Almost got Frederick County in!!!

Hey there, this evening I was headin' out to Frederick, MD in Frederick County to run a running event there that the Frederick Steeplechasers (http://www.steeplechasers.org) were puttin' on called the Decathlon Series Crazy Eights Run (an 800 meter run at the Frederick County High School track). I was hoping I could break 2:20 and maybe finish near the top of the pack, but when I got there and started warming up, the warm sunny day turned dreary with loud, rainy thunderstorms. The other people who showed up to participate and myself ended up sitting in our cars during the storm, hoping to wait it out so that we could start the event, but while listening to the radio weather reports we found out that the storms would probably not taper off until about 9 P.M. (and this was around 6:45), so the director called the event off.
Once again, the weather became an obstacle on getting a running event in in a county! At first I was a little disappointed (though not as depressed and ticked as I was feeling when the River Run in Worcester County was postponed the other week), but then I remebered that God has a plan and that it probably involves something better for me than what I was thinkin' of for myself! I had to keep my head up and look at the positives, such as I have been blessed with decent race performances for many of the ones I have run this year, and that I have participated in so many running events in so many Maryland counties already. Fortunately, Frederick County has quite a few races and events year around, so I'm lookin' forward to another one. I'm sure that Crazy Eights Run will probably be rescheduled too. Who knows, maybe God intends for me to run a better race this year in Frederick County than what I would have turned out today had the race not been rained out.
I had looked on Weather.Com, but I was lookin' at the weather for Columbia, thinkin' that since it was within an hour of Frederick, it would not be too different. According to the forecast, there would be a lotta rain and some stormin', but it would taper off by the evening, in time for the event. However, that weather came a little later in Frederick and as a result, the evening storm cancelled the event. Oh well. Hopefully this won't happen too often in the future and that I can continue to make steady progress. I know I have well over several months left before 2007 is over, but with workin' two jobs (especially one that has me workin' all sorts of hours on weekdays, weekends, holidays and all of that) I think it would behoove me to get in what I can as soon as I can, especially in counties where hte events are harder to find! Afterall, I don't want to put off makin' progress on this for too long and then have slim pickin's on events towards the end of the year that could very well be rained out or cancelled, leaving me hard pressed to find another event in the remaining counties to accomplish this goal.
Just gotta stay focused, stay encouraged, and keep focused on the larger picture!
Also, I was fortunate enough tonight to come clean to someone I really care about and I know who care about me, about what I've been doing with this project. I was worried about telling them, because they may really put forth a strong effort to stop me, but all they did was just think it sorta funny/crazy (well that was the impression I got anyways, I could be a little off on that). But right now, I am starting to feel a lot better and they seemed to like it that I was blogging all this stuff. I hope if they ever do read these, they enjoy it and get something out of it. And whether or not they think this goal is dope, or they don't think I can do it, I just hope that they see how much I believe it can be done and how hard I'm working (and have worked) to make progress on this. I care about this a lot, if anything, it has taught me to value planning, responsibility, organization, drive, and hardwork more strongly. If there is anything boyish in me, pursuing something like this is making a man outta me, it seems!
I am definitely prepared to have people discourage me on this or voice how crazy/corny they think I am for attempting this, but I am okay with it. Ever since I was in preschool/kindergarten, I always seemed to have a reputation of being a little... unique, maybe a little wild, and creative I suppose... So I guess people thinkin' I'm a little "weird" or "different" has not been so hard for me to accept over the years, especially after going through college where it seemed to be a norm to be unique.
I suppose I have not yet grown out of that college kid phase yet, haha (or that I have not grown up much at all)!
I can't get out of my head this one poster I see every time I go into the boy's locker room at Wilde Lake High School (where I've been workin' with special education students on a long-term substitute basis) that shows a picture of a determined track runner clearing a hurdle and below is a quote by someone anonymous that reads, "adversity causes some men to break, and others to break records."
I hope I end up on the side after the comma in that quote. I dunno what kinda record this may be or what it'll look like if I am successful with this, but all I know is is that the more people laugh at me for this or relate that they think I may be over my head in this, the more driven I feel to accomplish this, and the more progress I make (and more people I tell about it) the better I feel about it! I honestly do not know if I will succeed in this, but I am still as determined to make strong efforts to complete it and I have a very solid faith in God that He will provide what I will need to get this done if it is His will, and as I've said before, His work and His aid in this is almost visibly clear. Earlier on in this endeavor, when I had trouble figuring out events to do in certain counties, I prayed about it and soon enough He helped me find out about some in the counties I was wondering about. If anything it definitely encourages me to keep in prayer about it and not be discouraged!
All right, well that's my rant for this evening! Thank you for all those who both, discourage and support me. Now you all know that even though you may not agree with what I'm doing, you're still contributing to my motivation to press on. I hope all of you have a good night out there!