Race Day

April 15, 2013: Race Day - 26.2 miles  - 2:29:49 - 80th place.  Wow.  What a day.  A day of redemption. A day of jubilation. A day of tragedy.  A day of heroics.  My heart goes out to the victims of the bombings.  Lives were unnecessarily lost, while others were severely injured.  Two lost souls deceived into thinking that hurting and/or taking the lives of innocent people in the name of their religion somehow serves justice.  Believe it or not, my heart also goes out to the 19-year old kid partially responsible for the entire debacle.  He obviously deserves whatever our justice system sentences him to; whether it is costing him his freedom for a lifetime, or death.  He reaps what he sows just like we all do.  At the same time, I cannot help but realize the fact that Christ went to cross for his sin just like He did for all of our sins.  I can't help but think about how the Apostle Paul oversaw the execution of numerous believers in Christ, and whose goal was to destroy the Christian faith; yet Christ chose him to become argubaly the most influential leader ever in the spread of the gospel.  Although I am deeply saddened by the tragic events of the Boston Marathon, my prayer is that God uses this dark, sensless act to bring people to Him.  I even pray that Christ reveals Himself to the surviving bomber and his family....that the truth of Christ's love, forgiveness, and salvation will push back the darkness and deception of their religion, and set their spirits free.
           Now to a less important matter..... the race experience itself.  On the way to the race, I was listening to an audio version of the Bible along with worship music.  My heart was truly at peace.  I was excited for the race, but not anxious or nervous.  My goal was to head to the starting line in a place of total surrender to God.  I wanted to not worry about logistics (such as being crammed into my corral and barely able to move) or even worry about the end result of the race.  I wanted to run the race with wisdom, courage, and a worship to God.
       It was obviously a beautiful day....sunny and temperatures in the mid-50's.....cannot ask for much better.  There was a slight headwind, but nothing to drastically slow times down.  Here is how the race played out:

Mile 1 - 5:46 (my watch said 5:54, but it took approximately 8 seconds for me to cross the starting line after the gun went off)

Mile 2 - 5:44
Mile 3 - 5:42
Mile 4 - 5:39
Mile 5 - 5:46
Mile 6 - 5:42
Mile 7 - 5:38
Mile 8 - 5:42
Mile 9 - 5:38
Mile 10 - 5:46
Mile 11 - 5:43
Mile 12 - 5:37

Miles 13-14 - 11:17 (for some reason I missed the 13 mile mark.  I realized this after I had passed the half-marathon point (13.1 miles) and hadn't hit the split button on my watch.  I decided to just wait until mile 14 to hit the button.

Mile 15 - 5:42
Mile 16 - 5:35
Mile 17 - 5:55
Mile 18 - 5:50
Mile 19 - 5:43
Mile 20 - 5:50
Mile 21 - 6:00 (this mile included the infamous heartbreak hill)
Mile 22 - 5:36
Mile 23 - 5:41
Mile 24 - 5:37
Mile 25 - 5:46
Mile 26 - 5:34
The final 385 yards - 67 seconds 

Overall, the race itself was amazing.  I sensed the presence of God, the crowds were awesome, and I felt pretty strong most of the way.  After getting about 9 or 10 miles into the race, I found myself thanking God after each mile, then surrendering the next mile to Him.  I asked God to do with this race only what He could do.    This was a cool experience.  It almost felt like the potential burden of running 26.2 miles was lifted as I surrendered each mile to Him.  Once I got to about mile 18 or 19,  I even found myself looking forward to heartbreak hill.  Listening to the crowds cheering almost frantically at times helped push me along as well.  I heard numerous people yell, "Team Run Free!" referring to the singlet I was wearing. I was hoping in some way that the right people would notice the cross on my jersey, and somehow God would use it to speak to people's hearts.....to point them to Jesus.  One man yelled extremely loud and passionately, "The Cross!"  Hearing him belt that out actually almost brought tears to my eyes.  It's almost as if I was momentarily hit with the reality of the cross.....not the grueling death that Christ suffered on the cross....but the redemptive power of the cross.  It began to hit me that what Jesus accomplished on the cross is for EVERYONE....that He loves ABOLUTELY EVERYONE regardless of who they are or what they have done.  I got the sense that he absolutely wants to embrace our brokenness and lavish us with His wholeness (His peace, His joy, His love, His compassion, His grace) ....that we would be complete and satisfied in Him.  

Besides the early parts of the race, I never really felt like I was passed by anyone (which was the opposite of what happened in 2008).  In fact, after looking at the race results, I figured that I was never passed by anyone the 2nd half of the race (If I was, then I passed them back).  I think I passed close to 60 people in the 2nd half (and probably at least 60 more throughout the first half of the race).  I even passed 3 people on Boylston St. (the final stretch of the race) with 2 of them being right at the finish.  As I crossed the finish line, I experienced the 'first class' nature of those associated with the marathon.  They graciously pointed me in the right direction of where I needed to go, and I received dozens of 'congratulations' coupled with genuine, heartfelt smiles.  I crossed the line at approximately 12:30 pm.....over 2 hours before the bombings.  We ate lunch and walked around the city before heading out at about 2:30 when we rode the 'T' (Boston's subway/train system) to my sister's car.  We didn't actually hear about the incident until we were in the car heading back to Candia, New Hampshire.  As I heard the news, my first emotion was disbelief.  How could the jubilant finish line area that I crossed over 2 hours ago now be a place of violence, fear, and chaos.  It took me a little while to even process it.  As we reached my sister's house and turned on the television, I watched in disbelief at the carnage.  I felt nothing but peace deep inside my soul, but I also felt sadness for all of the people affected.  I wondered about the people who were congratulating me at the finish line.  I wondered about the people who my wife, sister, and nephew were standing with almost halfway in between the 2 explosions.  Did people who they had conversation with get hurt?  What was it like to go from anxiously awaiting a friend or loved one to cross the finish line to all of a sudden being in what must have felt like a war-zone.  It's almost unthinkable.  I still have a hard time processing it.  I am thankful that I made it out of the city safely, but my heart certainly goes out to those who had to experience this tragedy first-hand. 

Some people may ask, "Where was God during the bombings?"  Why did He allow that to happen?"  I don't exactly know the answer to that question.  He obviously does not stop every evil plot that people choose to execute, and people get hurt and/or lose lives as a result.  I do know that if the people responsible for this tragedy knew Jesus and loved Jesus even a fraction of how much He loves them,  the story of the day would have been quite different.

For the good things that happened today....the race itself; the heroic actions of police, race volunteers, and citizens standing by.....I thank God for that.  Through the atrocity, heroes arose and  stood above fear and self-preservation to help their neighbors. 

As far as the race itself,  I want to give all the glory to Him.  Even though people might say that God does not care about athletics, and/or how well a race/performance goes....I respectfully disagree with them.  He cares for us so much that when we surrender 'anything' to Him, He shows up and does things in our lives that otherwise would not or could not be done.  No matter how a race or performance of some kind goes, He does not change, and His love for us does not change.  He remains constant and steadfast.  However, I believe He rejoices with us in celebrations/victory, and He is there to pick us up in disappointment and/or defeat.