Home of the Alamo

Last month I got the opportunity to go to San Antonio, Texas for work.  As I had never been to Texas for anything other than a layover, I was pretty excited!

And as usual for a work trip, there was quite a lot of excitement during my travels to Texas. For some crazy reason, I got to the airport super early and that turned into a huge blessing. While I was on the phone sitting near the ticket desk, I got a text from the airline saying my connecting flight from Houston to San Antonio was canceled due to weather. I had seen on the news that morning that huge storms were flowing through Texas, so I wasn't shocked by the news. When I walked up to the ticket counter to see about getting rebooked, I heard them say all flights out of Houston that night were being canceled. So, I called my office and had them book me a hotel room in Houston because I knew between the storm and flights getting canceled rooms would be going quickly (and sure enough they did - I got the last room at the Holiday Inn Express by the airport and I ran into a lady the next morning who said they had to stay at the airport!).  Once I knew I had a hotel room, I got a flight for 9 am the next morning. My first meeting was at 11:30 am and it was a 55-minute flight so that was perfect - or so I thought!

My initial flight into Houston was delayed by about an hour, so I got into town at 10 pm CT (11 ET). The first part of the storm rolled in around 2 am or so - the electricity must have gone out because the clock on the nightstand had one time, my phone had another time, and my watch had another! However, the real debacle started on my 9 am flight. We didn't even start boarding the plane until 9 am, and then as soon as we pulled away from the gate, a storm rolled in. The plane parked and the captain came on and said we would wait the storm out as it was directly between us and San Antonio and according to the radar, should only last about 20 - 30 minutes. Ha. Fast forward 2 hours later and we were finally cleared for takeoff. During that time the entire airport 'shut down' to all incoming and outgoing flights, and about an hour in they starting letting West-bound flights go (I was headed East). Once we took off, it was smooth sailing and I finally made it to San Antonio.

View from my room. The red arrow is pointing to the Alamo.

I checked into my room, where I had almost a direct view to the Alamo (a tree blocked my direct view) and grabbed a late lunch before heading to a meeting.  When I called my mom to let her know that I finally made it, she let me know that my hometown high school was competing in the National Robotics competition in San Antonio - just a few blocks from where I was staying - and was coached by a family friend!  I had some spare time the next day so I walked over and got to learn about robotics (fascinating, by the way), as well as even see them compete! It was really cool!

When worked wrapped up on Friday, it finally stopped raining and I was able to tour The Alamo, walk along the riverwalk and take a riverboat cruise before I met with some colleagues for an authentic Mexican dinner at a restaurant called La Tierra - about 10 blocks from our hotel, away from the main tourist areas. Along my walk, I passed a church that was doing a light show about the history of Texas. Someone had told me about it at dinner the night before, so I was excited to know where it was. After dinner at La Tierra, my friends and I walked up to the church right as the Light/Laser Show was starting. It was utterly fascinating- no words, just lights and sounds!

I love the sky in this picture!

San Antonio the Saga at the San Fernando Cathedral

Even though this was a work trip, I'm glad I got to have a little fun and explore San Antonio. I can't wait to go back to Texas again!

Glass Slippers

Last weekend, I went down to Disney World to participate in the Glass Slipper Challenge! The Glass Slipper Challenge involved running the Enchanted 10k on Saturday and the Princess Half-Marathon on Sunday.

My awesome mom who was my driver for the weekend!

On Thursday night, I headed to NA to stay and a little before 7 am on Friday morning, Mom and I hit the road.  My awesome mom was my chauffeur to and from Florida! Her original plans were to visit friends that lived right outside of Disney World, but due to illnesses they couldn't meet. So instead, she got a weekend away to relax!


We made great time getting to Florida and the drive wasn't bad at all! The only time we ran into traffic was in Florida - those roads are awful!  After having the wrong address for our resort (Coronado Springs), we finally made it a little before 2 pm. We met up with KQ, her sister JQZ, and our other friends LS and MS got there about that time too!  After dropping off my luggage, saying a quick goodbye and thanks to my mom,  the Disney crew headed over to the Expo to get our bibs, gear, and do some sports shopping before dinner! After exploring the Expo, we had a 5:45 reservation at the Turf Club Bar & Grill in the Saratoga Springs Resort, which we barely made due to the bus to that resort running almost 30 minutes late!  Some more friends that arrived later that day were able to join us for dinner and after a scrumptious meal, we took multiple buses to get back to Coronado Springs so we could head to bed!

