go get it.

My meeting yesterday was a success.

It is a wonderful feeling to know that wherein your life has led you,

there is purpose.

The principal who I met with yesterday,

wants to implement the program.

His being on board with the cause--

{bully prevention}

instills in me confirmation

and confidence.

To know that I can give on a community level

instills a reward

that is priceless.

When I injured my back five months ago,

my plans to run the Portland Marathon

were tossed out.

At first, it was only an annoyance,

I figured my back would heal in under a week,

and that I'd hit the pavement again.

But it wasn't that easy.

Each time I thought I'd had adequate rest,

and the strains had healed,

I'd go out to run

and find my back pulling and straining again.

I paid visits to my chiropractor regularly,

and

underwent serious therapeutic massage.

When I say therapeutic, I mean

fist-clenching pain.

During this time, I was also doing quite a bit of writing.

My mission was to put the painful past onto the page;

to write it out;

to have it written in effort to sort, to understand,

and to heal;

to help others heal.

Then my back issues flared up.

How do you focus in two drastically different areas

when each feels like it requires

WHOLE HEART?

 I recall being in the shower one day,

when I thought,

I wonder why I haven't thought to pray about my back issues?

I am the praying type, so for a moment, this boggled my mind.

My mind moved along to my next thought,

tucked far behind the obligations, stresses, and daily redundance that consumes--

because you know there is a lesson in this back pain.

Then the following dawned on me--
You can't run two marathons at once.

I am not capable of writing a book proposal,

advocating for the broken,

running a marathon,

let alone a household,

while raising two toddlers.

My life is not meant to happen this way.

I am a passionate woman, but passion can only

be spread so thin before it moves into insanity.

It took some time--a few more runs that threw my back into further strain,

before I really began to let up.

The lessons I'm learning aren't only

FOCUS,

but

DISCIPLINE

OBEDIENCE

and

FAITH--

faith that when something is off--

when you are moving against the grain

in one way, shape or form--

there is a lesson which needs acknowledgement

or greater attention.

Next month is the Portland Marathon.

A smidge of envy may fall upon me as I rise that morning

of 10/10/10,

but then I'll consider my current whereabouts,

and think of the steps that I've made toward my advocacy

and see that they are big steps--

steps that I wouldn't have made

had I been researching gels, sweat-wicking clothes and

speed strategies.

Then I'll consider the future,

and the reality that the Portland Marathon isn't going anywhere,

that it will return again in 2011,

and quite possibly,

I'll be able to give her a shot.

Until then,

the focus and the discipline is paying off--

in the most magnificent way.

"You Got a Dream... You Gotta Protect It. People Can't Do Somethin' Themselves, They Wanna Tell You You Can't Do It. If You Want Somethin', Go Get It." ~ Chris Gardner

(The Pursuit of Happiness)