From his abundance we have all received one gracious blessing after another. John 1:16
April, typically a month of a lot of rain, often when we rejoice the resurrection of Christ and in my family, a month when many birthdays are celebrated. Though this year the month of April became so much more for my life. I began the month on Palm Sunday, being baptized and recommitting to God and His teachings. I had been baptized as a baby but this time there would be a different meaning for me in my adult life. It symbolized washing away of the old me, saying so long to the life that wasn't working and introducing the person I am becoming. 
On this day, 7 members of our congregation made the commitment. We all gathered in the back after the sermon to wait for our moment to begin. All of us joined in a prayer with Pastor Duane and then it was time. I chose to go first because I felt the longer I waited the more nervous I would become. I followed the stairs down into water and joined Pastor Duane. As we stood there in the silence, I could hear my heart beating out of my chest. I was so nervous that I was shaking like a leaf. Then the curtains were opened and I saw the people that I loved in the audience ready to witness this important event. Pastor Duane, on my left with his hand on my back, began to say a prayer. I closed my eyes and then could feel the presence of another hand on my right shoulder. Jesus had come to assist in the task. Calmness overcame my body. I took a deep breath and began to fall back. The water washed over me as I fell to the bottom and then in a split second I arose with the remains of my old self lying at the bottom of the pool. The new me had been born and the something that was missing in my life was found. This was the moment that the journey became MORE than just about me losing weight and changing what I was on the outside. It is now about loving the person I am and loving God, who created me, and trusting Him with my life and the plan He has for me. I began to understand that with God all things are possible.
April also marked 4 months of participation with Chix Nutrition program. For 120 days I have been emailing my food journal daily, making sure I was working out at least 5 times a week and doing a variety of other nutritional tasks as decided by my trainers. The hard work was starting to pay off. In the last 4 months I had lost 15.8 pounds, and 6 1/4 inches over my whole body. My body fat had dropped 1.6% and my BMI was down 4 points. I had also made significant improvements in my cardiovascular health. These were all great achievements and I was very proud. You may think to yourself, those numbers are not really that great but for me they are huge. I have been on the weightloss course for over 22 months as well as training for a half marathon for the last three months. In the past I never even came close to where am I at this moment. Though I have many days that I wish the weight loss was faster and the finished product was already here, it seems as if slow and steady wins the race for me.
The best of April's weight loss journey occured on April 5th. I hit 2 major goals in one day. One of the goals being only something I had envisioned in my mind for as long as I could remember. I stepped on the scale and for once in my life, I did not see a number 2 at the beginning or fear that a number 3 would show up. Instead I stepped on the scale and saw the oh so sweet number 198.8! I was speechless and in shock. In fact, I do believe I stepped on the scale of few times just to double check. That beautiful number also ment I had hit 90 total pounds lost. Tish and Rebekah were estatic and hoots and hollars were received from my fellow Chix. It was an awesome feeling and funny to think how a number on a scale made me walk a little taller that day!
The last week of April had finally arrived and it was time to put into practice what I had been training for the last 13 weeks. I was a nervous wreck that week. Everytime I had a quiet moment, I would think of the race and either my heart would beat out of control or my stomach would turn with butterflies. I tried to spend my week mentally preparing for what I was about to do on Saturday. I spent a lot of time praying to God. Praying that He would keep all the Chix healthy and safe for the race. Asking Him to run with me to keep me strong in mind and body and even asking for silly things like for the rain we were predicted to get to hold off until after the race. The week seemed to drag on forever. Then Friday arrived and the festivities began. My friend Jen and I planned to spend this day enjoying the expo and then watching the 5k race that night all the while talking about the big day to come. We met up with Tish and Rebekah to pick up our race packets, take pictures to preserve the memories and have a good time. It was so sureal to think that the next morning I would be running 13.1 miles. I even made sure I ate the exact thing that night for dinner that I had before my 11 mile run. That was a great run and I believed the food in my body was part of it so dinner at Kofusion was on the agenda that night as well. The 5k was awesome and a great way to get us all pumped up for the next morning. I went home and prepared my stuff for the race, checking and double checking that everything was ready to go. Then at 11 oclock I forced myself to go to bed knowing that the early wake up call would be just around the corner.
