Number 8!

Number 8. Freshman year. My first race. Trideltathon.

Nervousness, excitement, anticipation. Having no idea what this race would hold, yet wanting to find out more than anything. The night before I tried to go to bed early. I actually woke up five minutes after my alarm was set for. I thought I had heard my text message tone, but I didn't have a message. Weird. Well about two minutes later my dad calls me. He was in the breezeway of South Carrick with my bike and helmet. So I quickly finish getting ready and getting my stuff together in a dark dorm room while my roommate continues to sleep.

Getting down to the transition area was super exciting, and super intimidating. I put my bike on the rack and organized my stuff in what I thought would be the most efficient way for transitioning.

Off to the starting line. This race is a 400 meter swim, a 6 mile bike, and a 3 mile run. And it's a pool swim, so everyone jumps in one by one. So, I stood in line, for 45 minutes, freezing cold, waiting to jump in the pool. When I finally did, I jumped in without my goggles on my eyes. After a few strokes I realized that my eyes were burning. Oh, right. No goggles, just chlorine pouring into them. So I stopped and put them on my face real quick.

On to the bike. So I transition, and I definitely put my helmet on backwards. Seriously? How do I do things like that? And then right after I get out of transition and on my bike, I stop, right in front of a crowd of fans, and put on my gloves. I just didn't care about my time that year. As I'm biking along, I decide to eat a power bar. I had heard that was a good idea. After about a little over half of my bike ride I start eating it. Then I decide it tastes like peanut flavored paste, and I throw it off the side of the road. I know, bad idea to litter. Well, my bike is from 6th grade and is from Toys R' Us. Just keep in mind that it is not a high quality racing bike. So I change my gears and start to stand up and petal hard. As I'm standing up, I'm leaning really hard to one side, and my gear jumps. SWOOSH, CRASH. Yes. I fell. Down. On the road, and I'm pretty sure I slid a little bit. My bike was on top of me and I was completely in shock. People are whizzing by going "are you ok?" Right, like they would stop anyway. But I was ok. Purely because of adrenalin. I get back on my bike, knowing I really wanted to finish. As I'm finishing the bike route I realize that I have a MASSIVE abrasion on my right elbow, and a pool of blood was starting to form. Thankfully I still couldn't really feel it. Well, I finished biking. And seriously debated not running. But only for about 1.5 seconds.

On to the run. My wonderful friend Keli Petty (who is now Keli Brand) was standing on the sidewalk and says "Hey! I'm going to run with you!" We had trained together and planned on racing together, but registration complications kept that from happening. And thank you Keli!! There was no way in the world I would've finished that run! Then, coming up the last huge hill, I hear Carrie SCREAMING at the top of her lungs. I seriously heard her a quarter mile away. It was awesome! And after that hill I was home free! I crossed that finish line so excited that I had actually done a triathlon. And not realizing the addiction I had started.

So there you have it! Number 8! Check back tomorrow for Number 7!

number 9!!

My ninth favorite memory from college. This is a fun one.

Sophomore year I had 2 amazing roommates. Carrie Fuller and Emily Stephenson. We were the Three Musketeers. We did absolutely everything together. Halloween rolled around and we had tons of ideas of what to be. So many that we actually decided to be 2 different things for 2 different parties; one the weekend before and one the night of.

And we are crazy. So this was just incredibly appropriate. Carrie was an Indian named Running Stream. Emily was a cowgirl named Brooke. And I was a horse, Named Strong River. Emily jumped on my back, and Carrie goes running into the party with Emily and I running behind. Oh and yes, we were screaming. Carrie like and Indian, and Emily trying to lasso her. Needless to say it was pretty amazing.
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Oh but the night was not over. Some of us at the party were feeling a little mischievous. So we went to Wal-Mart, bought a huge ol' bucket of soap. Campus has some great fountains :)

And THEN Ashley, Cate and I (Ok I guess it was just Cate and I, haha) get kidnapped by Philip Glen. Yes. Thats right. And we go galavanting ALL over the country side looking for boxes. I have no idea why. Actually I do, but I didn't then. Anyway, we were driving all over Knoxville going through dumpsters getting big boxes. Philip and Hunter wanted to make a robot. Awesome.

