WIN a Running Devotional: The Runner's Devotional

From Mile-Posts:

Last week I posted a review on The Runner's Devotional - if you did not catch it - I've included the post below. Tyndale House is offering one reader of Mile Posts a FREE copy of The Runner's Devotional.


Here's how to enter:
*You must be a follower of my blog to win. Contest ends on 10.2.2011.

Here's how to enter: [please leave a separate comment for each entry]

1. Tell me why you want to win!
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3. Follow Mile Posts on twitter @mileposts
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**Contest ends on 10/2/11 - winner will be notified via blog post shortly thereafter and has 2 weeks to claim their prize before a back up winner is chosen. I will verify that you are a follower of my blog.


I had to have it.

All the posts on this blog somehow relate to running, more often than not a lot of those posts also relate to the spiritual side of my running.

I don't push my faith on anyone and have many friends in my life who are either another religion or do not believe in the existence of God. I used to shy away from even speaking about religion, but was really touched when studying the Bible last year. Why did I care about offending my readers by speaking about Christ, but I was not concerned with how Christ felt about me not speaking about Him?

So if I offend you when I talk about where my strength comes from, I am sorry. I truly am. My intention is never to harm. I won't however say I will stop, because I won't. If you want to know the whole truth about how my times keep getting faster, how I can train for marathons with 1 kid, 2 kids, or 3 kids then I have to include the part about my spiritual journey. My running is only half the story, my relationship with Christ the other half and without Him there would be no other half called running.

I was very excited when the opportunity arose to review The Runner's Devotional. Running and God? Yes please.


I have not read the whole devotional, but I feel that I can acurrately review it. I wanted to read the whole thing before I opened the cover, but once I started reading it, I wanted to treasure this little gem for a whole year.


If you have ever read or started to read a devotional, you probably know that if it does not grab you in the first couple of days, it was a waste of money. It should not feel like a chore to read. It should feel like something you enjoy reading. I enjoy this book.


The authors Dana Niesluchowski, and Dave Veerman have run marathons - they understand fitness. Dana is a mom to a young son. I feel like I can connect with them.


The book is broken up into 52 weeks, with a training log space after every week. You can read a whole week at once or you can read some each day according to their suggested way to divide it up. There are stories, there are Bible passages, there are sections on The Runner, The Race, The Result and *Think It Through* section, which is one of my favorites.


My copy is already strewn with highlighted sections, which means you know I love it.

If you are a Christian runner or runner who wants to learn more about Christ you will enjoy this devotional!

Questions? If you want to read an excerpt from the book you can do so on Amazon.com


Note: Tyndale House Publishers provided me with a complimentary copy of this book. I was not paid for this review and the opinions are my own.

 

New Beginnings

In January, I qualified for the Boston Marathon. Yea! After several months of hard running, speedwork, tempo runs and long runs, I was happy to see the realization of a goal obtained. I honestly didn't think it was possible for my body to do it. My fastest time up to that point was the Houston marathon in 2010 at 4:04. I was now attempting to knock 20 or 25 minutes off my personal best in order to qualify for my age group.

I needed to run this marathon in 3 hours and 45 minutes. Now stranger things have happened, but that seemed quite speedy for the stay-at-home mom, recreational runner that I am. It was also quickly becoming more difficult due to high temperatures and humidity that the Houston marathon experienced on race day in 2011. Nevertheless, somehow I managed to finish in 3:44:08. Super, I did it! But, just barely...

The Boston marathon being what it is - the marathon that everyone wants to run, the best of the best - sold out the previous year in 8 hours. To make it fair (and more competitive) faster runners were given priority for the 2012 race. This announcement was made soon after I qualified so I knew my chances were slim to get a spot. Let's face it, a barely qualified by 1 minute!

I was notified yesterday that I did not obtain entry to the Boston marathon. I am sad and a little heartbroken. Do I understand why? Yes. Is it fair? Yes. Does it still stink? Yes. As it turns out the cut-off for my age group was 3:43:46. I missed it by 22 seconds. Which is a lot. Stand at the finish line and count how many people cross within 22 seconds. Ask the winner of the silver medal how many seconds he was away from the gold...More than 22 seconds, I'm sure.

So, I gave myself one day to be sad. It was a teaching moment for my kids. I told Brady (age 6) what had happened. "Mommy tried really hard, but I didn't get what I wanted." He comforted my the way only a child could and said, "Well you could just run around the house! I'll run with you and I hope I'm faster than you!" That's really why I run. To be a better person, a better mom and a good example for my kids.

It's not a big deal that I didn't get in. I don't know what I was looking forward to more, the marathon or the trip. Probably both. I didn't start running to run the Boston marathon, I'm not going to stop now. That's why I started with this post. New Beginnings. So I can look back and see how far I've come. Hopefully, getting faster and becoming better along the way.

Maybe one day, I'll be able to write about my Boston experience. There is speedwork to be done today anyway.