Promptly at 4 a.m. my alarm went off. April 28th was here. This was it! In 3 short hours before most of us are even out of bed in the morning, I would be running the fartherst I had ever ran. I chose not to meet up with the Chix that morning in order to get up to the course in plenty of time and to not feel rushed. The last thing I wanted to do was to be racing to the start line. I had a routine that I did before I ran and wanted every second possible to be able to do this and reflect on what I had done to get me to this point. When we had arrived at the parking lot, my phone rang, and just who I needed to talk to was on the other end. It was Tish and Rebekah doing what they do best, clearing my head, pumping me up, and reminding me that I was ready to do this.
With my number pinned to my shirt, I headed to my spot at the start line, corral H. I hugged Mom and Amy and told them I would see them at the finish line. I stood there is a sea of people, all of us with the same goal...Finish. I was nervous, excited and scared all at once. The National Anthem started to play and big tears ran down my face. The time was here and I was really going to do this. I said my prayer to God once again, asking Him to run with me, to keep me strong and to carry me when I could no longer carry myself. The gun went off and the corrals of racers started to run. It took about 20 min but then finally Corral H was up and I took off. I had a plan. The plan I trained with for 13 weeks and had gone over and over with the girls and thats what I was going to do. The first 3 miles went so fast. That's what adreneline and thousands of cheering spectaors will do for you. By mile 5, I was in a groove and feeling pretty good. I would have the occasional pain here and there but would ask God to take it away and that's what He did. He was there, just like I had asked. Running with me.
I had hit the 10k mark and couldn't believe how fast it was going. At mile 7, I was blessed to have people cheering for me on the sidelines. Reminding me I only had 6 to go and that I could do it! Mile 8 the race course started to head into Meadow Brooks Park in Urbana. I trained on this stretch of the race but slight hills and dips the park had to offer started to mess with my head. I was getting tired, it was a little crowded and I was wishing I was at mile 11.
When I came around the corner of mile 9 in the park, I looked up and saw a man standing in the tall weeds of the prairie. He had on a neon orange hat and a camera glued to his face like he was the paparazzi. I grinned because I knew that man was my husband. He again appeared on the corner of mile 9.5, still snapping pictures. That image is what got me to mile 10 and 11. I was then starting to hit my limit. I was way beyond tired by this time. My muscles were screaming and I just wanted to be done. Finally, I saw the sign for
mile 12. One more mile and I would be at the enterance of the stadium. I was dragging and begging God to carry me. I couldnt do it anymore. Then I looked up and saw Aubrey, Tish's neice, my OB/GYN and now the answer to my prayers. She was there, along with her friend to run with me and get me to the stadium. They continued to encourage me and remind me that I was almost done. At mile 12.5 I decided that I should stop a moment and high knee up my legs, to stretch them out I guess. Huge mistake! I caused myself to have a charlie horse shoot up my left quad. The pain was excurutating. I began to cry, fearing my race was over. The girls helped me to strecth it out and thankfully it went away quickly and on we went. I kept running and the whole time with Aubrey by my side, I asked God out loud to carry me. I just kept saying it over and over again. God please carry me! After what seemed like 30 minutes we were finally at the stadium. The girls told me this was it. All I had to do was go up the ramp and in the stadium I would be. This is where they left me, to finish the journey alone with God just the way I had started. I ran up the ramp and took off my water belt, throwing it in the bushes, preparing to find the last bit of energy to sprint to the finish line. I entered the stadium, gave everything I had left and ran as fast as I could. I crossed the finish line at 2:58:47. One minute and tweleve seconds ahead of my goal. I did it. I had just ran 13.1 miles!
My Mom, Amy, and Jen were all there at the finish line to greet me. As well as Jackie, who I practically knocked down, jumping on her to give her a hug! After endless searching we finally found Tish, Rebekah and some of my fellow Chix. We were all together basking in the glory of our accomplishments and for what we had all worked so hard for. It was an awesome day! Possibly one the best days of my life. It was the best feeling to know that I had accomplished my goal but most of all that God was there with me the whole time, keeping me strong and able to finish. I had never felt so much love in my life as I did on that day. Sweet April! Pretty fitting of a title don't you think? An amazing month filled with endless blessings. Blessings to help me continue on my journey and remind me how sweet it can be!