By the time we got back to campus it was 3 in the morning. It was an amazing night. Hilarious, and a little out of control.

The next day, after the football game, it looked like it had snowed in the fountain :).

Number 10!

And the countdown begins!
Number 10!

Well once upon a time there were some friends who lived in an on campus apartment. The girls lived on the 3rd floor and the boys lived 10 floors above. Well, one night those very creative girls decided it would be a perfect opportunity to play an awesome prank on those boys.
So Carrie, Cate, Ashley, Emily, Becca, her sister, and myself purchased 1200 dixie cups, filled them with water and covered the floor with all of those cups. It was epic. And so epic because the night before we had nonchalantly gone to hang out at their apartment. You see Mikey had gone out of town and left his keys on his desk. So we discretely swiped the keys and went on our way. The night of our prank the guys were waiting for us to meet them at the basketball game. Well thankfully Timmy was giving us minute by minute updates of what was going on, and enlightened us to the fact that Jim was about to come back to the apartment. So when we heard that we finished as fast as we could and ran out of that room. Flawless.

It didn't take long for them to find out, since Jim was on his way back. But it has since been one of the most epic pranking nights. And there you have it. Number 10. Come back tomorrow for Number 9!

And please enjoy the video!

Top 10

I know I have been talking about this for awhile, but I finally finalized the top 10 memories from college!
So starting tomorrow I'll show one every day. To make a disclaimer this does not include any summers. That would be a top 10 all its own.
I hope you enjoy! I know I'm excited!

Trideltathon

So it had been 3 weeks since my half marathon. And I had run a grand total of 6 miles, biked 11, and swam half a mile. Freshman year of college was the first time I had done the Trideltathon and I've done it every year since (although that first year was such an adventure I'm not sure why I continued). So here I was about to embark on trideltathon number 4.

Well, GOOD MORNING 6AM. Awesome. Ok so lets just be honest here, my goal was totally only to have fun. I knew I was not going to get a good time, so I just wanted to enjoy the race.

At the last minute they changed the location to the outdoor pool. Well the pool was 74 degrees, which is actually wetsuit legal. And it was about 50 degrees outside. So braving the cold I stood in line for 35 minutes waiting to jump in the pool. I was actually the only person in line that kept my sweats on until right before I jumped in the water. Needless to say I kept getting comments about how great that idea was. Then I jumped in . . . and again forgot to put my goggles over my eyes. Yep, jumped in and started swimming with my goggles still on my head. Ha. I know you're shocked. While I was swimming, the only thing that was keeping me going was all the scripture I was quoting. Like let me just tell you that I've always loved memorizing scripture. There is no way I would be able to do anything in life without it. So as I'm swimming I was just clinging to Jesus. And let me just tell you, when you cling to Him, he never lets you down.

Well I finished the swim and ran to the transition area. Threw my shorts and my shoes on and hopped on my bike. Well the bike segment was half a mile longer this year. And there was a hill sequence that was really difficult. Again, I knew I needed Jesus at this point. And Lord thank you for coming through! For getting me up those hills and back to that transition area.
Swim down, bike down, 3 mile run to go.

As I'm coming out of the transition area my dad is yelling "GO MISSY! THIS IS YOUR FAVORITE PART! YOU ARE THE BEST AT THIS PART!" Thanks Dad. Its a very interesting phenomenon to smile when you are in the middle of a race. Its like a reality check. Like knowing that when you finish that race you will still have wonderful friends and a wonderful family, regardless of how you do. That was a great way to start the run. And I did it without my ipod. That is an accomplishment in itself! I'm so dependent on that ipod its ridiculous. Well This time I had to depend on Jesus. And He is way greater than an ipod.
Well I crossed that finish line celebrating. Not because I had made a best time, not because I had finished in the top places. But because I had run a race with Jesus and He had given me victory. And it was fun. Yes, fun.

