God never promises smooth sailing…He doesn’t say, “come and
follow me, and I will make your life easy like macaroni and cheese.” Nope, not
even on long runs. 22 miles is what I had before me Saturday morning (21.89 for
you legalistic types)…the alarm was set for 5:30am for a 7am departure…½ hour
snooze, ½ hour stretching and dressing, another ½ hour of procrastinating and I
would be off! When I hit start on my iPod at 7:15 am it was already sunny out…like
it was going to get pretty warm in So. Cal. I have started listening to music
only on long runs, so actually made me go a little faster when “Groove I in the
heart” came on…of course it was only the first mile, but I was feeling pretty
good. Having suffered a few minor stomach issues on recent long runs I decided
to start with water and mix in Gatorade as needed…this seemed logical until it
became apparent that water travels through the system much faster than Gatorade…about
mile 4 there was a nice big park, but after a few minutes of exploring, I
realized that the nice people of Bellflower keep their park restrooms clean by
keeping them closed on Saturday mornings…no worries…another restroom would come
along soon...soon, right? 5 miles later in Lakewood I came across a park with
an open restroom…just in time! Refilled the water bottle with lukewarm metallic
tasting water and I was off again…I still felt good, the Shot Rox I was trying
for the first time (yes, this will come back to haunt me!) were very tasty and the
new knee brace seemed to be working well, despite the fact that I needed to
tighten it every 2-3 miles…was my leg getting thinner??
About mile 11 it all turn bad…I suddenly realized that it
was really pretty warm…and I had 2 sips of water left…but I’m on Carson blvd in
the middle of Long Beach...not exactly the Sub-Saharan desert…surely there will
be somewhere to buy a Gatorade…Smart & Final…nah, it will take too long…CVS,
nope…too long…then came the critical error…I thought…yep, I thought there was a
gas station at Carson and Palo Verde just as I would make my turn northward…that
would be Carson and Los Cayotes Diagonal!!! So, now I started to panic…maybe I
should knock on someone’s door and ask them if I can get some water from their
water hose…would anyone find me as I tried to crawl over the next sand dune? Sooooo
thirsty….water…Then there it was, like an oasis…a beacon of hope! 7-11!!!
Interesting people at 7-11, but that’s a story for another day. Peanuts and
Gatorade in hand I was off again. Then it hit me…a little at first, but strong
every step I took…I was REALLY thirsty!!! I drank the last of the Gatorade around
mile 17 knowing there was a CVS about ½ mile up the road…there I bought a water…again,
super thirsty I guzzled 1/3 of it down. Next water stop was about mile 19…this
time a Walgreens…and of course all of this water made me desperate for a
restroom again…about that time my stomach started to rebel…it really wanted the
run to be over, and boy so did I! It took longer than I had expected…much
longer than I had wanted, but it was over. My last long run before the LA
Marathon was in the books! I did end up “losing my lunch” about an hour after
the run, so those Shot Rox will not be going to LA with me!
Am I ready to run 26.2 miles? I don’t know…22 is almost 26…I
just worry about how long it will take me…will there even be a finish line when
I finish??
After my run I found out a dear friend of mine had died a
few days before. He had a heart attack alone at home and a neighbor found him 2
days later. I had 2 sermons rumbling in my head for that next day and as I
stood in that church I realized that I needed to share my friends death with
those their…to remind them how fragile life is and how quickly it can come to
an end…and that we don’t need to despair in death…that the sin that separates
us from God has been conquered…that Jesus took the sins of everyone, believer,
non-believer, young, old, rich, poor…everyone and died for those sins upon a
cross. And so I share those truths with you today. I miss you Nate.
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