Praise the Invisible

No matter the run, no matter the distance, "somehow" my "random" shuffle of a playlist plays a Daniel Bashta song as the last song of my run. It blows my mind every time that Jesus even dictates the shuffle! He's so good isn't He? Sometimes it's All Hail. Sometimes it's Like a Lion. Sometimes it's Praise the Lord.

This past week for my last long run before heading out for the big race, it was Praise the Invisible. As I approached the last .5 of my run, the first few notes started playing and tears just came to my eyes. "Praise the Invisible. Praise the Immortal One. Praise God Incarnate, Praise Father, Spirit, Son. For He is God. For He is Holy. For He, Holds the Keys to the grave and Forever He will reign."

I ran that last .5 of my 12 mile run singing and worshipping (pretty sure my neighbors think I'm crazy by now). For He is the only wise and eternal King. He deserves all honor and glory. I finished that last run strong and thanking Him.

Sunday am, worship started and wouldn't you know the very first song we start singing is Praise the Invisible. I sat down right there and wept.

He is in the details. He cares about EVERY LITTLE DETAIL OF YOUR LIFE. He cares about things that bring you joy like running and He heals even when doctors say the opposite.

May you be encouraged today. Know He is God. He is Holy. He is the only wise Eternal King. Praise the Invisible.

Labels: 26.2, Daniel Bashta, healing, marathon, marathon training, running

posted by Kristin @ May 04, 2016 0 Comments

Jesus, Pneumonia, and a Marathon

I am less than two months past pneumonia and less than two weeks out from my first marathon. According to doctors I should still be hacking up my lungs. I only have one explanation for this and His name is Jesus. On my run yesterday (it was only a 5 miler) I was worshipping and thanking Jesus for this miraculous recovery and was thinking about writing this blog post. Then almost immediately doubt crept in. What if I don't finish. Should I wait till I finish my marathon to write this post. Then almost immediately (again) the word TRUST came to mind. And I just started saying that word over and over again as I ran those laps around the neighborhood (by now I have a good 1mile route nailed down). I trust you Jesus. I 100% believe YOU have healed me.

This journey to my first marathon has not been what I was expecting. I had not expected to have a week in the hospital and a full month of being on bed rest. But if I needed a lesson in the power of prayer and trusting in Him, I got one. I attended our church's Night of Healing Prayer and just wept as our people prayed for me. Begging for mercy and wanting to return to "life".  The next day I had my first full day of not sleeping in the middle of it. Glory be to God.

That next week I slowly began returning to work, and that weekend we had a guest speaker at church. At the end, the Lord used him to prophetically speak into our people. He asked if anyone needed new lungs and I stood as quickly as I could, holding my hands up, believing with everything in me for complete healing from the Lord. Eventually I opened my eyes and I was surrounded by youth that love me and were laying hands on me and praying for me. It is a moment I will never forget. In that moment I was changed and I will never be the same. I became the student and my students became the leaders. The Lord used them to speak life into my body and I became ALIVE.

To Him Be the Glory.

Labels: healing, marathon, marathon training, pneumonia, prayer, RiverStone, running

posted by Kristin @ April 12, 2016 0 Comments

Join me in November?

Labels: 5k, atlanta, esprit de she, girls night out, piedmont park, running

posted by Kristin @ February 12, 2016 0 Comments

Yvonne is Running This Year!

Labels: running, RunThisYear

posted by Kristin @ February 21, 2014 1 Comments

Tara Jane Is Running This Year!

• Get a running buddy - if you’re social like me, a running buddy will make you lace up and get out there.
• Find a local running group - Facebook is super helpful for finding these.
• Start slow, but work on improving
• As the girls at Rachel’s Runners say: Don’t stop!

I am excited about us connecting with one another and encouraging each other on as we #RunThisYear!!!  Let's start by connecting with Tara!

Instagram:  @eatinghappy_
Twitter:   @thisistarajane
Blog:  hellotheretarajane.wordpress.com
Tumblr:  hellotheretarajane.tumblr.com

Labels: running, RunThisYear

posted by Kristin @ February 17, 2014 1 Comments

Run This Year 2014

Some may have seen the crazy thing I posted earlier this week on Facebook.... "Run 2014 miles in 2014.  Who's with me?"  (You may have also noticed it's the only thing I've posted this week----I deleted Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter off my phone this week to be more intentional with my boys.  My apologies if you've tried to get ahold of me--I'll be back next week....).

