I am still running. Most days I love it and can’t wait, but other days as I lace up my tennies, I’m praying for a sudden ailment to hit me, anything just so I can stay home. I’d even take the pukies to stay home. Yes, I am that desperate.

On Monday, I was pleasantly surprised to find that God had planned the music on my MP3 player. The first song was “Running just to catch myself” by Mark Schultz. Isn’t that ironic! I think it definitely shows God’s sense of humor. I mean really, think about it. You start jogging only to hear that song flood your ear drums.

I try and run 6 days a week. Typically Monday-Friday I run 2-2.5 miles. I still find that incredibly hard to believe. I run 2.5 miles. And I’ve lived to not only tell about it but to do it repeatedly. This week I’ve added speed interval training. Right now I’m running 5 minutes at normal pace and then one minute of race pace, back to my regular pace for the rest of my run. Monday I’ll try adding in another one minute interval.

My personal coach told me he has his “kids” (high school students at our high school) start doing 60/60s, or 60 seconds regular pace followed by 60 seconds of race pace. By the end of the year they’re doing 30/30s. Gulp. I aspire to that. 

Saturdays are my long distance day, I don’t do any speed intervals. I just run. A week or so ago, I tried running from Dear Man’s office to our church. The only problem was, I had to run up hill. I had tried that before with a friend and well let’s just say we both wanted to die.

Only this time I didn’t….want to die. I ran up hill. A few days later I tried it again and this time I ran further, I ran up a steeper hill. That day I ran a total of 4.0 miles. Four miles! I ran four miles without stopping.  I couldn’t help but sing “I exalt Thee” in the shower that day. I was amazed! And I know I only did because of God.

Dear man laughs at me though. On my long runs, I reward myself with coffee. I put coffee money in my pocket and off I go.

This morning I took a little more money because I also needed to buy eggs. I don’t know why I didn’t think of putting the cash in my mitten and not in my pocket. I’ve had it both ways and I’ve not had a problem. Today as I was nearing the turn around part of my run, I put my hand in my pocket and only felt my MP3 player. No cash. I checked the other pocket. It wasn’t their either.

I continued running and praying, “Lord, please help me find it.” I had “visions” of finding it. I saw an older man walking and decided when I caught up with him I would ask him if he had found it. Then I realized I hadn’t had my hands in my pocket in that area so it was unlikely he would have found it. He turned off the street before I caught up with him.

I continued to run and saw another man, as I neared he stopped and turned.I could tell he was talking but because I had the MP3 player in my ears I couldn’t hear him. I took out one of my ear buds and he was calling me a “jogging girl”. I smiled. He said he had seen me on a street about half a mile away.

Just before I ran on, I told him, “If you happen to find ten dollars, would you pick it up?” I didn’t know how I would know he found it or how I would get it back, I hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. He asked if I had lost some and I said yes as he put his hand in his pocket. He told me he had found it and wondered if it was mine. He said he was going to ask me if he saw me.

Isn’t God good!!!  I mean, really REALLY good? Not that he wouldn’t have been good had I not found the cash but not only is HE good, He’s good to me.