Encouragers

We had our monthly youth service at Victory Tabernacle last night.  Our guest speaker was missionary Nathan Weidner.  He and his wife have been waiting for more than two years to go back to the Philippines.  We are thanking God that the door is finally opening and they will be heading that way in June after their darling boy, Clark Judah, turns one.

Bro. Weidner preached about one of my favorite subjects - encouragement!  It's a subject I've written about quite a bit.  The tag "encourage" is found in over 350 of my posts.  His text was from Acts 4:36, "And Joses, who by the apostles was surnamed Barnabas, (which is, being interpreted, The son of consolation,) a Levite, and of the country of Cyprus."  Being "surnamed" meant that the apostles nicknamed him Barnabas.  Son of consolation means encourager or one who exhorts. 

Many of the posts I've written about encouragement were after I had been encouraged.  I reread many of them while working on this post and decided to share this one from nearly ten years ago, titled Encouragement:

It's funny how encouragement works.  At about the 15 mile mark of Saturday's marathon, I met Alison.  It was her first marathon and she was really starting to feel it.  I asked if she would like some company and she said yes.

You see, I remember my first marathon.  It's only been 5 months.  There were some really lonely miles.  Miles when I thought, "What am I doing here?  Why did I think I could finish this?  This is the dumbest thing I've ever done!  What was I thinking?"  Many miles I questioned my ability and my sanity.  So when Alison said it was her first marathon, I knew she was heading towards the lonely miles and I wanted to help her through them.

We ran the final 11 miles together.  We took walk breaks.  We drank water.  And we chatted.  About life.  Our families.  Running.  But the entire time, we kept moving, getting closer to the finish line.  Somewhere in those miles, Alison told me that when I joined her, she was starting to wonder if she was going to be able to finish.  "I'm glad you came along when you did."

As much as I'd like to take credit for getting her across the finish line, I can honestly say she helped me, too.  I never felt lonely or isolated.  I wasn't fast, but the miles seem to fly.

"Two are better than one; because they have a good reward for their labour."

Ecclesiastes 4:9

So it's funny how encouragement works.  The encourager gets encouraged!  This doesn't just happen during a marathon.  Look around, there is someone in need of encouragement today.  And when you see them pick up the pace again, with a smile and look of determination, you'll be encouraged, too.

I'm thankful for encouragement today.  The times I've given and the times I've received. 

 

 

Friday Foto Dump

We spent the last eight days in Hawaii.  This was our third trip this Fall and it felt somewhat like old times.  I had some really good runs while I was there.  I ran around Diamond Head the first morning.  I stopped at the Queen Kapi'olani statue.  I love the little bit of purple and pink sunrise breaking through behind her.

Thursday night's sunset was remarkable!  We could not stop taking pictures:

A few of the boats in the Ala Wai Harbor are getting into the Christmas spirit:

On Saturday I ran the 10 mile Tantalus loop.  I had my best time ever on the 5 mile climb and was hoping to crush my previous PR for the full loop.  Unfortunately the road at the top is currently a mess due to a wash out.  I had to slow quite a bit on miles 6 and 7.  But I'm still very happy with my overall effort.

Sunday was the Honolulu Marathon.  There were less than nine thousand participants for the marathon and 10k combined.  Less than a third of the normal participants, but after being canceled last year, everyone was glad to have an in-person event this year.  

 

Yes, this is a woman in a long skirt!  I saw several dressed exactly the same.  I don't know what their story is, but they were running strong!

Les got to ride with the cycling team that escorts the wheelchair racers.  Previous multi-race winner, Masazumi Soejima, of Japan was not able to participate, so the race was wide open.  Two wheelers raced very close for most of the race.  With about three miles to go, Tyler Byers of Greenacre, Washington, made his move.  He finished in 1:42:57.  Valera Jacob Allen of Tuscon, Arizona was not far behind, finishing in 1:44:00.

Emmanuel Saina from Kenya did the race in 2 hours 14 minutes and 32 seconds - that's 5 minutes and 8 seconds a mile for 26.2 miles!

I had planned to run around Diamond Head again on Tuesday morning but woke to a downpour.  I'll run if it's lightly raining, but had no interest in those conditions.  An hour later it had cleared up and Les decided to join me for a short run at Ala Moana Park.

Later in the day I wandered through Waikiki to do a little shopping.  All my gifts ended up being for my niece Lauren's baby who is due in March.  This guy appeared right at noon.  The Pu (Hawaiian conch shell) is blown for ceremonies, festivals, luaus, and at sunset each day.

I ran around Diamond Head on Wednesday morning and had another great run.  I'll give a full health/fitness update soon, but I'm happy to report that 2021 is ending on a much better note than 2020 for me!

Of course it wouldn't be December in Hawaii without a little Mele Kalikimaka!

Hapalua Half Marathon

As I've been working on my health, not just my weight, but overall health and fitness, I've started enjoying running again.  Les asked if I ever thought I'd do another marathon.  The jury is still out on that, but I had been thinking about attempting a half marathon...

