Race Coverage

Hiccup City...

Friday, 04 May 2018 23:10

By Sara Carlson (sarastrilife.blogspot.com)

I didn't set a hard line in the sand for my race goals in the final weeks leading up to the Boston marathon. Especially after a few hiccups during my race build. I had to take three weeks off of training in February to recover from Influenza A and Pneumonia diagnoses simultaneously. I was so fatigued that just getting up to brush my teeth was enough to send me back to bed for a few hours to rest and recover. Everything was such a chore. I remember friends texting me and asking me how I was doing and feeling about my fitness with the race on the horizon. Honestly, I did not even care. It got me thinking so much about time and how I wanted to use my precious energy stores with the limited minutes of awake time I actually had. As I laid in bed with my eyes closed, I would not necessarily be sleeping, but certainly not able to do anything more strenuous like watch TV or read. That was too exhausting. It really got me thinking about what is important and how the short moments of awake time I did have would impact my family. ...

Did I want to bark out orders and then get back to bed? Well, I did that sometimes, but it really left me feeling even more yucky. Contemplating time and how I wanted to use it became quite profound. I found that the most important ways to make my awake time more quality was to be refreshed through devotions and prayer or to be refreshing to those around me by asking thoughtful questions, being fully present, and showing gratitude. It's so simple. But sometimes in the pace of life and busy schedules, it seems that those simple things go by the wayside in favor of "go mode." How often in life do we have our conversations with the ones we love the most while doing a parallel activity or in different rooms; not even seeing one another's facial expressions or body language? Or, worse yet, relying on counterfeit social media or texting to connect and relate? 

It was so valuable to stop and look my kids in the eyes and thoroughly enjoy their antics and entertaining stories. It was purposeful to rest up so that I could have some quality awake time to truly engage with them, instead of waste it away watching the Winter Olympics or scrolling through Facebook. I think of the value of how making those choices to use my limited time purposefully still is so applicable today and every day. Time is fleeting. When you are forced to think about it, we all have limited time here on Earth. Do we spend it living out our God-given purpose and striving to use the energy and skills He has given us for His glory? READ MORE