South Bend Lake

So yesterday was a spontaneous type of day. I had the day off from running because I had already hit all of my mileage, so the boys and I decided to do a little nature hike. Little is the farthest from what it actually was. We arrived at the beautiful Zapata Falls around 10 am and played in the waterfall for a while. Then we saw a trail head with a sign that said "South Bend Zapata Lake Trail." The map said that it was right around a 4 mile hike, so we though, no big deal. Well, it ended up being 3 and a half hours of treacherous rocks and straight up and down hills. and that was only to GET there. But let me tell you something, once I got to the lake, it was the most beautiful place that I had ever seen in my life...wouldn't you agree?

Never wanted to leave this place, we sat for about an hour just in awe of how spectacular it all was. After a while, we decided to head back for a storm was looming overhead. I got to the lead the way this time. I was a lot slower than the boys on the way up so this was my chance to blaze the trail. We started to give each other a lot more space coming down so that nobody would fall. I started getting a little farther ahead...but they some feeling came over me. Like the kind of feeling where you are invincible. Maybe something like running an ultra trail marathon. Sure you are tired, but with all of the beauty around you and the sense of being alive just captivate you. So then..I started running. I ran the rest of the way back. The ups, downs, rocks, trails, everything were slaves to my feet. I was running because I felt alive. Coming out here has shown me so much about God's reasons for why my career in running has been the way it is. If I never hurt my heel, I would have never been out here. If I didn't keep coming back after every mishap, the picture above would have never been taken. He sure does work in mysterious ways. My life with running, I feel is just beginning.

Today I had a glorious long run with Zoila. We chatted the whole time about passion for running and how each of us got started. I feel like that I love to run, but I have, for so long, not had a strong enough belief in myself. This year is going to turn from the "maybe someday I will" and "I'll try"s to "today I will" and "I will"s. Zoila has helped me so much to uncover the true runner inside me and I'm loving every minute of it.