Running on Coffee and Christ
We are an energetic couple, focused on building a community that is able to impact their families, friends, and their world by; Growing their Faith, Improving their Fitness, and Pursuing their Future.
The topics we discuss, revolve around the hopes that YOU are inspired to better yourself and that you could dare to dream above and beyond all that you have ever imagined for yourself.
Running on Coffee and Christ
Episode 12 Building Strong Foundations
Strong foundations don't just happen—they're built through consistent, intentional investment over time. When life's storms hit, it's the invisible work of foundation-building that determines whether we stand or fall.
For over two decades, our family has maintained a weekly gathering tradition, bringing together multiple generations for meals and meaningful connection. Nearly 20 years later, grandchildren eagerly anticipate these evenings, texting throughout the day to discover what's for dinner—not from pickiness, but from excitement for both food and fellowship. This consistency has created bonds that withstand the pressures of busy schedules and life's challenges.
The parallels between building foundations in relationships and in physical pursuits like running are striking. Ellen shares her journey of building a running base after years away from the sport, discovering that consistency transforms initial struggle into growing capacity. Just as skipping foundational training leads to physical breakdown during a challenging race, neglecting relationship foundations leaves families vulnerable when conflicts arise.
We reflect on spiritual foundations too, observing how youth who attend church without seeing consistent spiritual practices at home often drift away as adults. The foundation isn't the glamorous part—nobody compliments the concrete work on a beautiful house—but without it, everything else eventually crumbles. Whether in family relationships, spiritual growth, or athletic pursuits, what we invest in consistently reveals what we truly value.
The reward comes in unexpected moments that reveal the foundation's worth—like a teenage son calling his mother during his golf game just to check on her race progress. These connections aren't accidental but result from years of intentional foundation-building that creates relationships capable of weathering any storm.
What foundations are you building today that will support what matters most tomorrow? We'd love to hear about your family traditions and how you're creating stability for the journey ahead.
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hey guys and welcome to episode 12. We're so glad to be back with y'all and listen.
Speaker 2:We're just on the fly, we're at um, we're at holly's parents house. So we've recorded in four different locations so far in different setups, so the sound might be a little bit different again. But I'm trying to think of four different shop locations and then our normal setting.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, but here we are.
Speaker 1:Yep, our dog is running around too and exploring, so he might be. If you hear some weird noises, it's Tucker.
Speaker 2:We're definitely in a family environment setting right now. We are.
Speaker 1:So we're doing this tonight from here because Monday nights are family night with my extended family. So we have been doing family night for we were talking about a while ago for probably around 20 years, because Kelly, I didn't even have kids yet when we started doing it and Kelly's kids were young, so Colin and John Caton were very young. And Colin, how old is Colin? Is he going to be 21 this year? He'll be 21 in June. Yeah, so we've been doing this for quite a while, mostly on Mondays. There has been a few times that we've had to do it on Tuesdays, like depending on when the kids were in sports.
Speaker 2:Yeah, football schedules and things like that. Yeah, and stuff like that.
Speaker 1:Practices, but the bottom line is our foundation of it was that we were getting together one time a week. Mom has us and Dad they have us at their house. Mom prepares a meal for everyone and we eat together and we just catch up, and sometimes we're all here at the same time and sometimes we're all getting in here at different times and we might only get to see each other for maybe 10, 15 minutes and you know what?
Speaker 2:It's also been on the fly too. That's the theme for today. Maybe being on the fly, but if they had like a ball game or something, we would also say all right, it's still family night, but we're going to go eat at a restaurant together. Yes, family night is going to be at the ball field.
Speaker 1:Tonight. We're all going to be together and watch this game together, and then we're going to go eat somewhere together. So it's something that has been a staple in our family for a long time and I think that's why we're so close. And I think about, like when Mark who's the sheriff of the county when he was running his campaign, you know it's like I remember our family nights were we were planning, Planning night, decompression from the previous week, venting, sharing experiences.
Speaker 1:It was a great opportunity. In general, we love being together. Don't you say we do?
Speaker 3:We are a close family and the family night thing has become such a staple with all the grandkids that if something were to happen that we couldn't do it, they get highly upset.
Speaker 2:Yeah, the grandkids look forward to it too.
Speaker 1:I love the text too, and I'm going to try to make sure that we're on the microphones good, because we had a problem with that last time we had a guest. But I love the text that you get during the day on that family night Well, we have a mom all the time.
Speaker 2:What's for dinner?
