Have you ever wanted to run a marathon? Have you thought about it, but then thought it’d be impossible? Well – I’m here to tell you that literally anyone can run a marathon that wants to! I’m walking proof of that! If you have a desire to run one – I highly recommend you take on that challenge! It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made…there is nothing like crossing that finish line when it’s all over.

A group of us are planning on running the Marine Corps Marathon in October! We’ll be spending the weekend in D.C. and the more people we have  the better! We’ll all be training together as well. Training usually begins about 20 weeks out from the marathon – so we’ll be starting training for this toward the end of May. If you have questions on training plans and how they work – just ask me or research them online. It’s a lot easier than you think!

Are you interested? Registration begins April 1st and usually the marathon fills upin a week. You’ll be able to register here! If you’re seriously considering it – leave me a comment on this post or e-mail me at douglasasmith53@gmail.com.

DO  IT!!! I’m looking forward to hearing from YOU!

It’s been a while since I’ve had some reflections – a lot has happened in the past 2 weeks:

• Here are my favorite blog posts/articles from the past 2 weeks

• Faith Projects – I had lunch with a mentor and he challenged me to have “faith projects” in my life. Things I’m believing God for – it really challenged me – What are you believing God for?

• Compassion – I saw the movie “Taken” and for one of the first times in my life – my eyes are being awakened to global issues. The movie is specifically about human trafficking. I’ve known about them before and felt bad, but never really had compassion and the desire to do something about it before – God’s brewing some new things in my heart along these lines – interesting!

• This series by Keith Moore has been building me up big time – ONE OF THE BEST MESSAGES I’VE HEARD is the last one – “Power to Reap” – listen to it!

• 19 North - the big announcement has been made – Mr. McFeely will be making an appearance in March – Don’t want to miss that! 19 North has been averaging 170 people over the last 3 weeks (explosive growth) and it shows no sign of stopping~! Zack shared the vision of 19 North this past Saturday - A MUST LISTEN TO message

• Revolution - we’ve been tearing it up lately – we’ve kicked off our small groups and they’re going very well. Our leaders are doing a great job!

• Marine Corps Marathon - We’re getting a group together to run this marathon in October – registration starts April 1st – anyone interested?

• Growth – I’m in a season where I know I’m growing more than I could imagine, but I can’t really put a finger on everything God is teaching me. I’m very interested to see what it will be like to look back on this season of my life.

I could go on…. but that is enough for now – time for dinner!

“As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend” -Proverbs 27:17

When I ran the Chicago Maragthon in October, I wrote periodically about the lessons I was learning from running a marathon. I want to continue that practice now that I’m training for my 2nd marathon (Pittsburgh).

I want to talk to you about the power of facing challenge, whether it’s running a marathon or just going through life, with people. I’ve found that without going through life with people, most achievements aren’t possible and even if we do achieve something it can feel hollow. I trained and ran the Chicago Marathon with Pastor Larry and it was great – I wrote about that experience as well. However, for this marathon I’m training with several people. I run with Pastor Moore who will be running his fourth marathon, Scott Dozier and Chris Martin who will be running their first, and Steph Moore who will be running her first half marathon. Here are some of my observations of the power of going through this experience with these people:

• You Create Memories that will last a Lifetime – going through life together is so much richer when we do it with people. The picture above is right before we all ran when it was -10 degrees out. Our eyebrows and nose hairs all froze (except for Stephs haha) – I’ll never forget that experience as long as I live!

• You Create a Bond between People - I love when I see one of the people I train with at church or in public because it’s an instant connection. I almost feel like I’ve been on the battlefield with them – when we meet in person and share the memories of the hardships and victories we had while running.
  

• People need Encouragement and so do You – We all have off days where we just need someone to help pick us up. In encouraging each other while we run – I’m really learning the power of encouragement – it pushes you to give your all. There are definitely days where I don’t want to run, but the second I see one of these guys and hear “Are you ready” – I get fired up and ready to go

• Helping People Achieve the “Impossible” in Their Life is so Rewarding - when I was training for Chicago – it was my first marathon and PL helped me achieve the impossible when I crossed the finish line. Now, I’m helping Chris and Scott achieve some milestones in their lives. It’s so rewarding for me when I hear them say things like “I’m pumped!!! I just ran 12 miles for the first time! I did it!” – bringing people with you while you go after the dreams of your heart is so worth it!

Who are you going through life with? Who do you have in your life that encourages you? Takes you to another level? Helps you achieve the impossible in your life?