Angels Among Us: My Half Experience

Thanks to those 23 hour road trips to Utah from Houston that my family took on a regular basis, I have a special place in my heart for the music of Alabama and Neil Diamond. How can you be a true Texan and not love "If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band"?

So rosin up that bow!

Sorry, I'm getting a little carried away. Anyway, I love that song but my absolute favorite song of Alabama's is "Angles Among Us".

You're just gonna have to listen to it.

So there I was, about mile 10 of the American Fork Half Marathon. My body was screaming at me to stop, but I was screaming back "heck no!". It's a really weird experience when you're only 3 miles away from the finish. At least for me it was. It's really kind of hard to focus your mind on a smooth train of thought. All you're really thinking about is when the end will come. I was getting so desperate that I started to imagine myself crossing the finish line with a crowd of people cheering me on. Any distraction you can find, helps you to forget about the pain momentarily. Maybe you run through the sprinklers on the side of the road.

I was in this hazy state of mind, constantly on the verge of giving up and walking when I saw a sign that read, "Angels Among Us".

I instantly thought of Madie. Encouraging words entered my mind. I was probably a little out of it from all of the pain and exhaustion, but I had a little conversation with Madie in my head. We talked about memories we shared from high school. She laughed often. I can't say that those thoughts came from Madie. One glance down at the ground to see my shadow running alone brought me back to reality. Madie wasn't with me physically, but I don't doubt that she helped me finish that race. There are angels among us. 

Pre-race photo

We finished!! :)

I am so grateful for the cameraman that got this shot!! HAHAHA...
I was getting ready for the pose in the next pic.

The scripture that I will have on my mission plaque:

"And whoso receiveth you, there I will be also, for I will go before your face. I will be on your right hand and on your left, and my Spirit shall be in your hearts, and mine angels round about you, to bear you up." Doctrine and Covenants 84:88