Motivation or Fear?

The Boston Marathon, a world famous and one of the most prestigious marathon races, was bombed yesterday near the finishing line.  Words can't express how sad and how angry I was to hear and see the footage I was seeing on the news.  Innocent spectators cheering on their loved ones as they were finishing up a 26.2mile race.........were killed or severely injured!  It was a bloody, scary mess:-(

As a runner, I know what an emotional moment this can be as you near or cross the finish line of a race that has taken months of preparation for.  But yesterday, these runner had to endure a completely different emotion as they finished their race.  And because of this, I am more determined than ever to run 26.2miles in 12days.

BUT----I want to admit something though right now.  As I watched the news, I had an immediate reaction of fear.  Fear for Boston.  Fear for our country.  And fear to run in the Oklahoma City Marathon.

http://www.okcmarathon.com/Home/AboutUs/tabid/63/Default.aspx

The Oklahoma City Memorial Marathon is a race that benefits the 1995 bombing of Oklahoma City, that took 168 lives.  WOW!! Talk about hitting home!  Thoughts filled my mind....is it safe to run this race since this race does benefit those who lost lives in the OKC "bombing"? Is it safe to race when it's only 13 days from the Boston Marathon race, in which no one has been made responsible for such a hatred crime?  Will they cancel the marathon?  Will I want to run the race now? -----For once I was fearful for running the race!!! FEAR!!

A few hours later..........my fears turned into motivation!  You know why? Well, maybe my kids shed some light on this? Zander looked me right in the eye and said, "You aren't safe ANYWHERE, are you mom?"  You know why he says that? Because our kids are questioning our safety these days.  I mean, who shoots people in a movie theater??  Who bombs buildings of innocent people?  Who blows up planes and crashes them into buildings? Who goes into our schools and kills our children and teachers? Who bombs a marathon race? This is insane!!!  And my kids have FEAR, just as I do!  But guess what, I do not want to have my kids living in fear.  I want them to live life as God intended full of PASSION, COMPASSION and LOVE.  Just as Jesus modeled.

If I have fear of running this race, I am letting "the bad guys" win.  My passion has been for running.  My life has changed because of my love for running.  I will not let them take away this passion.  I am more motivated to run this marathon (hurt foot or not) than ever before.  I want to run because I love it.  I want to run to remember the Oklahoma City Bombing.  I want to run for the Boston Bombing.  And I want to run to show my kids what this stands for!

This will definitely be a race to remember!!!!