A time for everything

A Time for Everything
There is a time for everything,
and a season for every activity under heaven:

a time to be born and a time to die,
a time to plant and a time to uproot,

a time to kill and a time to heal,
a time to tear down and a time to build,

a time to weep and a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and a time to dance,

a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them,
a time to embrace and a time to refrain,

a time to search and a time to give up,
a time to keep and a time to throw away,

a time to tear and a time to mend,
a time to be silent and a time to speak,

a time to love and a time to hate,
a time for war and a time for peace.
Ecclesiates 3: 1-8

After a lot of soul searching and a lot of praying, I have decided I will not be running the MS Blues Marathon.

I trained for 9 months and attempted something most people never even think to try. I didn't finish, but I came closer to my goal than I ever thought.

As much as I would love to train for the MS marathon, the fact is my kids need me. I have missed out so much the last 9 months while in training, and I don't want to sacrifice my time with them in the next few months for my own selfish reasons.

Yes, I want to complete a marathon. But there will be others, and Mark/Robin/Matt/Scotty will be doing this for years to come so I can always join them later.

But now is my time to do things with my kids. The holidays are big at our house, lots of cooking and baking and now that Candace is old enough to help out, I want to spend that time cooking with her. I want to start teaching her to read in Spanish and take them to swimming lessons.

It is time for me to put aside my training and focus on doing things for them and with them. I'm not giving up running, just taking the next year to run for fun and travel with the kids. We are planning to go to Disney World and then later on go to Panama.

So there will be no Chicago '08 for me either. I think it's the best decision for me at this time. But I will be there, God willing, ready to start training for Chicago '09. I hope many of you will be there, because this has been an awesome group and I want to stay in touch with you for many more years to come.

Those of you running the MS Blues Marathon, I will be there to cheer you on, pom poms included!