So really...who's with me?  Am I really going to reach 2014 miles in 2014?  It seems like such a lofty goal.  But to be honest with you since finishing my third half marathon for 2013 in November and not being signed up for another race..I've been floundering.  I'm apparently a person that needs goals in their life.  So why not sign up for a big one.  So I'm in.  Not only am I in...I signed up with the big dogs.  I'm joining TEAM #RunThisYear as one of the Ambassadors.  What does that mean?  Basically you'll get to hear from me a lot on this subject and hopefully encourage you along the way!!   I plan on checking in later on this week with my own personal goals for 2014--running & not running--but for now, here are the details for RUN THIS YEAR!!!

Run This Year is an amazing community (FREE!) that encourages and motivates runners to keep on running all year long...and see how many miles you can log in one year!

There are THREE ways to participate!

RUN THIS YEAR CHALLENGES:

CHALLENGE 1: Run the year in miles: 2,014 miles in 2014.

Download a sample running calendar to see how it can be done: PDF or XLS.
Breaks down to 5.5 miles every day or 39 miles per week.

CHALLENGE 2: Run the year in kilometers: 2,014 kilometers = 1251.4 miles.

Roughly 3.5 miles every day or 24 miles per week.

CHALLENGE 3: GYOG!

Get Your Own Goal! If you join later in the year or are new to running, that’s okay! Participate by selecting a challenging mileage total for yourself and get after it!

This is what I love about this community!  There is a challenge for everyone--no matter your fitness level!

There is a fun place to tell us you are participating--SO CLICK HERE TO JOIN THE COMMUNITY!

And another fun spot to log your miles every week!  Use this form to log 'em!

I will also start using the Daily Mile website again to start logging and my favorite running app is Strava.  So follow along!

Who's excited for 2014 and all that it holds?!?!

Labels: 13.1, running, RunThisYear

posted by Kristin @ January 02, 2014 0 Comments

My Running Story

To start this story--I need to go back-way back.  Running is in my genes.  Growing up both my parents were runners  (I recently found a race shirt of my mom's from 1986---and have been wearing it around the house!)  I joined the track team in the 7th grade and I will never forget the day I ran a 6:34 mile.  We moved to Georgia my 8th grade year and they didn't have a track team for my grade...but once high school hit, I was back on the team.  Just in the last month a friend posted an old track picture of us at state my freshman year.....  talk about memory lane.

The funny thing about back then was I may have run 4 different events---but I was a sprinter.  The longest I probably ever ran was a mile and that was just conditioning to be a sprinter.

College came and I pretty much hung up my running shoes.  I didn't really have a desire to keep "sprinting" and I surely had no desire to run any distance whatsoever.  

Fast forward ... by a lot.

Jude was born March 5th, 2011 ....   Fall 2012 I had the startling realization that I was still carrying baby weight, but more than numbers on the scale, I had fallen into a complacent lifestyle.  Don't get me wrong--life was busier than ever--just personally I had zero exercise in my life.  I think what scared me the most was how easy I had gotten comfortable with the complacent, no exercise lifestyle, that I felt like I could blink and ten years would pass and my whole family would be living a very unhealthy lifestyle.  If anything I wanted an active lifestyle to be present in our home and I knew it had to start with me.

Enter in the couch to 5k program.  Not gonna lie--I thought I was going to die the first week--but I pressed on.  That was September.  In October I asked for birthday money to buy new running shoes and I made real changes in my diet.  I knew enough that the two go hand in hand.


At this point I set for myself the following goals:  a 5k by the end of 2012, a 10k in the Spring of 2013, and a half marathon in the Fall of 2013--by my birthday in October.
I ran my 5k on Thanksgiving Day--the Gobble Jog in Marietta.  My two goals were to run the whole thing without stopping and under 33 minutes (my age).  Happy to say I did both! (Nowhere near that 6:34 mile from middle school--but we gotta start somewhere right?!).

At Thanksgiving Runner's World put out a statement saying that Americans gain the most weight between Thanksgiving and New Years.  They issued the challenge to run one mile every day during that season. I put the link on Facebook and my friend Katie responded.  We both took up the challenge and we took to holding each other accountable!  I'm here today to tell you as for getting in shape, her accountability is the best thing that happened to me!  Each day we sent texts. We didn't make it the entire season, but I still think we did really, really good.  It was during this season that Katie asked me if I wanted to sign up for the Nashville Rock 'N Roll Half Marathon in April.....wait....what????  This was way before my October goal.....but we signed up for what would be for each of us our first half marathons!

