#5kMay2019 Day 24 (BLOG)

This morning was a “Double the Run, Double the Fun” day! I woke up fairly early to meet my brother in Wooster for a nice 14 miler. Technically we ran 14.37 miles in 1 hour, 50 minutes, and 38 seconds. Our average pace was 7:42 per mile.

My brother loves to run up and over Flickinger Hill. He has issues.

So we incorporated Flickinger into our morning run (as we often do). I actually like it, too. Hills are for winners.

I was running pretty strong for most of the 14 miles, but I could feel myself becoming dehydrated not too long after 10 miles. Mile 13 was the hardest just because I was feeling drained. I should have carried a water bottle with me.

After getting home from the morning run, I drank a couple thousand liters of water (not literally, but it felt like it) and we got into a full day of work around the house. Today was the annual Polen Household Garage Cleaning Day. When you have 5 kids, cleaning the garage is a fairly epic event!

Once the garage was cleaned, it was time for another rather odd job… I had to dig a shovel wide path through our ditch to get the water flowing again. I used to dig ditches for a living while working for a gas pipeline construction company, so I figured it wouldn’t be too big of a deal. I was wrong. It was a mess! The ground was waterlogged and the job quickly became digging in half mud, half clay, full awesome. It was rather backbreaking work (but it felt good to get it done).

After digging the ditch, it was time to mow. We push mow our lawn. I wore my Garmin several times a few years ago to find out how many miles I walk to mow, and it ended up being a little less than a 5k.

After mowing, Jodi needed to get her 5k in, so I volunteered to run with her (partly because I love her and partly because I need more miles for the week if I am going to hit 40). We ran her 5k in 31 minutes and 19 seconds, which was an average pace of 10:05 per mile. She rocked it!

Today was a full day!

Throughout the day, while working or running, I found myself marveling at the fact that God so loved the world that He sent His one and only Son, Jesus, to die on the cross for MY sin.

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

(John 3:16, ESV)

It is such a simple truth, and yet such a powerful truth! Sometimes I take it for granted. Do you?

God loved me so much (even though I am a sinner), that He sent Jesus to show me how to live rightly, and to die for my sins so that I could be reconciled to God!

WOW!