I’m running a half marathon (and a health update)

Yep. You saw the title. It’s true. 

If you know me at all, you know how outrageous that sounds. If you don’t know me. . . well I will tell you how outrageous it sounds. Let’s just lay it all out here. 

My health has always kept my physical activity to a minimum. As a child I spent most of my time on the couch, in middle school I had to skip almost every dance class (bless my parents for still paying for them so that I could feel involved in something 😂) and in high school I took gym as an online class. Not kidding. 

I always wanted to be active and craved it deeply, however physically I just couldn’t. I have had 40+ surgeries, one extended period of time in a coma and I am nutritionally dependent on a feeding tube. I get dehydrated easily and fix it not by drinking water, but by getting hooked up a bag of saline through my feeding tube. 

My whole life I have had this craving for running. I don’t know why, but I just always have wished I could move my body in that way, unfortunately it was always a trigger for nausea or back pain, and the most I’ve ever been able to run was in 30 second increments. I have started and stopped “couch to 5k” programs dozens of times and never made it past the first two weeks because at some point my symptoms slowed me down until I lost any progress I had made. 

When I started shooting weddings it was a rude awakening for my body. I would be so tired throughout the day that I depended on my mom to carry all the gear. I would be so sore and exhausted after a wedding that it would take me up to 3 days to recover. I went about 3 full summers without going to church on Sunday because I was down for the count after a 10 hour Saturday. Throughout the course of my life I have tried getting in shape so many times, but never made it far before I had a surgery or prolonged symptom flare up, and most of the time, I just hurt my back. 

About two years ago I knew something had to change and my mom and I started seeing a friend who offers Reformer Pilates personal training in her home. You can read more about that here, but truthfully I didn’t know such a dramatic transformation could take place in my body. She has worked with me over the last two years to build up strength and stamina so that I am now on par with about an average 23 year old. 

In the last several years (particularly the last year) the Lord has done more than I ever could have imagined. I’ve been 5 years without an infection in my feeding tube which means 5 years without surgery. I’ve been almost 3 years without having to take an antibiotic for my gut. Like I mentioned in my April Favorites, we’ve even been seeing signs that my stomach is beginning to absorb some of what I eat. Weight gain without an increase in TPN (the nutrition), feeling the effects of caffeine for the first time ever, and also going longer periods of time without nausea. This is huge and has every doctor saying “there isn’t really an explanation.” Meanwhile I’m all like “HAVE YA HEARD OF PRAYER???” With these new changes there have also been new symptoms and a huge learning curve, but I’m praising God every day that I get to learn how to handle these new challenges!!

Anyway, back to the marathon. Dan and I were sitting in church about 6 weeks ago and they mentioned they were putting together a team to run the Grand Rapids Half Marathon in October to fundraise for World Vision. They shared how clean water is an urgent need in the Congo and over 50% of children there don’t live until age 5 because of water related diseases and infections. Team World Vision will be fundraising to plant water filters. 

I instantly felt my heart being pulled towards it, and at the same time found myself saying “don’t get attached, you can’t actually do this.” But I just couldn’t shake it. You know that feeling in your gut when God is asking you to do something and you just can’t argue with Him? It felt deep, to my core, and I knew it was a prompting from the Lord. I couldn’t stop feeling like He could make it possible. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the things He had done recently that I wouldn’t have said were possible.

 I spent the whole sermon praying and chatting with God about this. I asked for a few specific things to help confirm and verify if this was from Him (cause goodness knows I wasn’t about to start training for a 13.1 mile run if I wasn’t CERTAIN okay?) Within minutes of the sermon ending 2 of those confirmation prayers were answered. The 3rd looked a little something like me saying “God, I cannot do this without Dan’s support. He knows exactly where I am at physically and he knows how insane this is. He is going to think I’m crazy. If I’m supposed to do this please get him on board.” 
We sat through a meeting with details and as we were walking out Dan turned to me and said “I think you are supposed to do this, and I fully support you and will do it with you”. 

So dang. Here we are. 

We bought running shoes, we printed the training plan, and we started running. I was shocked when I was able to complete the first training run (run 2 minutes, walk 1 and repeat for 20 minutes – more than I had ever been able to do before) and have been shocked every single run since (my most recent was run 5 mins, walk 1 for 60 minutes). The Lord is stretching my limits of trust and belief in Him with each step (not trying to be punny. . I mean this quite literally) and I am just along for the ride. 

Logistics

• My only goal at this point is just to finish. So don’t even ask me about pace 😂
• Our training program was given to us by World Vision and has us running 4 days a week, walking 2, and resting 1. I have been using my walk days for strength training (pilates) or wedding days (on my feet all day holy cow).
• Having the program printed and on the fridge so that I can cross runs off is highly motivating!
• We are 5 weeks in and so far I’ve only had to skip two runs because I knew my body needed a break. I am in shock about this!!
• My resting heart rate used to be consistently in the high 90’s and after a few years of pilates it started hanging out in the 80’s and occasionally high 70’s. My mom, home care nurse, and I have all been thrilled to see that since adding running to the mix it has moved to the low 70’s. In my first few runs I would hit 180 in running intervals and now it is rare that I get about 165, or so. Praise God. 
• I am doing a mix of treadmill and outdoor running, but am trying to transition to as much outdoor as possible because it is much harder for me.
• I rotate between my workout playlist (inspired by wedding receptions) and the Worship Now playlist on Spotify. The free 30 premium trail has ruined me forever and now I have to convince my husband that $9 a month is worth every penny to not run while Charmin Ultra Toilet Paper ads play in my ears. 
• Speaking of ears, Air-pods are clutch. 
• I started at about 18:50 minute miles and have been able to speed up to a 15:30 on the treadmill and hang out in the 17 minute mile zone while running outside (again, why I want to run outside more).
• We have 13 more weeks of training and so far I only have 1 rule: only think about the next run. I don’t let myself think about the 5, or 8, or 10 mile runs up ahead on the training program because they literally don’t matter. They are not my problem. If God wants me to run them He will make a way, my only job right now is to complete the next run on the list.

How you can get involved. 

I can’t imagine living in a world where I don’t have access to clean water. As I type this I am getting a bag of sanitized water through a feeding tube to replenish what I lost running this morning! I don’t just have water, I have high maintenance water. It only costs $50 to provide clean water to a child for their entire lifetime and I want to send as much money as possible World Vision’s way. World Vision is a company Dan and I support both personally, and through my business because we believe in the work they do and the way they steward their finances. We want to get as many water filters planted as we can and would love to have your support. You can donate to Dan and I’s pages below.

If you want to get even more involved, join Team World Vision!! There are teams all over the country for all different races and it is a wonderful way to get involved!

These two songs have been on repeat while running. They are so beautiful and so powerful. It’s a pretty regular occurrence for me to start crying while running because I just can’t believe what God is doing. 

I’ve already been blown away by the work God is doing and can’t wait to continue sharing as we see how this unfolds. If you want to hear more about my past health experiences listen to this podcast.