A New Season

    The tar on my driveway peeked out today…after chopping the ice off with a metal garden shovel, that is…but signs of Spring came today! It is hard to believe, but a new season is upon us. Tomorrow high school track practice begins! I have the amazing opportunity to coach at St Louis Park High School again, so I will be thrust into the spring weather each day at 3:30 PM. I am eager to get started with the returnees from last year and to meet some new young athletes that are eager to explore the glorious sport of track and field, where they will hopefully learn more than just about a sport.

It is a new season for me as well! I recently joined a new team, Twin Cities Track Club, and I am feeling so blessed and excited.  After much discussion with the people I love and prayer, I decided that it was a good fit for me. The team has goals of supporting post-collegiate athletes that want to continue to train and compete. Also, they want to promote health and wellness through the sport of track and field in the Twin Cities. I was initially attracted to the team because it connects me with many athletes that are faster than me and can hopefully pull me to better performances. It is incredibly motivating to be surrounded by people that are dedicated to their own training. I am excited to get to know the women on the team and to train with them. When I found out they also have a goal to serve and unite the running community, I was so excited. It truly amazes me how running can unite people and I am excited to see how TCTC can facilitate the uniting of people of all ages and abilities in the community. The team is fairly new and I am excited to be a part of it as it continues to grow and develop!

Upon joining the team, I started working with Chris Lundstrom. I have great respect for what he does and think he has a lot of great wisdom and insight. I have always entertained the idea of Chris Lundstrom coaching me in the back of my mind, but didn’t know how the opportunity would arise. For the last year and a half, I have been blessed to have my sister Bekah Metzdorff coach me. She helped me to learn to listen to my body, allowed me to communicate with her and partner with her in my training, and kept me healthy! It is hard to justify leaving a good situation. After Bekah assured me that that she will continue to advise and support me, recognizing that she is busy with her new store, Mill City Running, and thinking something a little different might be just what I need to stay focused on my training, I jumped at the opportunity to be coached by Chris. It all happened so fast and I am so grateful to have this chance to work with such a gifted coach!

As I begin this new season, there is always a sense of anxiety and excited anticipation. Two weeks ago I was sitting in mass and heard the reading, "But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. "So do not worry about tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” ~Matthew 6:33.I was so encouraged and convicted to remember that all I can do is seek the Lord each day and trust the next day will take care of itself. I don’t want to be so worried about what the next season will bring and miss out on the current one. I wont deny that I can’t wait for the days of the dry hot pavement of summer, but I don’t want to miss out on the present season filled with the simple joys like the ice melting and tossing its huge chunks aside!

"You do half marathons?" ... "Yes, Tomorrow I do!" ~ Houston Half Marathon Championships

This year I became an aunt for the first time to a beautiful little girl, Daniella. She came to Minnesota to visit over Christmas and I fell in love with her. I can’t imagine what I am going to do when I am a parent of my own children, because I am so in love with her… Maybe when I am sleep deprived with my own, my joy will be quelled! When I was with her, there was nothing she could have done that would have made me love her more or less (she could have giggled at my stupid songs or pooped all over and it wouldn’t matter). It gave me but a mere squinting glimpse of how God looks at me; there is nothing I can do to be more or less loved by my creator.

            I believe it is a lifelong process to truly discover and believe with my heart that nothing I can do can change the love that God has for me. I can say that I believe with my mind, but when I see that I approach many of my endeavors with a fear of not meeting expectations, I know my heart has not fully embraced this truth. I consider myself so blessed to have the opportunity to use my sport as a means to grow and learn that my performance has nothing to do with how well I am loved. This weekend I am running a half marathon in Houston, and I look forward to running a longer race that will give me many opportunities to be courageous and trust in the Lord’s strength. I want to be clear that I am not striving to use the Lord as a tool to make me run fast, but the point is that if I believe that my performance doesn’t change how much God loves me, then taking a risk and potentially dying, but leaning a little more into the dependence of God is well worth it. I am overwhelmed with this freeing idea, but it is incredibly scary. I feel weak even admitting this.

I am overjoyed and very eager when I consider this sense of freedom, but I know that the idea is far easier to entertain than to actually put it into practice! I would love prayer for courage. This week I was reading in the Gospel about Peter walking on water. Jesus approaches the disciples in a storm and they were very afraid. They think Jesus is a ghost and Peter says, "Jesus if it is really you, let me come out to you." Peter gets out of the boat and starts to walk towards him on the water, but gets scared and loses faith for but a moment and starts to sink. He calls out to Jesus and says, “Jesus, save me,” and immediately Jesus scooped him up. My prayer is that I will be like Peter; I am eager to step out of the boat, yet know that I will lose faith over and over in this race. I admire that Peter did not try to swim and tread water on his own when he started sinking, but called out to Jesus!

When the gun goes off I will take my first step depending on the Lord’s strength and each small doubt that crosses my mind, I will call on the name of Jesus Christ. Of course I hope to have a fast time in this race, but my ultimate evaluation of success in this race will be if I abandoned my own understanding and let myself trust in the Lord, because I know that is what truly matters in eternity!