Speaker 1:And it's not because they're picky or anything. They're excited. They're so excited. They want to know they want to know, because my mom is an excellent cook.
Speaker 3:Yes, no, she is, she is.
Speaker 1:She's being modest, so tonight we had amazing this hamburger casserole that she makes. We had butter, beans right, mashed potatoes, cornbread.
Speaker 2:Fried okra. Fried okra Old school fried okra yeah and we had brownies for dessert.
Speaker 1:So, yeah, it's a great time that we're all together and around this big table together and the kids are playing, See. But summer's coming up and so I feel like our family nights get even better in the summer because they're a little slower and we're not having to rush to get the kids in bed for school the next day, so we might hang around your pool, we grill out.
Speaker 2:Play cornhole.
Speaker 1:Yes, now that daylight's same as it is here the kids will start getting out where they're playing and we'll and wiffle ball. The kids will start getting out where they're playing and we'll play wiffle ball out there and we'll join them.
Speaker 3:Y'all play football out there, and I think they're already making plans for that, because I heard them in conversation about it, so but I think what that?
Speaker 1:the importance of that, though, is that it does build this foundation with our children and us, that family is important, that it's important to spend like and they know they, like all of us know when we have a problem or when we're in need, we can go to our family, but we have a close relationship like there.
Speaker 2:I remember, probably pretty early on, uh, when y'all still lived on uhaswell, wasn't it Right, I mean?
Speaker 1:that's where we lived. Burgette, burgette, yeah, on Burgette.
Speaker 2:When y'all lived on Burgette, we were doing this and we had one night where it was like everybody just went around the table and gave each other a critique, like a criticism and a praise, and that night, like everyone just kind of bore their soul and you got it raw Like you got it like handed to you on a silver platter. This is where you need to improve and this is where we think you're, you're, you got it going on and and it was very revealing and I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 2:I was like, wow, there's not a lot of families out there that can do that.
Speaker 1:Do you remember what was said to you?
Speaker 2:I think in general it was so moving. Well, you know, hey, let's share with the world what.
Speaker 1:I think is wrong with me.
Speaker 2:I will share with the world what's wrong with you. You already do.
Speaker 1:No, this is going to get rough up in here.
Speaker 2:Let's get raw.
Speaker 1:We really have my mom here as a referee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, is supposed to get rough up in here. Let's get raw. We really have my mom here as a referee, yeah, yeah. So so our thoughts for the the podcast is actually about your foundation and we've got so many thoughts going through our heads about our foundation when it comes to our running, if you're yeah, when we actually go live on youtube.
Speaker 2:Look at our notes it's there in case we need to look something up. Yeah, but and and I'm a no, I'm a no person. Y'all know that. We've already mentioned that before, and we were talking about it.
Speaker 1:Let's go, let's just do this and let's talk about family.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but but your family is your foundation, you know, and I heard one guy one time say that you need to raise, try to raise your. Your goal should be to raise your kids in a manner so that they don't even imagine living away from you. And I think about that when I talk to coworkers and guys that I worked with in the past and they've got family members and kids that have moved off states away and it's just hard to imagine that. I pray that doesn't happen with our kids. I know that life is different for different people. You go into the military or something like that, then there's going to be distances put in there in different situations.
Speaker 1:Just the callings that God has on your children?
Speaker 2:Yeah, you never know, and at least with that you know, but there should always be that foundation that you build with them so that there's always a comfortability and an understanding that you can always come home period and that you want to be home.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I think that's the thing.
Speaker 1:Or that, yeah, I, I want to go back home, right, yeah, right. Um, and I think you know, when we were growing up, me and my sister, um, I think that you and dad did give us a really good foundation as in like, there was such consistency there when it came to going to church, I guess, because I see in today's time I've been able to. I've been in church since I was that. I remember dad pastoring two, was that right, you were about two yeah so it's been.
Speaker 1:I don't know, a different life and so I've been able to see people come and go in the church and I've seen families that weren't consistent and then because this was actually talked about in church yesterday about like teenagers, like once they get out of the youth group and they get into, like, I guess, that young adulthood, they fall away from church, and we could do a whole podcast about the positives and negatives of youth groups.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:It can be a crutch and where it's really there's not a really good firm foundation being built in youth groups, because then they just these kids, don't know where they belong. Once they've kind of graduated out of that.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's like, once you get out of the fun zone, what do I do?