The Clemson Grads Before the 10k!

Our alarms went off at 2:30 am (ugh) on Saturday morning so that we could catch our 3:30 am shuttle to Epcot to where the 10k race would start and end. We had to get there early so that we could be dropped off, walk to the starting/warmup area, and then be in our corrals by 5am for a 5:30 am start time. Out of the 6 runners in our group, 5 of us did the 10k (3 of those 5 were competing in the Glass Slipper Challenge). We were spaced out in our corrals, with 2 in Corral C, me in D, and 2 in E, so we all started at varying times. I think my official start time was around 6 am. I wasn't too worried about the 10k race. I had been running 6.2 miles the last few Saturdays and felt really comfortable with the distance and pacing I had trained at. However, because I knew that I would need to conserve some energy for the half the next day, I made sure to walk the water stations (partly because I am not capable of running and drinking water at the same time)!  I ended up running a negative split for the 10k (meaning my last half of the race was faster than the first), including a 9-minute mile the last mile!!  Since we were in different corrals, we all finished at different times, so while waiting on each other to finish those who were done got our medal, got iced up and ate our post-run snacks Disney provided.

Of course I had to take a picture with the Glass Slipper!

After everyone finished, we loaded up the buses and headed back to our resort to shower and get dressed to go to the park. But before we went to the park, we went and got our second breakfast so we could get our Mickey Mouse waffles! We went to Hollywood Studios on Saturday, and our timing ended up being perfect! We arrived just in time for our first fast pass for the Rockin' Roller Coaster and once we got off of that, it was time for our next fast pass on the Tower of Terror.  We then went a few more places and a few more rides before we went to our late lunch reservation at Mama Melrose's Ristorante Italiano inside the park. After lunch we did the Star Tours ride and saw the Little Mermaid show and then headed back to our hotel. We were exhausted by this time and knew it was another early morning the next day! We grabbed a light dinner back at the hotel and then headed to bed.

MS got a picture of me
running by him around Mile 5!

The alarms went off at 2:30 am again on Sunday morning so we could catch the 3:30 shuttle. Although I think we caught one closer to 4 because we were moving a bit slower that morning (I can't imagine why).  The four of us running the half marathon started the LONG trek to our corrals, as we were again in separate corrals. The Half-Marathon course starts in the parking lot of Epcot, goes to Magic Kingdom (you run through the Castle around Mile 6), back into the parking lot, with a final loop through Epcot to have you cross the finish line in the parking lot. I got a little frustrated with the course/race this year. I was in a farther corral than I was in my last Princess Half Marathon, and several portions of the race involved a narrow stretch of course, so I ended up getting caught behind some walkers and not being able to get around them the first mile.

I was also pretty nervous about the half-marathon because I never did a long run longer than 6.2 miles during my training (oops), but I did do all my runs on a course that contained a lot of hills. I also cut out Diet Dr. Pepper the month of February (well at least until after the race - I had one the Monday after I got back!) and was more intentional with my diet making sure to have good carbs and proteins for fuel. I had also planned to walk through the water stations, because again, I can't run and drink at the same time.

I kept joking that the weight of all those medals is what hurt my back!

My "goal time" started out as anything under 3 hours, and then I revised it to be under 2:50. (I guess I should back up and say that I am a slow runner, and my current PR is 2:34:52). However, running on hills during my training really paid off! Every time I hit a hill, I got a renewed burst of energy. I had two pace bands on my arm - one for a 3:00 finish and one for a 2:45 finish. Around mile 7, I realized that my pace was more aligned with a 2:45 finish and I was still feeling pretty good, so I started to push myself. When I hit mile 12, I was feeling really good and gave myself a bit more of a push. I ended up finishing in 2:38:51 and ran negative splits again during the second half of the race! The pace was slower than my training, but considering I had run a 10k the day before and had not run more than a 10k in practice I was pumped about my time! I actually smiled when I crossed the finish line and realized that I not only met my goal, but crushed it!

Post-Half Marathon Smiles!

After I got iced up, I got my medals (one for the half and one for completing the Glass Slipper Challenge) and waited for everyone else to finish. Once we all finished and took our celebratory photos, we headed back to the hotel to clean up and head home.  We hit the road that afternoon and stopped by Statesboro, GA on the way to NA so I could see K&J at their new house. It was fun to catch-up with them and show off my new clinkage!

