Dun dun dun...

Ok, well here are a few numbers for you:

3 - the number of times I have run in the last 4 weeks.
36 - the number of days until I leave for Guatemala.
39 - the number of days until I run the Coban Half Marathon (or attempt to).
1,511 - the number of dollars raised by friends and family for my trip (this number was confirmed today by Habitat staff - I've never been good at math, so I pride myself on the fact that I used a calculator and email notifications to keep track of this on my own).

I know I haven't been very good at blogging lately. I clearly haven't been very good at running lately, either. However, I saw the facebook status of a friend yesterday that was Romans 5: 3-4. He had a portion of this up, but then entire scripture reads "Not only so, but let us also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces endurance; endurance, character; and character, hope." Now, I know that most people don't think of running as suffering. As one of my friends put it, running is "pain with a purpose" (I'm working on overcoming the pain - thanks ChiRunning). As of right now, running / training is an obligation for me. I didn't go about this the right way, which was to build a foundation of simply running and then decide to work toward the goal of a half-marathon. Nevertheless, y'all have contributed your hard-earned money and support to get me to Guatemala, and I will not let you down. I know the purpose of the trip as a whole is not the half-marathon, but the building of houses, the building of friendships, the spreading of God's love - the "mission" in "mission trip." But, the race is half the reason I signed up for this trip, and by golly, I'm going to run it. I'm not a quitter.

So, I am going to "suffer" through 6 am wake-up calls (because I simply cannot find the motivation after a long day at work) to build my "endurance" up to 10 miles the week before the run - this trip will build my "character" and I will continue to place my "hope" in God - now and always.

Wish me luck.