Oh Good, I'm Not Lost

Even though my brothers don't believe me, I really think running is fun. Each year I love running races. This year has not been the best year for me and races. From dental surgery, to knee problems, to other "misfortunes" I have not been able to run some of my favorite races this year.

I am happy to report that this past weekend I was able to run the Utah Relay Marathon. (Even though I had a pretty nasty cold. Try running and not being able to breath through your nose sometime. It is quite the adventure. It changes up what would be a nice normal run. You know, keeps it exciting.) There were five of us from Westmore who ran the race. It was so great! We didn't break any world records, but we had a wonderful time. They changed the course this year so that was fun too. A kind of cool thing that happened was that Devin came up to take pictures of our team. Part of the way into the race one of the guys in charge asked Devin if he'd take pictures of everything and e-mail them to him. So needless to say, my husband had a great time taking pictures of not only his favorite team running, but every team running. (Go to www.baldwinmedia.com/relaymarathon2007 to see his great pictures. Or you can go to www.baldwinmedia.com/relaymarathon2007westmore to see just our team's pictures.)

One other thought on the race. I unfortunately forgot my ipod so I had 5.2 miles to think about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The course went mostly along the Jordan River which was beautiful, and even though there were way too many people running with big scary dogs I still ended up having a pretty good thought.

This race was very small. There were only 38 teams, which means that there were only 38 people running the race at a given time. Now compared to some of the big races that I have run, it just is weird to not be running in a big pack of people. And with the race being on an unfamiliar course I was a little concerned that without a pack of people to follow, I might get lost. This is the type of race that you might see a few people the whole time you are out because the runners get so spread out. So here is my thought...

I think sometimes we are traveling in the path of life and we don't see anyone else on the path. We question, "Am I going in the right direction? Where is everybody?" Then every once and a while we see someone up ahead or someone even comes up on us from behind, or there is an arrow pointing which way we should go. The relief comes. "Oh good I'm not lost! I am on the right path."

It makes me grateful for people who are examples on the path. People who are holding up their light so that I know I'm headed in the right direction. I am also grateful for markers or arrows along the path that help me know that I am still going the right way and that I am not lost. Arrows like Scripture Study, Family Home Evening, Prayer, Going to the Temple, Regular Church Attendance, and so many more things! It's nice to know that we are not alone on the path home to our Heavenly Father. And it is comforting to know that even if we feel alone at times, that He will always send markers or other people to help us know that we are still the right track.