I started out this morning completely ready to do a replay of W5D2. I wasn't sure I wanted to start the week out with a 20 minute run. Who am I kidding? I wasn't sure I ever wanted to start any day out with a 20 minute run. Like most C25Kers, I've been looking at this W5D3 with trepidation since I first learned about it several weeks ago. Part of me was feeling like I couldn't wait to be able to run for 20 minutes without stopping, but in the back of my head was the nagging voice saying, "There's no way you will ever be able to run 20 minutes nonstop, let alone 5k.
Well, this morning I started walking and opened up the C25k APP on my iPhone, and there it was — Week 5 Day 3. I immediately put my thumb on the day-by-day schedule preparing to flip back to day 2, but then I heard that "still small voice" from deep within my soul saying, "You can do this." I moved my thumb over the virtual "Start" button and paused... paused... Ugh! I quickly moved to my music library and selected an album that was one that I knew would inspire me. Then flipped back to the C25K app I hit the start button without hesitation. I was on my way!
For me, this C25K has not only been a physical journey, but a spiritual one as well. In the midst of this challenge I am beginning to feel that perhaps God is preparing me for a next chapter of my life, and somehow that requires a more fit version of myself. How exciting! The music I picked was an album by Steven Curtis Chapman called, "Re-Creation." The lyrics in the first song, "As long as you do everything you do to the glory of the one who made you," rang clear and I knew I made the right choice to push that start button. Each song seemed to bring more energy to my step and I soon found I wasn't thinking so much about my running, but more about the adventure I was experiencing. Today was the beginning of something new, maybe nothing more than a path to running a 5k, or maybe something bigger. It doesn't really matter, because 20 minutes later I was floating along at a smooth pace without a care. I felt like I could just keep on going when the announcement came, "One more minute." Just then the song "Speechless" began to play and there was really no better word for the moment. I was speechless!
I ran many scenarios in my head over the past couple of weeks trying to imagine how this day would turn out. None of them matched the experience. In the big picture of the universe it is rather insignificant, but in my world it was huge.
I read an article on failure the other day that ended this way: "Thankfully, God does not hand us our fulfilled dreams on a silver platter. He wants us to fight for them. It is a risky thing because it means relinquishing control of our lives. It means we will probably fail. It's dangerous and it might even hurt sometimes, but it's the only way to reach the goal."
Today I took a risk, and by the Grace of God, it turned out good! 
Week Nine Done - The End of the Beginning.
Memorable graduation run
Wk5R3 Done.
W5D3 complete! 
