The Rock and Roll Half Marathon was a success for many members of the Hamlin family. Tom, Cheryl, and Marria all competed. Shannon Elsea (nee Hamlin) also competed. It was a humid day, but worse than that -

I sat it out.

Why? Well, someone had to watch the kids, I guess. Yes, Carmen said she would (I think). Yes, there may have been other ways to get it done such that I could have run the race. But my heart wasn't in it. Why? I'm not sure. Just didn't want to fork over the $120 for the race.

Also in August, I became disgruntled with Ironman races. And now I'm thinking, "What's happening to me?" I like to run, bike, swim, and be active. I think I was just a little fed up with all the commercialism...

So get back to the roots of running. Run just to run. I ran today in the midst of Hurricane Gustav, which is bringing wind and rain to Arkansas. It was a blast. Very elemental...

Run with patience the race that is set before you! In a tennis-life analogy, I have noticed many people make "unforced errors," and have made many myself. What is a Life Unforced Error (LUE), and why do they happen?

I define a LUE as you might expect, given the tennis analogy... The volley is going along just fine and dandy - no excitement, no drama, just a baseline-to-baseline back-and-forth. Then, all of a sudden, (and I'm imagining now that it's possibly from one player's sense of boredom?) one player rears back and -

hits it right into the net. Sometimes life is like this. It's important to keep the volley going...you may get the chance to make some miraculous save, yes. But the better likelihood is that the volley will just keep going and going. I like one of Chris Rock's quotes from the movie "I Love My Wife:"

"Lots of people like to use the phrase 'life is short.' They tell you that someday, you're gonna get hit by a Mack Truck so you better live it up. Well, I'm here to tell you: Life Ain't Short. Life is LONG, and HARD. So you Better Pay Attention."

Just keep running.

It's getting hot again; Bible schools are demanding weeks away from our training time (which is fine with me, by the way). One quick tip for maintaining training while on the road: have a workout partner who will hold you accountable even when you're out of town.

For me, this is Trey, Randy, and this blog. I'm in DC, and I know I need to get some training in. Last night, I ran in the first of the 3-race Cul-de-sac 5k series in Richmond, near my folks' house. There's always somewhere you can get some exercise!

"When I am weak, then I am strong." What is the deal with this phrase? I've been dealing a lot over the last month with the term "survival." Dealing with folks who are just "getting by." You know, some people will say that you should have some life goal - accomplish some great thing - in order to be thought of as successful at the end of life. This is not so.

For example, I just read that Sandra Day O'Connor is designing a video game to teach kids. And I thought, "what about people who spend their whole lives teaching kids, but who skip the 'i-was-a-supreme-court-justice phase' of life? Do they get any press for their everyday efforts?" The answer is "no." People want greatness.

Yet the best most ever do is to survive. The point is this: in God's eyes, mere survival is good enough. Work on your weaknesses. Build your strengths. Do your best. These are all great ideas. But whatever your "great" goal may be, find contentment in your weaknesses...in the end, they may demonstrate that you are a Survivor.

Survive well.