Golden Birthday Shoes

So it was that time of year again. Birthday time. HOORAH for Birthdays that make you closer to more and more wrinkles and 40 years old.

We've got a couple of big ticket items needing attention from the budget in the next few months (i.e; house taxes, etc.). So we have had sort of an un-spoken rule (of which we thoroughly discussed) which states that hewill NOT buy me a birthday gift this year. The big day was a couple of weeks ago, and I had a fabulous day - even in all it's 'Tuesday-Glory'.

You see, Tuesdays at the Nelson household - once the kids get home from school, are nothing short of organized-ish chaos. Boy #1 gets home, get's snack, 25 minutes to do homework (which, incidentally, is no where NEAR enoughtime to get it done), get's ready for work. Boy #2 gets home, changes into work clothes, grabs something to eat on the way out, and then both boys are headed for their work on the farm. Child # 3 arrives home. Church activity days at 3:45 for child #3. Boy #2 Check in at soccer 4:45. Soccer game at 5:30. Dad home 5:30. Dad scouts 6:00. Child #3 soccer practice 6:30. 2 boys Scouts at 7:00. Pick up child 3 at 7:30. Dad home. 9:00 boys home.

But....um......NO ONE'S EATEN DINNER YET!

Seriously, not sure why it all chooses to be on that one very day, but it definitely makes for an adventure each week. I have to admit here.....I actually really DO enjoy Tuesdays. Everyone is doing the things they love, and although it always proves to be a little bit of mayhem, I love it that everyone is busy doing good things. Does my heart good.

Anyway, I digress....

it was my birthday......

Not expecting any sort of birthday packages this year, I was surprised when one was brought in for my to open. That's JUST like him, I think to myself. Arg. Thinking he apparently wasn't listening to our 'budget' discussion, I was, I have to admit, not thrilled that a box was being brought in.

Slowly I open the package, and then my eyes - I have to admit, are brimming with a few tears. Here's what I found:

Hum.....Are those really actually......Golden shoes, you ask?

Why yes there are. Here's the deal.

Many of you know I like to run. I am NOT a runner by ANY stretch of the word. But I like to run. Someday, when we can ask for wishes to be granted, I will ask to run a 6 minute mile. JUST to know what it feelslike. That would be heaven. But until then, I will have to be satisfied with my slightly slower pace.

A couple of years ago I had a desire to do something I'd never done, nor did I ever think possible for someone like me. Run a half marathon. The first one I ran, I was crying as I crossed the start line (yes, I really did say START line....not 'finish' line - like most people). Just BEING there. BEING at the START of a HALF MARATHON was HUGE to me. Never ever even in my most crazy dreams did I think that would be a possibility for me, but here I was!

The race was tough. It was slow. But we finished. And signed up for another one. And another one.

After a while, that got a little discouraging for me because even after doing 4 of them, they didn't seem to be getting any easier, nor did I seem to be getting any faster.

Fast forward to August of this year. Jason and I signed up for the Provo River Half and started training again. For 2 weeks before the race my feet and legs seemed more sore and achey than normal, but I figured it was just the extra miles.

The night before the race, I was packing up our stuff to head down to In-laws house so the race morning drive wouldn't be quite so long. Grabbed my shoes, looked at them from the back, and gasped! Where the HECK did the SOLE of my SHOE GO???? On one shoe the back sole was missing. Seriously gone. That shoe was 1 INCH shorter than the other shoe. Worn right down to the squishy under-sole part. NO WONDER MY FEET HAVE BEEN DYING. Apparently 2 years running in the same shoes isn't so good for the shoes.

Panic starts to set in as I think that there is no cotton-pickin' way I can run a whole race on those shoes, and no cotton-pickin' way to quickly buy new ones at 8:00 the night before the race. To say thatI was panicking might be an under-statement.

Alright, I think you get the gist....

But, thanks to a very calm and reassuring husband, and a little divine intervention from above, the race turned out fine. It turned out better than fine. My best time ever.

On our way back to the car we joked that those shoes should be bronzed.

A few weeks later Jason and I signed up for a full marathon.

Again.....NEVER EVER EVER thought that would be something I could do.

What a journey this has been for me the past several years. 17 to be exact. I've been running since we got married. It took me YEARS to get beyond one short mile. Then two miles. And now seventeen years later we just completed 26.2 (but I think that will be a whole different blog post)....

As I pulled the shoes out of the box, I noticed that he had written my PBRE (personal best record ever) on them, with the date of our Provo River race. The race HE came back and helped me to finish.

The shoes are tattered and the sole is missing, but now they are spray-painted gold, with my time on it, and on my shelf they will stay as a reminder for me.

They represent my journey. They represent doing hard things. They represent setting goals and working toward them. They represent being a 'finisher'. They represent progress. And they represent a kind husband who pushes me to become something better.

Thanks for the best golden birthday shoes ever!