moab half marathon

20 hours in moab, 8 hours in a subaru outback, 1 amazing friend, 13.1 miles of running, 1 big blister, and a whole lot of fun - that is what i call a weekend well spent.

"excuse me mam, this is the men's room"

headed back from austin, TX i had a layover in the denver airport. (which, by the way, is one of my favorite airports. there are two reasons for this: 1) clean environment and 2) friendly people.) it had been a long weekend. i was tired. finding a restroom was on the top of my priority list. wandering around aimlessly, i found what i thought was the little girl's room. as t limped in (my shoes were hurting my feet and my bag was getting heavier by the second), i notice a very masculine looking girl in her army fatigues walking out as i walked in. i quickly realized that "she" was a he. i thought to myself, "how embarrassing for him to be in the lady's room and have me catch him." he very respectfully and with a concerned look on his face said, "excuse me mam, this is the men's room." oopsy daisy. i was so tired, i wasn't even embarrassed. i smiled, thanked him, and walked across the way to the little girl's room to take care of some long overdue business. quite possibly the most important business of my whole trip.

getting stronger...

i rode my bike to church today and it made me soooo happy! biking season is just around the corner. the thought of breaking out my bikes and spandex brings me butterflies of joy. can you tell i'm excited?

as i enjoyed pedaling the cruiser on this crisp sunday morning, i would occasionally look down to make certain my skirt wasn't being blown up by the wind, giving a peep show to the people crusing by in their caddy's. i was reminded of a time a few years back when the air was humid and muggy, the streets were packed with people on motor scooters, and i navigated the roads of tawain on my bike in a skirt. in those blessed days, i had knee highs i could tuck the bottom of my skirt in as a preventative measure from creating any kind of spectacle. (as if a blonde foreigner riding her bike down the busy streets wasn't enough of a spectacle...) as my mind was carried back to many fantastic memories of traveling through the sea of people on my bike in tawian, i was reminded of a very special experience that took place one night. i was taken back to the close of a long, hot, sticky, exhausting day of missionary work. my companion and i were riding our bikes home to our apartment in beitou. we were on our familiar route, one we took home every night. the road we would ride on past a block of apartments with the big statue of some sort of chinese political leader outside one of the living quarters was clear. i recall the sharp corner we had to take down the alley way. the image is vivid in my mind, so vivid, it could have happened yesterday. on this particular night, we were running late. we has a fifteen minute ride ahead of us, and only ten minutes before we were supposed to be home. my companion and i fully recognized the blessings attached to being obedient to our mission rules. being out the door in the morning and inside at night on time were simple rules we knew we could and should be keeping. we were very aware of what we should be doing and strived to be obedient. as we raced home, gratefully hitting green lights, i was praying. i remember repeating a lot of the same things, letting Heavenly Father know that i wanted to make it in on time, i knew my companion did too, and that we were trying our hardest to do so. i asked Him for help and for strength. at that point i was physicall and mentally spent. i remember passing the statue and feeling complete exhaustion overwhelm the whole of me. i kept trying to pedal faster, but felt fatigue setting in. just when i thought i couldn't pedal anymore, it seemed that pedaling became significantly easier. i felt something push me along. i knew, at that moment, that there was a power beyond my own making the possiblity of getting home on time a reality. i had help. it was such a special, powerful, and real experience.

i was also reminded of a time when i participated in a critical mass bike ride last fall. a group of friends were riding together. there were all sorts of bikes - road bikes, bmx bikes, mountain bikes, tandems, and cruisers. my bike of choice for the ride was a cruiser. i looooove riding my cruiser. if i'd have known that part of our route would be to ride up the hill by the university, i would have opted for a different choice. as i tried to ride my cruiser up the hill, i noticed that it was really hard. people were passing me on both sides. because of the way the handle bars were positioned, it was next to impossible to stand up and gain the leverage i needed to help me move forward. i was clearly in a challenging position. just at the point when i didn't think i could ride any further, i felt the resistance on my pedals decrease. my little brother was on his track bike behind me. he saw me struggle. he took one of his hands off his handle bars, set it on my back and pushed me as we both pedaled. he was obviously carrying the heavier burden. once again, i felt a power beyond my own help me do something on my bike that i could not have done alone. we both made it up the hill.

i know i am being watched over. God is in the details of my life. whether it be on my bike or in other aspects of my existence, i know God gives me strength through unseen powers. the strength i feel helps me move forward in times i would otherwise be in a standstill.

elder jeffrey r. holland of the quorum of the twelve apostles recently said, "my beloved brothers and sisters, i testify of angels, both the heavenly and the mortal kind. in doing so i am testifying that God never leaves us alone, never leaves us unaided in the challenges that we face. “[n]or will he, so long as time shall last, or the earth shall stand, or there shall be one man [or woman or child] upon the face thereof to be saved.” on occasions, global or personal, we may feel we are distanced from God, shut out from heaven, lost, alone in dark and dreary places. often enough that distress can be of our own making, but even then the Father of us all is watching and assisting. and always there are those angels who come and go all around us, seen and unseen, known and unknown, mortal and immortal."

while getting stronger on my bike is a main objective this year, increasing my strength in the Lord is a more important goal to me. i find joy in the fact that He helps me blunder along and try and figure out both.