 square all year long.  Find something that you enjoy doing and work your fitness into that!

I think I'm stuck on RunDisney races for the rest of my life LOL My same cousin and I are planning a year's worth of Disney races for 2013! It includes the Coast to Coast challenge (Disneyland and WDW) and hopefully the Dumbo Double Dare challenge at Disneyland. Can't wait!!


Hope you all have a great week and let's work to stay inspired!

What got you started getting in shape?