 

I received an email last week from the Hapalua Half Marathon.  It's known as "Hawaii's Half Marathon" and in all the time we have spent there over the past 8 years I've never been in town to run it.  This year, as with many races, it's a virtual event and will take place in the month of April.  We have a little trip planned for my birthday at the end of April, so I decided to sign up and run the race before our trip.

 

Me at the finish line of the 2014 Honolulu Marathon

I found a 12 week half marathon training plan.  When I signed up I only had 6 weeks of training to go, so I'm following the second half of the plan.  I have already run one 10 miler this year, so I feel confident that I can finish 13.1.  I haven't done any speed work in a long time, so it may be my slowest half marathon to date, but I'm excited to see how it goes!

Anyone want to join me?

This and That from Here and There

Happy Christmas Adam!  That's a phrase I read somewhere and think it's kinda cute.  Since Adam came before Eve it makes sense that the day before Christmas Eve should be called Christmas Adam ;)

It's only been three and a half weeks since Thanksgiving, but it feels much longer.  We were home for three days when Les had to go to Las Vegas for a work conference.  He got home on Thursday night, December 5th, and we flew to Hawaii on Friday morning, December 6th.  While Les was in Vegas I decorated our house for Christmas.  It was great coming home two weeks later to a decorated house!

It was during the week before we left that a mountain lion made an appearance in Simi Valley.  It was first spotted on our street.  The next day it attacked two dogs.  This mountain lion is believed to be a female with a tracking collar that is no longer working.  I learned about this from a neighbor while I was out walking in the early morning.  Yikes!  A few days later a young male mountain lion was spotted and later captured.

Not what you want to see sitting on your patio!

The captured cat, taking a little tranquilizer induced nap.

December 7th was the First Church Hawaii Christmas banquet.  Good food and great friends made for a wonderful evening. We played several fun games, my favorite being each table making a snowman out of toilet paper!

Sunday morning, December 8th was the Honolulu Marathon.  I planned ahead this year and brought a handy clapper.  I found a perfect spot to cheer on the runners.  Just past mile seven the route starts going around Diamond Head.  At the same place, the route returns with less than a mile to the finish line.  I found a kindred spirit who wanted to cheer and we clapped and cheered for about an hour. We saw fast runners coming back to place in the top 5 and slow runners still going out, but they all got cheered on.  We also saw the wheelchair racers, Les did his annual cycling escort and he got a special cheer from me.

Proof that I clapped much - I got a blister!

Les' company Christmas party was Tuesday night, December 17th.  Les took his trumpet and we played "Name that Christmas Tune."  There are definitely some Christmas music fans in the company.  I took one picture of Les with his trumpet but it's super blurry.  I ended up holding his music book for him because it was breezy since we were seated outside.  It was a beautiful evening at Cafe Julia and I enjoyed chatting with many of Les' co-workers.

As I've already blogged about, we flew home on Thursday, December 19th.  Friday was a blur of napping.

We had a great day at church yesterday.  Les and his trumpet student, Jeremiah, played a duet of "Oh Holy Night" on Sunday morning.  Jeremiah has been taking lessons for a little over a year and he is doing fantastic!  They also played during our afternoon service - a first for Jeremiah.  It was so great hearing the trumpets as I was praise singing.

We're home for Christmas this year.  Due to our travels I'm not doing my usual bake-fest, I just made a few cookies.  Les will be off work from Christmas to New Years and I think we'll be doing a lot of reading, sitting by the fire, and sipping hot chocolate!

I hope you enjoy time with family and friends, safe travels, good eats and a very merry Christmas!

Friday Foto Dump

We have spent the past two weeks in Hawaii.  It's been a rainy December so far but I have been able to catch a few good shots.  We had our traditional first breakfast at Cinnamon's.

Hawaiian coffee with...

Gingerbread pancakes, eggs and a side of Spam!

Diamond Head as seen from Ala Moana Park while I'm out running never gets old!

I ran the 10 mile Tantalus loop Saturday morning.  It poured the entire time!  I was drenched from head to toe.  Another shot of Diamond Head from Tantalus.

I was rewarded with this rainbow when I got back to the condo!

Last Sunday was the Honolulu Marathon, with fireworks kicking it off

Les rode with the Bike Escort team.

The team provided safety escort to the wheelchair racers.  Les' group stayed with this year's winner, Masazumi Soejima.  This is Les' sixth year to participate and Masazumi has won each of those years.  After a little digging, Les found that Masazumi is a Paralympian athlete from Japan.  He was the men's wheelchair winner of the 2011 New York Marathon and the 2011 Boston Marathon. He has competed in the marathon in both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Paralympics, 10000m in 2004, 5000m and 1500m in 2008 but it was as part of the Japanese 4 × 400 m relay in 2004 that he won his only medal, a bronze.  He finished this year's race in 1:39:12.  He's quite the champion!

I watched the men's winner come across.  This year's winner was Titus Eriku of Kenya with a finishing time of 2:09:01, missing the course record by less than a minute!

This morning's sunrise was just peaking around the buildings when I finished my walk.

We fly home on Sunday.  It won't be a white Christmas, but we will be home!