A Gift Named Loren

Yesterday when I got up at crack-o-dawn-thirty, I wasn't in the mood to do a 5K.  I wasn't feeling all that great, and I didn't want to go and do anything.  But I just kept going through the motions of getting dressed, taping the ankle, eating something, and forcing myself to keep moving.

As I put on my trusty Garmin watch (thanks 4-evah to Kat and Sarah for the rec), I saw my walk/run timer.  This gadget is an essential to the Galloway training method - a way of running races (and certainly an improvement over my "jog until you can't anymore and the limp to the finish" method).  I've had the timer gadget for awhile, just waiting to try it out.  I brought it for this race, thinking maybe I'd try it.  Instead, this morning I purposely left it in the drawer.

About an hour later, I was at the start line of the 5K.  I had no plan, except to finish.  The race started, and I started jogging.  Once I got that out of my system, I started walking.  I noticed a lady in a blue shirt beside me and heard the beeping of her walk/run timer.  I jogged a little and passed her, and then saw/heard her again a bit later.

I noticed she wasn't wearing ear buds, so I thought I'd get nosy.  I asked her what her walk/run time was.  She told me, and I asked her if she would mind if I followed her, that I wanted to try this method, but just hadn't.  She said that would be fine, and I went along with her and her beeps.

It was great.  The 5K went quickly, in part due to the Galloway method, but mostly because I made a new friend.  I found out that she was a teacher who hoped to teach overseas.  She had done the Breast Cancer Half-Marathon last year in Jacksonville, which was when she started with walk/running.  We commiserated about teaching and races, and soon we were at the finish, where we "ran it in" together.  The only thing I regret was that I never asked her name.  It wasn't until after the race when I searched her race number that I found out her name was Loren.

I started the race out thinking it was not going to be a good one.  Instead, God gave me a gift.  He put Loren in my path so that I could experience the walk/run method from someone who was experienced and who was at a pace I could follow.  He made sure we had things in common so we could pass the time and make the miles pass quickly.  Once again He wanted me to know that He cares about every aspect of my life, and gives me wonderful gifts when I least expect them.

It was a good race, and I'm thankful to God for every step of it!

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Today's blessings:  Watching the marathoners from my window; phone chat with Marilyn; brunch at Original Pancake House with Steve