Friends, goals & prices

Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Beginners are many, but enders are few.
Honor, power, place, and praise
Will come, in time, to the one who stays.

Stick to your task till it sticks to you;
Bend at it, sweat at it, smile at it too;
For out of the bend and the sweat and the smile
Will come life's victories, after awhile.
--Anonymous

Thank goodness for friends!! I am so thankful for friends that are not afraid to tell you the truth; truth that everyone else is too polite to tell you. In the past few weeks I had been struggling to follow a training schedule for a marathon I am running in the middle of September; instead I have been doing other fun things. I supposed to run 3 times during the week in preparation for the long runs that take place every Saturday; well, needless to say, this week runs had not taken place for about 3 weeks so…when it came time for Saturday runs, well…let me say that they are a pain to finish. I wonder why!!!?

Running a marathon has been a dream I have had for the passed 4 or 5 years and due to school or injuries I have not been able to do so until this year that school is not an issue and, knock on wood, I have not been injured. I have spent the first half of the year slowly preparing for this event on September and the first months of the summer had been more intense training. Well, kind of: as mentioned earlier, week runs started struggling and here is where true friend come to the picture.

Talking to couple of friends who know of my running goal, made me think about how much I really want this. Do I really want it? They made very valid points and made me remember that everything in life has a price to be paid. Whether it is monetary or some other kind, the price has to be paid. Am I willing to do what it takes to achieve my dream? What am I willing to give up for it? Well, this conversation happened the night before of my 16 mile run and guess what was I thinking for the entire duration of my 17 miles run (yep, I ended up running 17)? Yep, how much am I willing to pay for my marathon goal.

Life is full of prices to be paid, some bigger than others and at the end of the day we are the ones who will ultimately decide if that something is what we want most. I am grateful that we have the opportunity, and privilege to pay the price. I am also grateful for a heavenly father who is here to help us determine the important things in life. I am grateful for friends that will help us achieve our dreams even if that requires of them to tell us things may be hard to be said.