So needless to say this was not the best race of my life. But not the worst either. I didn't fall off my bike, like I did freshman year. And its not the last. And I can say that for the first time, I really ran this race on His Word.

"And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please Him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened by all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints of the kingdom of light."
Colossians 1:10-12

Good Morning Hater

Good Morning Hater.
One of my favorite songs. Great for getting hyped up before a flag football game, blasting when you're mad, or just crusin' with the windows down.

Not today. Today it has way more significance. See every morning when we wake up we are presented with a choice.

Lamentations 3:23 says "Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness, I say to myself, 'The Lord is my portion; therefore I will wait for him." Choice #1: Believe that the King of the universe has compassion and mercy on you that is NEW every morning. You don't have to dwell over what happened yesterday or last night or worry about everything the day may bring. Nope. New every morning.

1 Peter 5:8 says "Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour." Choice #2. Let the enemy lie to you and fill your head with thoughts of how hopeless your situation is, how bad you have screwed up, or how small your God is.

Lets just be honest here . . . I don't even want to know how many mornings I've woken up and gone with choice #2. Too many. Its definitely easier to just let yourself be lied to and to let your emotions sit and sulk. But YUCK!! I mean who wants to live like that!! So this morning, and today, I'm choosing #1. Choosing to let the TRUTH rule in my heart. The next verse in 1 Peter says "Resist him, standing firm in the faith." Combat those lies with truth, the Word of God, and don't listen to them!!!!

So today I'm saying "good morning hater!" (satan would be the hater I'm referring to). Good morning and good-bye cause I'm not listening to you today. Chamillionaire is reppin' about how he has all these riches because of his fame. Well let me just tell you . . . If you have a relationship with Jesus, YOU have way more riches than that playa' ever will!!!

"I wanna show all my haters love. This song's for you. If you had it like me and I was in your shoes I'd probably hate on me too." yeah, if you had it like me--a redeemed child of the King-- and I was in your shoes--banished from heaven and forever an enemy of God-- yeah, I'd probably hate on me too. But again with the honesty, I'm not showing you love. I'm showing you the truth of my Jesus. Shoot. No sir, you have no power here!

"Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Colossians 3: 1-2

When the redbuds bloom

We have this thankful board in my apartment. Its just a dry-erase board that is behind our door. A few days before Thanksgiving Julie wrote "I am thankful for...". We've been thankful for a lot over the last few months. 58 things to be exact. Everything from school breaks to LOST, to snowflakes and flirting. But today I added something new. Redbuds.

This past weekend I went on a road trip. I headed to Branson, Missouri. Well Jesus knew I needed this weekend. Its been an incredible year. Insane almost. After listening to music for awhile I started talking. Yes, mostly to myself, but praying too. And analyzing. A lot.

I reached a point in my life this year when I realized that something had to change. That I was living in such a way that was so incredibly reliant on Missy. On Missy's power, strength, discipline, knowledge, attitude, personality, I mean I can go on and on. And Jesus finally got me to a point where He showed me that I was relying on those things not only for affirmation, but for my salvation. Jesus thank you for revealing your truth. Yes, it has been painful. and zero fun sir. But let me just tell you . . . Jesus makes ALL THINGS NEW. ALL THINGS. even things you thought were supposed to be "new" already.
"Therefore if anyone is in Christ he is a NEW creation; the old has gone, the NEW has come!" 2 Corinthians 5:17

And let me just tell you how GOOD my Jesus is!! I'm driving between Knoxville and Nashville. Cruising along and analyzing (okay, over-analyzing) my life. And I realize that the entire interstate is lined with beautiful blooming redbuds. THE WHOLE thing! And not only to Nashville, but all the way to Branson. Wow Jesus.
Its as if He was just reminding me how NEW my life really is in Him. Like spring. And those redbuds will forever be a reminder of how GOOD Jesus is. How He will never leave me, even when my life is out of control and I can't see Him anywhere. HE MAKES ALL THINGS NEW!!


"Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls." 1 Peter 1: 8-9