It's All Greek to Me: Part 5 - RACE DAY!

I'm not sure if I mentioned this, but the entire trip is build around Bianca and my participation in the 31st Athens Classic Marathon. In case you don't care to click that link, let me highlight the important part:

"It is perhaps one of the most difficult major marathon races: the course is uphill from the 10 km mark to the 31 km mark – the toughest uphill climb of any major marathon."

We did not know this prior to signing up for the race. You may have gathered from the previous posts that we're really spontaneous and don't really think things through. So we only researched this after 1) paying for the marathon, and 2) buying our flights. Then we read this online and became scared...became sad.

But, we did it! We are home, laying in bed, covered in BioFreeze (which is just a yuppie form of IcyHot). Race highlights:

Bianca's highlights

1. Having the medal put around her neck
2. Young girls dancing to the traditional Greek music
3. All the people cheering, screaming "Bravo! Bravo!" 
4. And getting the laurel leaves 

Kristen's highlights

1. Running into the Olympic stadium at the end with all the people cheering
2. Running past beautiful scenery. There were pretty mountains! 

I'm slightly less cheerful than Bianca. I thought it was appropriate to start wit praise, because now...the lowlights:

Bianca's lowlights

We are now crumpled up like these bibs. :(

1.  The uphill from 28k to 31k (worst part)
2. The trickery with the finish lines -There were like 4 fake finish lines. They were the blow up arches that you run under, but they were just advertisements for sponsors of the race. :(
• These were terrible because you were running full out WAY too early, then running out of juice.
3. Aches and pains

Kristen's lowlights

1. My ankles feel broken
2. Running with tens of thousands of sweaty European men (the smells were crazy)
• Sometimes I had to run fast just to escape smell!
3. The people were cheering, but for the first 15k or so there was no one. Then there were long stretches where we didn't see anyone. I can count the number of signs I saw on my hand. It's a lonely race. 
4. It was hot and sunny, and there was zero protection from the sun (unless a cloud came). 
• I prayed often for clouds
5. Supporters who smoked. Thanks for yelling "Bravo" and stuff, but please don't blow smoke right into my face...that's not exactly what my lungs need right now. 

So it's over. Hooray! And I'm really pleased with our performance. There was a time, not too long ago, when I couldn't run very far at all. And I remember being so hype about being able to run 4 miles without stopping (click here for old blog). But my faith, in myself, was at a place where I could run four miles. And now my faith is at a place where I can run for 26.2 miles in one of the toughest marathons in the world.

"For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek (shout out!). For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith as it is written, “But the righteous man shall live by faith.”"- Romans 1:16-18

This is one of my favorite scripture of all time.  The life of the Christian is all about faith. And I've said it before, faith is in levels. Faith gets stronger and stronger. Faith grows bigger and bigger and it has to because we are living by this. The faith that gets you through today will not be the same faith that gets you through next year. The awesomeness of God, the truth of his divine mercy and justice and all the promises that He has made through Jesus Christ became more evident over time. And we totally need that.

Faith keeps us going, just like in my race. In my first marathon (which was two weeks ago to this day) I knew I could run without stopping, and so I ran 26.2 miles without walking for a single second. For this marathon, I believed I could run up that huge hill, and make it back down. I prayed about it so much...around the 30k marker (almost at the end of the hill) my ankles felt really bad, so bad that I debated within myself about walking. I knew I could PR if I kept running (on this difficult course), but that walking would make my ankles feel better. It was a few minutes before I decided (by faith) that I could do both. I really love the Lord! And I really loved this race! I beat my time from 2 weeks ago by 10 minutes even though I walked. All glory goes to God. 

Lord, thank you for growing the measure of faith that was initially given to us when we accepted Christ. Sometimes, in the Christian walk we find ourselves in the valley, but it is in those times that you are refining our faith so we can rejoice more fully on the mountaintop. Thank you for being mindful of our growth and development spiritually and naturally. Keep us on course so that we finish every race and PR every time! In Jesus name, Amen! 

The Finish Line!