Sunday, November 18, 2012

Exercise can = Spiritual...Who knew?


Wow! Things have been so crazy the last couple of weeks! Crazy! Josiah has been sick. Kara broke her nose playing basketball at lunch. Appointments, work, and the list goes on. But there are 2 things that have kept me from going crazy myself. One is the time our running group has spent at lunch preparing for the River Valley Run. The other is my G-Fit class. Without these to really take my mind off things, I may have already found a rock to crawl underJ

Last Friday at G-fit, I had an epiphany. Working out, running, just exercise in general can totally be a spiritual experience. We were doing PiYo (a combination of Pilates and Yoga) and the music that was playing was of the Gospel variety. There was just something very calming about it all. And I realized that striving to get into better shape is a righteous thing to do. We are told over and over in the scriptures that our bodies are Temples. We are told to take care of them. Some of us have, some of us haven’t. All of us could improve in some way or another. As we were working out, our trainer, Gabby, reminded us that we are all important. All of us. And we should treat each other that way. Not just our G-fit friends but people we interact with everyday. We shouldn’t judge them because we don’t know what they may have gone, or are going, through. And she was absolutely right!

Saturday was a big day! We were running the race we had been training for. Our 5kers worked so hard. Some of the literally went from couch to 5k! Paula, Joey and I were running the 10k and each of us had a goal we wanted to crush. And we did it! We all did it! Our 5kers ran the best ever and finished so strong. Paula crushed her goal. Joey beat his goal and won 3rd place in his age division. And I am so proud of them all! I am equally proud of myself, and I think its okay to admit thatJ I beat my time goal but I also did not walk at all!!! It was my first race that I ran the whole way. What makes that even better is that there were lots of hills. One of them I had been having a mental battle with for a week. I would not let it beat me. And guess what? It didn’t! I even had a moment at the top of the hill when I wanted to do the whole ‘Rocky Dance at the Top of the Steps’ thing. But I had miles to go and a goal to meet so I refrainedJ The cool thing was that at mile 2, just before the monster hill, there was sign with a verse on it. ‘I can do all things through Christ.’ That really lifted my heart and reminded me that I can beat this hill. I can do it! I won’t lie, I said a little prayer going up it, lol. And I made it! Then I felt so strong, like I could just keep going, so I did. And there were two more times that I saw verse signs and both came just as I was beginning to feel weak.

There was a part of the course that I had been looking forward to. It was a downhill section through the woods. When I ran it for practice, I felt exhilarated at that point. It comes at a great time in the race because after all the uphill, you need something that makes you feel fast. I kid you not, when I started down it, I let out a ‘woohooo’ and a giggle! Audible and everything. People probably thought I was insane but my heart was full of joy. And I was having a blast! All I could think about was that our 5kers would have been done by then and that Joey and Paula were getting close to the finish line and I felt strong and capable. I felt like we were all blessed to be able to do this and to love to do it. Definitely blessed!

~KC

 

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