Speaker 1:And it's like like youth groups can get so so centered on yes, and it's like like youth groups can get so so centered on yes, making this fun, making this entertaining. We got to take you to this conference, take you to that, and then all that ends and they're like you know, what do I do now? And it's like, well, it's really about your relationship with God and it shouldn't change, no matter what your age is right, whether you've aged out of a youth group or not.
Speaker 1:But we know this because Calvin and I served in youth group for many years and we saw this exact same thing happen and we would have kids that would come on Wednesday nights and their parents weren't coming on Wednesday nights, or kids that might come on Sunday nights and their parents weren't coming on Sunday nights. So then, by the time they became an adult, they weren't coming on Sunday nights because that foundation was not built. And that might seem harsh, but it's just truth. It's just truth, but in our home it was. And you might be like well, your dad was the pastor. He was always going to be there. Well, not if he was a bad pastor. That's true.
Speaker 2:He could be like we're not having services on Wednesday night or Sunday night, so Ellen, how many families could you guess have come and gone in yours and Don's ministries that you felt like it was a foundational problem, like it was something. There wasn't a foundation. It was just kind of like a fly-by-night, like a trend or something like that, and there wasn't a commitment, All of them.
Speaker 3:I think, as a pastor and a pastor's wife, God gives you insight. He does. I mean you have to have that to be able to pastor a church. You have to have that insight about your people and I would dare say that families that we have lost. It was a foundational problem, Because when your foundation is strong and it's firm and it's steady, when problems do arise you're going to know what you need to do instantaneously on how to solve that, and you're not going to be happy until it is resolved.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And those that have foundational problems. That's just not there. That rock solidness is not there. Yeah, to know what to do. Agreed.
Speaker 2:I saw a quote today that was I'm going to misquote it, but it was by CS Lewis and it had something to do with. Every doubt or worry that we experience is atheism. It's a lack of faith that God has everything in control. When you let the world um influence you and draw you away, you aren't really truly believing and founded on Christ, and I think that that a lot of families um uh struggle with that foundation because of not necessarily just one member of the other, but being together on what their goals are and their relationship with Christ.
Speaker 2:Um you, you have to be a solid. You know. There's a reason why God created it the way that he did, why there's a mother and a father, and then there's kids, and there's roles in those relationships that God desires for it to be in a certain way. Um so that, so that each role, you know, supports each other. Um and and when you don't have support from certain directions or certain ways or pathways of perspectives, yeah, that it's easy for the one who is strong to be dragged down.
Speaker 2:There was a guy that was uh had his daughter on a chair and he said give me your hand. And he pulled her down and then she got, he said now you get down and I'm going to try to pull you up. And it was like vice versa it was a lot easier for him to pull her down than it was for her to pull him up. In other words, if you're with someone or in a situation where you're not both focused and founded on Christ, it's really easy to be drawn away Easier drawn away than it is to try to draw someone to Christ.
Speaker 1:Does that make sense? Yes, and. I think the foundation is like the most important part of it all. It's like on a house the most important part is the foundation correct and a lot of times we've seen this because we've done like tornado cleanups and stuff we we all have together here. We've seen where the houses were wiped out, but the foundation was still there, right?
Speaker 2:well, one house where the foundation, the slab was actually picked up and shifted, but it was still where it was supposed to be. Yes, and it's like it was there. Even though it was rocked, it was moved, it was still there. It wasn't going anywhere, it couldn't pick it up it.
Speaker 1:It did its best, but you know sometimes building the foundation is is a really labor intensive work expensive, it's expensive it's not the most glamorous part of it, like when I think about the house you're not like. Look at that great foundation.
Speaker 2:Good, concrete work, man You're not.
Speaker 1:You're like, oh, look at those windows or look at that roof pitch or look at those shutters or look at the brick.
Speaker 3:You know, and things like that.
Speaker 1:But oh my goodness, like if it doesn't have a good foundation. Because we know we had a house that we bought our own inspection on it and they were like, hey, you know, your house isn't supported well underneath here. And we're like, oh my goodness, and it didn't matter how pretty the house was.
Speaker 1:You know if it wasn't supported right then we were going to have a huge problem. So we can even and you know, guys, that we're always going to go back to running. So my mom here is. She is working on building her base in running. She has super she has ran. Have you run two or three 5ks before?
Speaker 3:uh, I think there's three.
Speaker 1:I think there's three in my past wait have you ran miles for molly, twice or once, just one time, okay, once. Okay, so once, and then you've done our run.
Speaker 3:I did and and there was something else I very stupidly did one at Heritage.