After the first of the year we started our training and continued our daily text messages and holding each other accountable.  We both suffered some set backs--she had a knee injury--I had crazy sickness--thankfully they were at the same time and neither one of us lost heart.  We were able to encourage and speak life into each other just when the other one needed it!

We watched the miles increase.  We tried to run a 5k together that got cancelled due to thunder & lightening. We encouraged each other when a three mile run was tough and we screamed with joy when we both went on our first for real long distance runs.  I can promise you that accountability is what made all the difference for me.  I've been blessed by both her and my friend Sam who is the ultimate athlete and every technical question I send to her.  She even made me download an app so she could watch my training--which held me to a whole new level of accountability!!

All this to say 7ish months ago I was living a very complacent lifestyle.  Now I crave the simplicity of a run.  To have the time with the Lord--letting Him refresh my heart as my feet hit the pavement has been lifesaving and life giving over the course of these past months.  Like I said earlier, I thought I was absolutely going to die my first time out there on the couch to 5k program.  And sure, there are some days that my run does not go great---but it's about getting out there and being active, and for me encountering Jesus in another beautiful way.  

To close my running story....I want my son to grow up living an active lifestyle and I am so thankful that I woke up before he settled in.  And if we want the real truth....we all really do this.......

~~~~
A few updates for the rest of 2013 on Instagram:

Half Marathon #2:
http://instagram.com/p/eP6E00xreA/

Half Marathon #3:
http://instagram.com/p/ghE-fxxrZh/

A wrap up of my journey as a Half Marathon Runner:
http://instagram.com/p/gzS_55RrSN/

Labels: couch to 5k, half marathon, half marathon training, running

posted by Kristin @ May 09, 2013 0 Comments

Boston: as a newbie runner & the fight against fear

Boston.  It is one of those moments that you will forever remember exactly where you were sitting when it happened.  I was in a coffee shop with a friend that had just returned from the mission field.  Her back was to the tv screen and I had to interrupt her and say I am so sorry, but something has happened.  Even the coffee shop crew came from behind the counter to gather around the tv to see what had happened.  It's one of those moments you have no idea what's going on but all you can do is say the Name JESUS over and over again.

I've struggled with the words to say over the past week because I'm new to the running community.  So new, I wonder if I have words to say, or even if I should say anything at all.  When it went viral to wear a marathon shirt on Tuesday to support Boston all I had was a couple of 5k shirts.  I still wanted to show my support, so I wore it anyway...but that just shows how new I am to this community!  So new, I haven't even written my whole running story on here yet, but I did want to say a few words today.

One week from today Katie and I will run our first half marathon together.  We have been training since the first week of January.  We've been running "together" since Thanksgiving.  She lives in Nashville and we text almost daily holding each other accountable.  I know how hard we have worked for this half next weekend and it's a race that anyone can sign up for---Boston is a race of a lifetime.  I can not even imagine someone wanting to steal that from someone....but that is not the purpose of this post.

Fear.  Katie and I stayed up late Monday night talking each other out of exactly where the enemy wanted us to go---the pit of fear.  I could feel it creeping up on me.  As the news reports came in and as we watched the clips over and over again, we just kept talking each other through it and out of it.    The questions we've asked each other--do we want our families standing at the finish line--something as a newbie runner you've been dreaming of for your first big race.  And if I'm being honest with you for a split second I had the thought creep in--do I want to do this--put myself and my family at risk?  Is this whole running thing worth it?

As the week has gone on...YES.  More now than ever do I want to run.  I was passionate about it before, and I plan on sharing my running story with you this week my first big race approaches, but running is absolutely worth it.  I will not only run on Saturday, I will run more this upcoming year than I had originally planned prior to Monday.  Run now for those that can't.  Pray harder that Jesus will somehow use this for His good.  I will enter into Saturdays race declaring that the enemy has not won.  Jesus is Victorious.  Fear cannot and will not win.

--

For the tangible side of things....how can you help?

Pray.  That Jesus would be made known in the midst of this.

Another Mother Runner has a great blog post on 10 ways to support Boston.

Pavement Runner has organized A Week After:  A Run for Boston (click that link to find your city!).  There is one in Piedmont Park for Atlanta.  The facebook page for that event is here.

