I Get By with a Little Help...

Saturday the Half group ran a 5K race to get an accurate time to use for our training. I did not have a good race. My legs felt like bricks at the very beginning of the race, which was not a good sign. I was not able to run the whole thing and finished much slower than my practice run two weeks earlier. When I crossed the finish line I was depressed.

There were a lot of things that factored into that run – the weather was unbearably hot, we had come in a day late with no sleep and no hydration from our trip, and my legs were still pretty sore from the hill workout I got in Reno. But none of that mattered to me Saturday morning.

Consequently, I was not looking forward to the group run of 3 miles tonight. However, this evening I met a girl at the run who just moved into town Saturday. She’s my speed, a mom of 3 and a Catholic. She and my brother, Brian ran with me the whole way. I felt better, ran the whole way and did it faster than Saturday. It was a much better experience.

On the way home I realized that God had done it again. He picked me up when I really needed some help (and a slight attitude adjustment). All I needed was a little support. Yes, I can do it on my own, but why would I want to when I can do it with other people shooting for the same goal?

God puts people in our lives to help us along the way. Some of them know this is their purpose, like our parents and others have no idea, like the girl who ran with me today. The point is that we all need support. Not only does it make the path more tolerable, it makes it fun.