Speaker 2:Oh wow, the Hills. I think I talked about that one, the Hills of Heritage.
Speaker 1:That was my first one, yeah we didn't know what we were doing. We didn't even have the right shoes or anything.
Speaker 2:You didn't have a good foundation?
Speaker 1:No, we did not, we didn't even know that we needed a foundation, good foundation.
Speaker 3:we didn't even know that we needed a foundation. We were just like we're just gonna go run, oh my goodness. Of course I was a lot younger then, but that still did not matter.
Speaker 1:It doesn't and I will tell you this age does not matter in running training consistency so yeah, anyway, my mom, right now, because you haven't been doing it consistently for a very long time, right, because, like you, the obviously that first run was way many years ago and then you've kind of teetered and tottered with, played around with some running.
Speaker 3:I have kind of, you know, running was my thing when I was a teenager. I really got into it then we didn't have a track team or any kind of running thing at school. No program, but it was just something that I got into on my own. It was something I enjoyed doing. I would strap on the little weights around my ankles and I take off and I do five and six miles and I would do that anywhere from three to four times a week just up and down the roads.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, where else when you're yeah?
Speaker 1:yeah, I, I did that, so this would have been in the 70s, or oh yeah yeah, yeah, I remember doing that quite a bit of county road one okay, yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:But um, now, I mean, I've done that off and on through my life. Of course.
Speaker 2:You get married and you have kids and yeah, life happens now wait a minute, but I've done it off and on my whole life, connie Road 1. Did you go up the big hill from the bridge going into Cleveland? No, oh chicken, that was a big hill. I was like, oh my goodness, it's like a mountain.
Speaker 3:No, I didn't go down that hill.
Speaker 2:Okay, that was fun on a bike when I was growing up.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I would kind of well. Now there's the hill you know the other way, going back towards Oneonta. I did go up that one some. Okay, yeah.
Speaker 1:All right, but anyway you've played around with running.
Speaker 3:I did, and then you know, and then I got back into it. When the grandkids got older, I got back into it, and then mom got sick and I got back into it, and then mom got sick and I got back out of it. Yes, and so that's been what a three or four year span that I wasn't running, and so I picked it back up so how?
Speaker 1:how many weeks are you into your program? Right now, I'm into my fourth week, your fourth week, how's it?
Speaker 3:going. It's going pretty good. Okay, I've really surprised myself yeah yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:But it is one of those things. It's like you really are having to start over. I am Because I know that I did Like last summer I started over from because I had ran and then I stopped running for like a good three or four months and it's like I have to start over again, building that base again. But building the base is so important and I know that you'll be able to add more to this conversation by the time, because I think your goal race is in July, right it?
Speaker 1:is yeah, and who knows, you might run some before then We'll see, because there will be miles for Molly.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and I would like to do that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah. So anyway, she will be able to add even more to this about how important what she's doing right now is for those runs that are going to be in the future, and that's why it is so important to build that firm foundation for our children. And we've talked about this. I think we were talking about the aunt preparing for the next day. You do need to only be thinking about today, but what you do today is going. What's going to make tomorrow better?
Speaker 1:right, and that's the same thing with this foundation. It's going to take work, but it's the most important work that you will do it is.
Speaker 2:It is. It's really important that you, that you, when you're making a plan and you're following it's like you, both of y'all follow a an online plan and I just kind of jump in there where I can um calvin does.
Speaker 1:He's like hey, jude, what are you supposed to? Where are you running today? Run that with him.
Speaker 2:And then he'll ask me, and he'll go run that with me and just hope that they're not both running a hard run consecutive days.
Speaker 3:You're really not a long business runner, are you?
Speaker 2:for the most part, no, but I'll tell you this part.
Speaker 2:I'll tell you part I have said this so many times since we started running that like right around mile four or five my neck really starts getting to me my back from old back injuries and stuff like that. And but since I've been consistently running, I've surprised myself that I've done some really long runs with with Holly and a couple with Jude, where it's like I have no pain and everything. It's like consistency, like consistency really I do believe it's paying off and allowing my back to be able to get stronger in and actually be able to build up that thing. Now we're just talking about when you have breaks away from it. You try to come back to it, like your body is I think I've mentioned this before, but lack of better words evolve. Your body is evolving in and creating itself, uh, to be able to be resilient in the activity that you most pursue. So if you most pursue sitting on your fanny and watching Netflix, it's going to optimize your body to sit on your fanny and watch Netflix.
