Learning in Training #5

We are just about six weeks away from the Haiti Half {which is now a Haiti 5K}. If you missed that news last week, the update is that they had to drop the actual half marathon for this year, because they didn't have enough registrations, but they're going forward with the 5K walk/run, so if you've always wanted to try a 5K, it's not too late!! We'd love to have you come hang out with us and be part of the race!

For now, despite the change in race distance, we are still training for the half. I am not sure if we will continue that clear to the end or if we'll decide our bodies are better served to train for the race we'll actually run. But for now we're running as if the half really is in our future. And last week was our fifth week of training.

For the first time in our training, we had to adjust the schedule because of a night of fierce rain. So grateful the training has fallen in the {relatively} dry half of the summer.

It was a more pleasing weather week, which made for "easier" running...though this is still far from easy for me. And on the very last day, with the longest run, I struggled with acid reflux, which something I never have, but it is not fun on the run, let me tell you!

As I ran, I focused on this verse:

On hearing this, Jesus said,

"It is not the healthy who need a doctor,

but the sick."
Matthew 9:12

Kind of a random verse, but it kept coming to mind as I ran that week...that the point of this race is to raise money for the sick. And I tried to envision them as I ran. In fact, as I ran the longest, hardest run on Saturday, I got a text from one of my friends...her brother-in-law had been taken to the hospital. They discovered a brain tumor, and as I ran, I prayed for this friend here, stateside, and knew he represented so many more seeking treatment in Haiti.

I wondered what it would have looked like if he would have had to walk to the hospital, his side numb from the tumor pressing in, his eyes squinting from the brightness of the sun. I wondered what would have happened if he made it there, finally, and they told him he needed a bigger, better hospital {like they told him at the hospital here}. Is there even a bigger, better hospital there? Is there a way to get there? 

I ran with his face in my mind, that last run, knowing he represented a nation of people I've never met. People who deserve the same chance he received. 

The sick need a doctor, yes. And their sick need them as much as our sick. So I pushed through my run, even as my throat burned and my legs screamed. I ran thankful to have a chance to run for this group that reaches out to the sick to help them find doctors. 

Other posts on this subject:

The Haiti Half

Learning in Training #1

Learning in Training #2

Learning in Training #3

Learning in Training #4