Walking A Thin Line

Many who read this know me pretty well. Others of you have a tendency to know me through conferences, projects, or some even through creeping on me and my happenings via Twitter or Facebook. Some times I write something rather pithy, or report on what has been happening in our family, work, or even some kind of fitness adventure I have embarked upon. There are times that I struggle with what to write, what I want to reveal or even to just ignore hoping that somehow I do not write something that would be offensive; too self revealing; or just plain stupid. The filter that I try to write through does include a lens that I hope will be informative and especially encouraging. I do not always hit that goal, but that is a desire of mine.

This post is one designed to point out some of the struggles I contend with practically every day I am alive. At its' root, it is addiction or addictive behavior. At times I masquerade it well and at other times, I am blatantly out in the open with it. My addictive behavior patterns are revealed practically every morning in my tweets and posts. It can look like this "good 8 mile run/18 mile bike ride/ swim", etc. It can also look like this "great win by the #Royals and I like the way this team is playing right now" but seldom does it look like this - "my goal today is to bring glory to God in all I say, think and do today".  At times, if I am not careful, I can become consumed to see how many "retweets" or "likes" or "favorites" I get on the posts that I make. Addictive behavior craves "more" of many things and even the seemingly "good" activities that I participate in can be fillers for not being satisfied w/ Jesus. He is enough. I know that. I teach that, I conference on that, and I remind myself of that often and then run out and try to find other things that will fill that "enough" spot I have in my life.

I am thankful that God has created and wired me the way that I am. I love being outdoors. I love to run, bike and exercise. I like mowing the grass and creating that "checkerboard design" in the yard. And I love sports. You know that I am a MIZZOU, Royals, and Chiefs fan painfully at times. I think you know that I love Sondra, who is just simply amazing. Shelbi, Mark and Morgan bring me true delight and make me well up with pride. I am blessed. I have family and friends who love and support me. I have a God who is crazy about me. I need to remember that! I need to accept and  live a line that I quote often, "Jesus loves me and accepts me exactly the way I am, He just loves me too much to leave me that way."

Spectating Ironman Florida

This past weekend I found myself in Panama City Beach, Florida spectating and supporting my buddy, Dave MacNeill, as he competed and completed the Ironman Florida Triathlon. Dave and I work together at LifeWay and over the past couple of years have become pretty good friends. Dave is an Ironman. He has been an Ironman for a number of years and you may recall that back in the Spring, I completed my first triathlon, much to the encouragement of Dave.

An Ironman Triathlon consists of these three sports and distances:
Swimming -2.4 miles
Biking - 112 miles
Running - 26.2 miles
All of those miles add up to 140.6 miles and a pretty tired body evidently.

I had a blast spectating and supporting this triathlon. I really did. I found myself encouraging and supporting
people that I have never seen before and quite possibly, never will see again. But that did not really matter to me. What mattered is that they competed to the best of their ability and I wanted to help them do that by encouraging them to press on. There were all shapes, sizes, ages, colors,statuses (even the prince of Bahrain participated) and levels of natural talent represented. It was incredibly inspirational for me to watch.

The Progression of an Ironman

There were new course records set and three men finished under 8 hours. Watching the winner come down the finish chute was pretty amazing. Another amazing feat to me was accomplished by my friend Dave. His swim time was 1:20:00 which was incredible! His bike time was 6:48:18 with a 20 minute rest time to let his quads sort of recuperate. Both of those were incredibly strong physically, but it was his run that impressed me the most. His time of 7:34 does not reflect his best physical effort of run/walk, but it screams to me outstanding mental strength that he used to push on physically. Dave struggled with extreme nausea from almost the start of the marathon. Without being graphic, it is safe to say that the majority of nutrition that he took in on the run, made its way back up the way it went down very quickly after it went down. He was pretty sick.

I saw him at the half-marathon mark, encouraged him, worried about him and told him he had 5 hours to finish 13 miles. And . . . he did that with time to spare on a nutritionally depleted body. It was a remarkable feat to witness. Way to go Dave! It was awesome to be a part of your support team. Looking forward to competing alongside of you in the future.