perseverance

Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.”

On May 2nd I tried running for the first time. I looked at the "Couch to 5k" training model and set out to run in 30 second increments. I made it 30 seconds but not without a struggle. I was sweating and breathing hard. My entire body hurt. My ankle rolled with every step. Pain stabbed at my knees. I set a goal to be able to run from one telephone pole to the next -- not even 100 yards between the two.

How was I ever going to be able to run 2 miles by the July 14 triathlon? Let alone run them after swimming and biking.

Today I ran 3 miles in 30 minutes and had enough energy to run hard the last 100 yards. Oh, and I was pain free.

It would have been easy to give up 7 weeks ago when running was hard and painful. When my goal of being able to compete in a triathlon in 10 weeks seemed completely unrealistic, a distant dream. When I couldn't even imagine running for 30 minutes straight.

I've always taken the easy road.

But this time I didn't give up.

And the persistence paid off.

Now I know with hard work and determination I can do anything God puts on my heart to do.

EMBRACE PERSEVERANCE.