Speaker 2:You will not have a cute little booty, but if you work, but if you constantly, it'll cushion and shake.
Speaker 2:I can attest to that It'll have cushioned dimples, cushioned shakes. It'll have cushioned dimples. But if you consistently put your body in a manner that it's happened to heal and recover and build muscles and and strengthen joints and lubricate those joints, keeping them mobile, um, you know, like imagine ellen, when you first got out there starting this plane, you were like where's the oil? Can you know? Yeah, and then then give it probably like week two, going into week three. It's like your recovery is so much shorter. You know, by the next day you're like okay, what's next? You know, um, because you have a consistent track of of making your body recognize that activity.
Speaker 1:I will say this too, though, because I did just run my half marathon two days ago, and I PR'd.
Speaker 2:Yep, I didn't know if you want to talk about that.
Speaker 1:And I really pushed myself and I'm really hurting, like my legs hurt so bad, my hip flexors hurt so bad. So even in that consistent I'm thinking about, if I didn't have a base at all, what I would actually feel like.
Speaker 2:You would have been walking.
Speaker 1:So it doesn't matter, like if I let's say that I run 13 or 14 miles in my training program, I'm not running that at a race pace, like because I was racing at like an eight minute pace for the whole thing. Average a lot of it.
Speaker 1:I was running in the sevens and then there was some, because there was a lot of hills in this that I was running into, like the 820s and things like that. So by the time it averaged out, I was running about an eight minute pace. Well, when you do that, like I'm, I'm going I'm going to be using muscles in my legs that are not consistently getting used like all the time.
Speaker 2:For that, long of a time, yeah, that much power right yeah, so that's why I'm going to.
Speaker 1:I'm going to feel that. So I'm going to feel that soreness, just like she felt, that soreness of running a mile at a slower pace, because I'm still building my base For your event, for where you're at you're building that base for the next level.
Speaker 2:Yes, and you know I watched a it it was funny. There's a fitness influence out there that a lot of people started kind of making fun of and I'm like, oh, cause I've been following him for a while, just because it was what he did was unique. But I was watching the slow motion of him running the other day and it was kind of a breakdown of his stride and, uh, when his leg hit the ground and I saw how much his muscles shifted and flip-flopped all the way around his leg. And you don't think about how much movement happens in your muscles when you're running and you're jarring and it's jerking and it's literally stretching your tendons away from your bone, right, you're trying to build the strength of your tendons, those joints, those muscles, to be able to do that. And the faster you go go, the harder the impact and the more stress on your muscles.
Speaker 2:And this guy was going. He was probably running at like a 18 minute pace, like a per mile, 18 mile an hour pace, like he was. He was, it was a sprint right. So the impact was extreme, like and I'm like, wow, man, these, this guy, can be ripped, but them muscles are taking a beating, you know, and if he didn't have that base and he tried to run at that speed, um, without ever running before, and just did, like you know, lifting and things like that, if he didn't have that running base he could very easily tear something, very easily injure himself yeah but it's like we put ourselves through that every time we elevate our running game.
Speaker 2:You know when I start realizing that I can run a little longer it's because I've built myself to think about that in life, though.
Speaker 1:Okay, let's just say that, like right now, mom, like you're not ready to go run 13.1 miles at an eight minute pace right. So like if she went and did that she would like destroy herself.
Speaker 1:Like she would not be able to do it correct just the same thing is I couldn't go out there and run it at a six minute pace. I would feel the exact same way that she would feel. Um, I think that's why it is so important to build that base, because I think about as a family, uh, when those problems do come up, um, if we don't have that base together, it can really tear us apart.
Speaker 2:Right, that's right, um nobody wants to go to family night. Angry you're gonna, you're gonna want to resolve it because, because you're not forsaking family no, I'm just saying.
Speaker 1:I'm just saying when you, when you're struggling with something, I understand where you're coming from yeah, because life is gonna is going to happen and as much as we all love each other, we're all really different and we all got our different opinions about things right. We don't always agree we don't, but at the end of the day, we all love each other and same thing within your own family. The storms of life, Things are going to try to shake your foundation.
Speaker 1:So, is your foundation strong enough to handle it? You know, are we living the Joshua In Joshua, where he says as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord, Like I think you guys have that on at the end of your driveway.
Speaker 3:It's on a rock.
Speaker 1:As soon as you pull into my parents' driveway there's a huge rock that says as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord. I know that y'all aren't perfect, but y'all have really tried to live your lives that way. Y'all have built a great foundation for us, for your grandchildren. I know, for gosh, before you know it, you might be a great grandmother.
