Running on Faith

I was sitting here this afternoon searching for a 2009 calendar to make some notes on.  In my quest to qualify for the Boston Marathon, I am going to get a professional coach to make me a custom training plan for the St. Jude Marathon.  This is mainly to prevent me from getting injured and to give me the best shot I can at qualifying.  As I have mentioned before (either here or at my Timbeaux site), if I qualify for Boston I plan on raising money for Habitat for Hope (the charity I raised money for during my 2007 Ironman Triathlon).  In order for this coach to make a plan, he will need to know what races I plan on doing and my rough family schedule to plan work outs around.  A lot of my focus right now is on qualifying for Boston.

So I am searching my office for a calendar, and I found one.  It was a 2009 St. Jude Children’s Hospital calendar that I received at the race last year.  And it was sort of a like a quick slap in the face or a bucket of ice water thrown on me.  I have been looking past the St. Jude Marathon and making plans for the future.  But that is a stupid concept.  You only have right now.  Nothing else is guaranteed.

As I flipped through the calendar, they had patients of St. Jude that ranged from 2 years old to 17 years old.  And every one of them touched my heart.  The worst part is something I learned when working with Habitat for Hope.  More than likely, one or more of the children in the calendar is probably not with us anymore.  They have passed on to a much better place than we live in.

We have less than 6 months before the marathon, and I have barely lifted a finger to start raising money for St. Jude.  Well, that is going to change.  I will continue working on my plan to qualify for Boston, but it will be secondary to my trying to help these children.  If God wants me to do qualify, then I will.

So right now, Christine and I are going to donate to each one of the team members.  And I ask that you do the same.  Just follow this link and click on any team member you wish.  And donate whatever you can.

And remember: you only have right now.  Nothing else is guaranteed.