Showing off my new clinkage!

After a fun weekend of running 19.3 miles, I'm ready to get faster and run it again!

The gang (minus LS&MS) before we headed home!

Persecution

During a road trip last year, I finally gave in and started listening to the Serial podcast which a lot of my friends had been recommending.  Serial is a podcast that tells one (true) story over the course of the season. Each week you get to hear a different piece of the story. So far, the stories have been somewhat controversial and the listener hears all these different sides and pieces and gets to make their own judgement/decision. This season is about Bowe Bergdahl and his capture and release by the Taliban.

While listening to this season's first podcast awhile back, something that Bowe said during an interview has stuck with me for weeks. Here is the transcript of what I heard from the Serial site:

Bowe Bergdahl

I was trying to prove to myself—I was trying to prove to the world, to anybody who used to know me—that I was capable of being that person.

Mark Boal

Like a super-soldier, you mean.

Bowe Bergdahl

Yeah. I was capable of being what I appeared to be. Like, doing what I did was me saying, I am—

Mark Boal

Right.

Bowe Bergdahl

—like I don't know, Jason Bourne.

Mark Boal

Right. A character in a book or whatever. A character.

Bowe Bergdahl

Yeah. So I had this fantastic idea that I was going to prove to the world that, you know, I was the real thing. You know, I could be, you know, what ... I could be what it is that every ... you know, all those guys out there who go to the movies and watch those movies, they all want to be that. But I wanted to prove that I was that.

This exchange struck me so much so that I ended up having to pause and rewind the podcast because I had missed out on what was said the next few moments after that. I couldn't quite understand why this exchange captured my attention the way it did, so I put it to the side in my mind and finished that episode.  It wasn't until a few days later when I caught a glimpse of a news story about Christians being persecuted in Middle East that my mind went back to this conversation.

In a way, what Bowe was describing was, for lack of better phrasing, a leap of faith. He believed what he was doing was right, and he felt he needed to stand firm and take action for his convictions, to be the person he said he was, even in the face of persecution, which for him would be getting in trouble with the Army. We see and hear about Christians abroad doing this - taking action and standing firm, and being persecuted for their faith. They believe and trust in the Lord so much that they literally die for him.

As a white believer, living in the bible belt of the South, persecution is not something I'm often faced with. That's not to say, people might make fun of me, or make harsh judgements of me, but that isn't life-threatening, radical persecution like others are facing. Persecution at its essence is an attempt to eradicate, drive away, or subjugate people based on their beliefs, race, or social standing. As I sit here in my comfy Christian community, I realized i've become lazy in a comfortable situation. God is brought up in conversations daily, and those around me send encouragement and bible verses. Heck, I can even find a bible verse on the bag of a drive-through meal. In a way, I've become content not to seek out God, because it feels like he is seeking me out in the form of constant exposure in this Christian life I live.

All of these surroundings cause me to question, if and when I'm put into a position of real persecution, will I as Bowe said try "to prove to the world, to anyone who used to know me - that I was capable of being that person."  John calls us to be believers in Christ and confirms we will be persecuted. In John 15:18 - 20, he says "If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you: 'A servant is not greater than his master. ' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you. If they kept my word, they will also keep yours."

Will I stand firm in what I believe when the time comes? Will I as Bowe continued on to say, "prove that I was that?" Will I prove that my love and belief in Christ is true and not just due to my surroundings? My prayer for myself and others who find themselves in the same situation in me is that we stay rooted in our faith and find joy in suffering and persecution when the time comes. As Paul says in 2 Corinthians 12:10 "For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities. For when I am weak, then I am strong." 

When I think of Christians who have shown love, compassion, forgiveness and grace in the aftermath of tragedy, my prayer is that when in that situation, I could continue to glorify God. My challenge to myself and other believers is this - don't grow content in our American/Southern Gospel lifestyle. We need to continually seek God out through his word and prayer. We need to be willing to be persecuted for our faith so that we can bring glory to God so that those around us can see Him in us.

Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. But rejoice, insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. If you are insulted for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the Sprit of glory and of God rests upon you. But let none of you suffer as a murderer or a thief or an evildoer or as a meddler. Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in that name.                                                     - 1 Peter 4:12 - 16