Speaker 3:That just comes from a personal relationship with the lord. Yeah, that desire to want that and to, to do things that are pleasing for him, not to disappoint him and I know that I do a lot, because I'm not a perfect person, yeah, but that foundation comes from the desire to want that, to want that good life, and that comes from what christ has instilled in me to want that, to want that good life, and that comes from what Christ has instilled in me, to want that, and it's not easy.
Speaker 1:No, it's not. It's a choice every day. It's a battle I feel like when we read our Bible every day. We're still building that foundation right. We're still working on our foundation.
Speaker 3:As long as we live here on this earth, it's always going to be a battle between the flesh and the spirit. That's just the way it is.
Speaker 2:You know, growing up in church, being raised in church, participating in church, ministering in church my entire life, basically I still am amazed at how much newness God brings to me through his word.
Speaker 2:You know, it's like there's never enough to learn about God because he is just all-encompassing. And if you think about how much you know as a human, when you're like, okay compared to this computer, like I know nothing compared to Google, well, it's like we haven't even hardly even touched the hem of his garment when it comes to understanding our God and how much he really does truly love us and want to exalt us and build us up. You know, a lot of times we take it for granted how much he wants to just pour out His blessing on us, mm-hmm, and we'll think that we're unworthy, sometimes, so many times, because we're like I'm not good enough or I'm not strong enough or I'm not. You know where I need to be. And it's like, well, he doesn't say get where you need to be and then I will bless you. Get where you need to be and I will be with you. He says I will be with you and I will bless you, no matter where you're at, and then we'll work through this together.
Speaker 1:That's right and I think that having those foundations solid in all areas family, spiritual life, when it comes to your finances and I would say from a personal standpoint, that's something that we've always had to really work on, because your finances you can just get bogged down with life and you feel like you don't have time to sit down down and do that foundational work that you need to do. You know like balance in your checkbook and stuff like that. You know like it's so important, right, um, if you're wanting to build wealth for the future or, you know um, have a nest egg for your children. I'm sorry if I hope that y'all guys can hear me because I keep talking away from the microphone.
Speaker 2:You're going back and forth, that's all.
Speaker 1:But I just feel like this theme keeps coming up about how important it is for us to have that foundation and how important it is for us to have our family. God gave us each other right and, um, I can't imagine wanting to do this life without my family. There's nobody that's going to be in my corner more than my family. I was thinking too when I ran uh, that run this week there was, you know, because I was vlogging that this whole program there were people that were reaching out to me how did you do? How did you do? And it was like, oh, they really were invested, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1:But when I got this phone call, it was from Jude, my 15-year-old son, that I'm just begging for the crumbs from the table from him, any bit of attention that he might give me. I'm like, yes, you know. So he calls, and my first thought was because I knew that he was going to be going into a shift at the shop and.
Speaker 1:I thought something was wrong. And no, he was out on the golf course. So he stopped playing his golf game and he was just like I just wanted to see how you did. And he was so excited. He was like how did you do, mom? And then I got to just have that full blown conversation with him and he was so happy for me and he was like, cause he had detailed it out like how he thought that the topography might be for me and things like that, and he was spot on, he really was, and I was telling him that and he was gloating about that a little bit.
Speaker 1:And then I got off the phone with him and I'm sitting across the table from Calvin and Calvin has, because Calvin's the sensitive one in our relationship he's kind of got tears in his eyes and he was like y'all are always going to have that and I'm like that's a foundation that we've built. Yes, right, and our family really has too. But there there was just something with me and you in the running, because I've had to take him to to running. You know, um gosh, he knows what that's like he does he knows the work you put into that.
Speaker 1:He knows what that feels like he knows what his mom just went through. Yeah, you know to be able to accomplish that and just that. He was invested in that and it's like, because we have a good foundation, we have a good relationship together, no matter if he is 15 and you know those moments, yeah, yeah and I mean I know I hate it when people start with I mean, but I just said, uh, when you're invested in something, um, you see that it has value.
Speaker 2:You know, like, I'm not going to invest my funds or my finances something I don't find value in. Um, we were talking about this with, like, instead of buying a bunch of clothing by staple, items that have value, that you're going to be able to mix and match, and things like that, trying to reduce your closet load and things like that. But when it comes to our relationship with Christ, if we view that as value, we're going to spend time and effort investing into it. If we view that our relationship with our family is worth the investment we're going to spend time doing that is worth the investment we're going to spend time doing that. And I think about what could have our household look like now if the things that we started 20 years ago with Family Night and the things that your father started with the church 20 plus years ago being a minister and starting y'all's church Like, where would we be if, if it didn't have any value to you?