Big Peach Company is also organizing runs for Monday night--click their page here.

Something you can do from anywhere is the Run 26.2 for Boston--it's an event going on on Facebook that you can join and commit to run 26.2 no matter where you are.  You can do it in one day, one week, one month.  Click here for the event page.

And to close it out--My favorite article I have read so far can be found here--Let The Healing Begin: Running Still Matters by Brian Metzler.

Labels: Boston Marathon, running

posted by Kristin @ April 20, 2013 1 Comments

I'm proud of us

This is week six of half marathon training. One day soon I plan on writing my whole running journey that began back in September and sharing it with you, but for now I want to share with you the now. I do believe this is where the saying "the rubber hits the road" comes in. This.is.hard. The weather this week has been awful. I've put off running as long as I can this week and today was the make or break it day to stay on my training plan. Everything in me was screaming no...all the while I was lacing up my shoes.

Thankfully I have a training partner. Thankfully we know how to speak life and encouragement into each other even when neither one of us want to get outside and do this thing. My sweet friend lives four hours away, but I can promise you I would have quit by now if it weren't for her. We both have had the same kind of week....life is busy...and the weather is nasty...and discouraging.

Today-we both made the decision to say yes-and I am so stinkin proud of us (and I think it's okay for me to be proud!).  Today we chose the hard, the not fun, and the not easy. I feel like there were so many life lessons in just the choosing to go for the run today. Life lessons....and blogs....don't you worry....as the miles increase these wheels are turning....I may just be returning to blogging my friends!

Just a side note--to be honest with you, Katie's the real hero--I just have to haul myself around the neighborhood. She's pushing a double stroller around her neighborhood!

Just one of her two running partners today-I tell you-she's my hero and I'm so thankful for her!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Labels: 13.1, Friends, half marathon training, running

posted by Kristin @ February 13, 2013 0 Comments

A Runner, A Sale, & A Happy Thanksgiving

EEk.  I've hesitated to call myself a runner.  For a few months I even hesitated to put any hint out anywhere that I was starting to fill my time with running around the block.  Just in the last few weeks leading up to my 5k today did I start to give hints on different forms of social media.  I had a slight fear of failure, but we all have to get over that right?  It's not like I've never ran before.  Actually the opposite is true--just in a different form.  I ran 5 years of track--only problem?  I was a sprinter....and I sprinted in four different events (100, 200, 400 relay, and mile relay if we want to be exact).  Distance running has never been appealing to me.  Never.  Ever.  Ever.  (Insert Taylor Swift here).

In the last year I had this desire start to rise up in me to get out there, run, and enjoy the fresh air.  I tried the couch to 5k program when Jude was just a few months old, but I just wasn't ready yet.  Then this fall, I was more than ready!  I was given the encouraging word to go ahead and sign up for a race so that there was no turning back...and today....I completed my first 5k.  (Well--let me clarify--I have ran one other 5k before--but never trained for it and almost died.  That's another story for another day, so today I'm declaring it my first 5k I ran as a runner).  Did I just call myself a runner?  Yes, I did.  Eek.

Can you find me??? And that's how we started our Thanksgiving Day....at the Gobble Jog.  With over 10,000 other people raising money for Must Ministries.  It. Was. Awesome.  Tonight I sit here with a very thankful heart for my little family that are my number one fans.  They got up early with me and not only cheered me on today, but have been cheering me on from day one.  Tomorrow we head to spend quality time with my big family.  My heart is full.

My biggest fans

So full...I want to share it with you!  My goal today was to complete my 5k in less than 33 minutes (my age and it seemed reasonable for my "first" 5k that had lots of hills!)  and I did it!!!  So in honor of that, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, and Cyber Monday, I'm running a sale in my shop ALL WEEKEND, FRIDAY-MONDAY!!!  I'm so thankful for the support and how my shop has grown over the past year, it only seemed appropriate to let my thankfulness flow on over to that little space.  Not only am I having a sale ALL weekend...it's the biggest yet.... to coincide with today and my time.... please enter coupon code:  GOBBLEJOG at checkout for 33% off your total purchase!!!!

Thank you friends for your love and support--in ALL areas of this crazy and wonderful life that we live! :)  Happy Thanksgiving Friends!!!  Love, Love!

Labels: 5k, black friday, couch to 5k, holidays, running, Thanksgiving

posted by Kristin @ November 22, 2012 0 Comments