Tico Tuesday, June 25th

Happy happy happy Tuesday to you!
A brief bit of good news before I get to the real topic: My contact at Migration came through for me! I finally have a resolution! Now it just needs to be signed, I need to pay $200, and get an appointment for them to take my picture. If this all happens a week from tomorrow, there is a chance I just might have some valid documentation again by the time I leave July 10th for my brother's wedding. It is my hope and prayer for this to be so. Thank you for praying with me so far, and please keep it up until everything is all worked out! Talk about a lesson in perseverance! God is so good!

In other areas of God's goodness... I ran my first half marathon on Sunday! It was such a great experience! They didn't have any mile or kilometer markers along the way, just the starting line, a 10k marker, and the finish line. I couldn't believe it when the first 10k were over. They went by so fast! (In 52 minutes to be exact.) I conversed with a few friendly runners along the way and really enjoyed the beautiful mountains that surround the Central Valley. I went into this race with a totally different attitude than in the 10k races I've done, and I think it really helped. I tend to be a very competitive person, but I didn't stress at all about people passing me and when they did it. (In a 10k, I try not to let any women pass me after about 6k). One 60ish year old man passed me at one point, after talking with me briefly and telling me to save energy for the hills at the end. But, it turns out living at 5000ft and training on this mountainside has done me a lot of good. I passed a number of people going up the hills at the end, including that man! Back to the different attitude though. I wanted to dedicate the race to God and be focused on him, so I spent a lot of time praying and singing worship music in my head. It was a really wonderful time and I hadn't felt so full of joy in a long time! God is so good and he gave me strength every step along the way (and 21k --13 miles-- is a lot of steps)! I ended up finishing in 1:50:21-within perfect range of my 1:45:00 - 2:00:00 expectation (and 36th out of the 177 women that ran the race)!
More stories below!
May we all see God's goodness, faithfulness and love around us this week!
Carrie

God's goodness was evident throughout this whole race weekend. I was able to sleep well the night before and not get any pre-race jitters. I often get jitters before a race, not from nervousness, but from excitement! I spent the night with a friend of mine who lives close to the starting line and she got me there with plenty of time to warm up and get a good spot near the starting line. The start was great. We were on a highway, so it was plenty wide, and it was uphill, so people weren't exactly shooting out like bandits. Most of the races I've done start on narrow streets and are often flat or downhill and it takes a while for the crowd to thin out so I can run normally and not be running on top of other people's feet.
I ran the first several kilometers with a friendly man named Alex who knew several other runners and told me all about the course of the race. After a while I could tell his breath was telling him he needed to slow down, so I left him behind. I saw him at the end though and it was nice to know he made it.
I spent other bits and pieces conversing with other runners, most all of them talking about how hard the hills at the end were. Most of the course was actually downhill though, and I'm sure that helped my time some. I felt great for most of the race, it wasn't until the last couple kilometers when my feet started to hurt and my leg muscles reported in that they were starting to get tired. There were only 4 water stations the whole way, and I didn't carry any food or gatorade. I think I would for next time though, or make someone meet me and give me something along the way.
I announced on facebook I would be running and tagged everyone I could think of that lives close to the race route. Nobody I know showed up, but thankfully, there were a lot of other people along the way, and that helped so much! One group of people noticed my big smile and commented how that just said it all. That was close to the end, but I was feeling good and just having a wonderful time and loving the experience.

Then there was one angel-lady that stationed herself at the foot of one of the last hills and was cheering us on. That meant so much to me and helped me get up that hill! And then, when the finish line came into sight, I couldn't believe it, and the weirdest thing happened: I got all choked up! I hadn't expected that AT ALL! But seriously, I fought so hard to not cry and just keep running. It was totally bizarre, but really, the whole race was such an amazing, wonderful experience. The weather was great, all the people were wonderful, the traffic was well controlled (except for the one part when I got stuck running single file behind a man and between a parked bus and a moving bus in downtown San José-don't tell Mommy that part), I felt great, I was running for God's glory, I didn't have to wait in a ridiculous line for hydration and fruit at the end, my time was great (11th in my category, not counting the first 5 female finishers), and I got a massage at the end. I thank God for this delightful experience and I just say...Watch out Boston Marathon and Heartbreak Hill --I'll see you in 2015 or 2016!!