Speaker 2:Um, it, there's value in it, and sometimes it can be stressful. We've seen some stressful moments that y'all have had to go through, and and and. There's been some struggles and it's like you know, yes, we're, we're. We're in a world full of people and with people comes problems.
Speaker 2:I think Mark says that a lot. Why churches have so many problems?
Speaker 1:because there's people in them, it's full of people.
Speaker 2:It's full of people. People have problems, but it's worth it, there's value in it. So you invest in it and you see the rewards, and you see those shining moments where people are closer to the Lord or closer to their family, or moving further along in whatever their venture is that they find value in. And it's exciting when you see that growth and when, when, when your son calls you and it's like wow, this investment that I put in, like this hard work there's. There's going to be moments of impression that you know are going to be lifetime impressions.
Speaker 1:Because, yeah, like, even though I'm sitting there thinking and I was really, you know, I wanted to pass out at that point too. So I was like at the lowest of my lows and how my body felt at that point. But I've always said that the running started with him, with you, like that was the whole point of it all, and it's like that kind of came a full circle right there. Even though I hadn't come up there and done that run, all it was by myself, you weren't running that run, you were just there to support me.
Speaker 2:I was running around, you were he was.
Speaker 1:He was. He was chasing me around and I had to tell a little tale on myself because you know I'm running. And then all of a sudden I would hear something like You're doing great, and it's him. And he's got his little phone up. You know he's taking a picture. And I was like happy and joyful, mile eight, I could have hurt somebody like I was. I was running angry at that point because I wanted to be over. I was really thinking about getting a DNF. I have talked about that before that I would never want to see DNF by my name, and that means did not finish, and there's also DNS did not start. Um, I don't want to see DNF by my name, and that means did not finish. And there's also DNS did not start. I don't want either one of those on there. But hey, if it happens, it happens. But I was like no, the only way I'm getting a DNF is it's going to be a did not fail. But at mile eight I really mentally was falling apart.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and see, I don't see this up to this point he don't and. But right before I did see I'll give her the prequel to what you're about to say but right before you turn the corner where I knew I was going to be able to intercept you, I got a text message that was following along with you and it said her average pace at this mile is this much time and her pace is this much.
Speaker 2:It's like 8, 15 or something like that yeah and I was like, oh good data that I can feed her. I was like I can support her by telling her exactly where she's at, okay, and then she comes around the corner.
Speaker 1:Here we go, okay and, mind you, I know exactly where I'm at and I'm, I'm mad. I'm mad that I'm at an 8, 15, okay, because I'm like I don't know how much more gas I've got inside of me.
Speaker 1:You know, I really felt like the little puttery old I'm imagining like a. At that point, like at the beginning of the race, I felt a Corvette. At this point I'm a Pinto, complete, rusted out Pinto, okay, and I am just puttering along and I know exactly what my pace is. I'm mad about it because I wanted to be running that run in the sevens the whole time. Okay, it didn't happen, but I still did. I still met my goal, but anyway.
Speaker 1:And then here he is and he's got that little phone up, you know whatever, and I wasn't even gonna look at him and he was like you're doing great, your pace is blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And you see me, I didn't even share this video. I raised my hand. I'm like I don't care If I wasn't, if I didn't have a Christ foundation, I may have been making other gestures, is all I got to say at that point. That had nothing to do with him. I was just so running mad and I'm like I did say this. I said I don't want to hear the truth right now.
Speaker 3:I don't want to hear it. I already know it and I don't want to hear it from you so?
Speaker 2:have you ever seen like a dog, when you get onto them and they tuck their tail between their legs and they turn around and they saunter away? That's kind of how I felt at that moment. You know, it's like a whoop dog, you know. But no, no, no, no, no, no, no, serious on a serious note, serious note, I understood yeah we've been running together way long enough for me to understand what's going on in your head at that moment I know you and I did not take personal offense to that.
Speaker 2:Yes, I did not, because I understood that you are doing something hard and you were and and that and that, like, like I knew that, like you needed that release, you needed that, that mental release, to be able to push through and I'm like, okay, I'll take it, I'm okay with that.
Speaker 3:Yes, well, I mean, you get there too and you realize that that course is not what you thought it was going to be.
