How I spent my weekend not running a marathon

May 6, 2012 by paulamahla 8 Comments

Six months ago I thought for sure I was going to run a marathon today. I have been registered for the Colorado Marathon since last November, and I started training in January. I mean I went through a workout where I actually did 3 x 5 mile repeats. My second marathon legitimately should have been this morning. I was bib number 803.

Obviously, based on the title, I did not run the Colorado Marathon today. I had a really terrible training cycle, culminating with a complete failure of a 15 mile run one weekend. I thought I was anemic, but as it turned out, I had/have a severe Vitamin D deficiency.  I have been taking prescription Vitamin D for the past month, and I’m definitely feeling much better.  I have eight more weeks of Vitamin D, and then I should be 100% again. Needless to say, I decided to sit out the marathon.

While I was sad to not be running the marathon this weekend (zero sarcasm), I did not just spend the weekend wallowing around in Denver. My church had a women’s retreat scheduled for this weekend that I was originally not going to be able to attend, due to the marathon. After the Vitamin D Fiasco of 2012 suddenly freed up my weekend schedule, I immediately signed up for the retreat. When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, right?

 Weekend in the mountains, yes please!

The retreat was at Snow Mountain Ranch, just outside of Fraser. I don’t have a Winter Park season pass, so I am rarely in that area of the Colorado. It was great to see a different view of the mountains, especially since as we all know I don’t believe there is such thing as a bad mountain! It was also great to take a weekend off from my life. I know this blog always makes my life sound really cool, and don’t get me wrong my life is really cool, but I sometimes struggle with ensuring that my life is full and not busy. There is a very fine line between leading a full life and a busy life. And I think God gave me this weekend to remember that.

I truly believe that there was nowhere else that I was suppose to be this past weekend. Even though I was stubborn enough to maybe require a Vitamin D deficiency as a wake-up call, I could not have imagined spending my weekend in any other way. There will be more marathons. I needed time in the mountains, time with God and time with my New Denver family this weekend more than I needed to run a race.

“I’m not sure if God gave me a Vitamin D deficiency on purpose. But I wouldn’t put it past Him.”

The past six months of my life have been full of some big changes. I finished graduate school and became a full-time working woman. I moved into a house with a new roommate. And I started going to New Denver Church (NDC). I can’t even imagine what my life would be without this community. I truly gained a family at NDC. As one of the retreat leaders said about our group, “This is like the coolest group of women!” I wholeheartedly agree.

How could you not adore these ladies?

Representing Georgia! The founding pastors of NDC are all from Atlanta, so I like to show support for the GA. That’s just the kind of person I am.

So okay I didn’t run the Colorado Marathon this weekend. But I spent the weekend with a group of people that are willing to run the marathon of life with me. Lesson learned: let God edit my schedule more often. I feel so blessed to be lacking Vitamin D!