Speaker 1:I was having to overcome that too, because I because that would be in your head in that first part for a while. I was running in the sevens, so I was running hills in the seven, and I shouldn't have, but I didn't. I and you know, and you did tell me the topography of it. I just still did not have a clear understanding of how steep these hills were, though, so I pushed myself too much in the beginning, so it made me run out of gas at the end, and I hate when I do that, because what I should have done is I should have ran that part slower so that I could have really gassed at the end and it could have shaved more seconds or even a minute off of my time, um, when you really get down to it.
Speaker 1:But it's okay. It's not the end of the world, but I do remember like coming through the finish line too. I don't I don't address calvin at all, because at that I'd have nothing else left inside of me. This is the first race where I felt such a weird pain and horrible feeling in my legs. I thought I I was going to pass out. I had given it my all and they did have. They had massage people over there and I did eventually go over there, but I didn't address you, probably for a good Eight to ten minutes oh.
Speaker 1:I thought it was five. No, sorry.
Speaker 2:I did. I stood off. I stood off because I saw you come through and you grabbed your water and you headed down this hill. I stood off. I stood off because I saw you come through and you grabbed your water and you headed down this hill.
Speaker 3:I just started walking and you just started walking and I stood.
Speaker 2:it might not have been that long, it was probably, it might've been five minutes, but you didn't. You didn't give me the cold shoulder, but you were just decompressing and you were trying to find yourself basically recenter, you know, and I and I watched you and then, as soon as I felt like your body language changed, I was like okay, she's good now and I went and he was just like he, like he was gonna cry.
Speaker 1:He's like I'm just so proud of you. And then he was like when I and he, like he, started thinking he's like when I think about what you actually just did, I remember like you came over there and said that you're like he had just he was thinking, oh my gosh, to run for that far at that pace and the level of difficulty of those hills, because there was women throwing up in bushes in the first half of the race.
Speaker 2:Now you haven't even told your results yet, but I'll brag on you 100%. I will brag on you.
Speaker 2:Out of almost 800 runners, runners, you finished 16th yeah, it was great um, and and I there's, no, no, there's no doubt in my mind that the consistently consistent training that you put in over the last however many weeks it's been since you decided or found out you were going to be doing this run you said I'm setting this program and I'm sticking to it. The only thing that held you back was when you had a brief injury and you had to reduce one of your runs and skip one day and add some to another. There was like that, was it the consistency that you pushed for this and a lot of it it took. You pushed for this and a lot of it it took, you know, working around some things and and squeezing some things in sometimes and doing some rearranging and. But there was intention to it, you know, and it didn't. The thing about the that I admire the most is that it didn't take away from the family oh good it didn't.
Speaker 2:You know, um, if jude's at practice and you're running, you know there's. You know there, you know there's things that, like some people would be like and I have a hard time understanding like sometimes going to the marathon level. It's like there's such another level of time dedication to that. But what you did with this like you're trying to perfect that distance rather than be let's see how far I can run it's like how fast can I run this distance? Um and uh, and, and you always had the family first, even in your, even in your training, but you still got it in and I admire that it takes a lot of dedication.
Speaker 1:Thank you, Hard, hard work, and I am I'm not going to train for one for a little while. We already kind of discussed this that I'm going to start working on trying to perfect my 5K time and it will help me when I start training again for another half marathon, but I'm kind of done with my distance right now.
Speaker 1:I want to focus on some other things, because my focus is going to start leaning towards Jude and his running, because he'll be moving into summer conditioning. Start leaning towards, uh, jude and his running, because he'll be moving into summer conditioning and, um, you know, I really have ran these long distances and done this hard training when it's not his season of of running, so, um, but we have built a foundation and, uh, our family does have a foundation on jesus, on running on on coffee, that is for sure. Yeah, we did, and Mom thanks for joining us on this one.
Speaker 2:I know we were like, hey, come on, it's kind of a last-minute thing Because we were just in there talking about your running and it's like you know, let's just make it happen, let's just talk and bring the conversation over and thank you for being consistent in our family knots.
Speaker 1:I know it's not easy. You getting in there and making these really huge meals for everybody and cleaning up the kitchen, and you do it and you don't complain.
Speaker 3:Well, it's because I like doing it, I like having, I like being my family centered around me. I just you know that's the joy of my life.
Speaker 2:Well, you're the joy of ours, so we love you. We love you.
Speaker 1:Thank y'all for joining us tonight or today, whenever you're listening that the lord will bless you and keep you and make his face shine upon you, and we will see you next time.