Snow Day Update

After I writing my last post, I happened to read this interview that Christian marathoner Ryan Hall did with Runnersworld.

Here are some excerpts that jumped out at me:

"I have found from my experience that often times what I hear God telling me is, "My grace is sufficient for you (2 Corinthians 12:9)." God has always provided enough strength for me to do what He wants me to do on the race course. It doesn't mean I always win or do something miraculous but I always have enough to accomplish the purpose which God called me to race for."

"There is a transition period where maybe we do have to clean ourselves from unhealthy desires, passions, etc., but in the end we are supposed to have the more fulfilled life here on earth than we could dream of. We are supposed to be alive, fully alive, in Christ."


"God wants me to enjoy my gift of running. He wants me to enjoy the disciplined lifestyle. He created me to be a focused individual that enjoys a disciplined, physically hard-working lifestyle. He created me this way. So when I do it, it feels right. It may appear to be selfish to some but I am doing what God designed me to do and the result will hopefully be exactly what God had in mind when he designed me."

"Yeah, I have gotten some crazy prophetic words that have been right on. One was given to me before the trials when I was in really bad shape and had only a couple months till the [Olympic] trials."

By the end of reading the interview, I don't know why but I was sobbing and feeling so touched that God would answer me so quickly.

Now all that's left for me to do is to hang on, do what I have to do and let God handle the rest. There's no point in worrying about what's to come in four months, so I refuse to let the devil steal my joy in doing work.

These setbacks are only going to make me stronger! Praise God!

No matter what, God's grace is sufficient for me...

Speaking of God's grace... Thursday morning started out with a lovely fresh blanket of snow. Just what I've been waiting for!

Classes went on as usual until they announced school closure at 12:00.

By then, a nice snow shower had started to coat the campus with another layer of white.

The whole place looked simply beautiful, totally unlike the usual mucky city scene.

Seeing that the snow only going to keep on piling up, I called up a bunch of people to see who wanted to Central Park in New York City to play.

Managed to drag Suni, Edwin, Natalia and Khadeen along.

Riding the PATH train into the city.

When we got to Central Park, it had begun to hail a little bit and the ice stung our faces.

The park was nice and empty though.

The city seemed cavernous, with buildings rising like mountains of concrete and steel all around us.

Climbed over a fence to get into the children's playground where we snowballed each other like crazy and built a "snow chair".

There's me rolling the foundation for our "snow chair" and Khadeen getting ready a bunch of snow to fling in my face.

Natalia navigating the snowy steps of our snow fort.

We had a blast, but none of us were adequately dressed and we were drenched by the time we had finished playing.

Went to a nearby cafe for some warm vittles.

Some chicken parmesan panini-thingy that didn't taste so great at all considering it cost me almost 8USD!

After getting some warmth in our stomachs we took the subway back to New Jersey.

Back on campus, it was Cindy's birthday so I dropped by to say "Happy Birthday" but passed up on birthday cake since I was still full from the chicken parmesan panini

Out on the lawn in front of the dorms, a giant snowball fight was in full effect.

Unable to resist, I decided to run back to my dorm to put my wet playing clothes back on so that I could join in the fun.

Dragged roomie to come along with me on the way.

Unfortunately, by the time I returned to the site of the big snowball fight, the security had come and dispersed the crowd because people were throwing snowballs at windows and had broken some window netting.

Natalia was caught in the crossfire and was completely soaked because people were spraying water guns out the windows too. On the one hand, I'm sad that I missed the bulk of the action. On the other, I'm glad that I don't have icicles dripping down my spine.

Sitting on the snow bench!

Poor Nutella... Snow all over her already wet head.

Oh wait, I did that.

And that's just because she threw a handful at my neck first.

Ended up spending a few hours hanging out in Telly's dorm with Khadeen and Nutella, just yakking away about stuff.

Around 01:20, I trudged back to my dorm in the midst of the roaring blizzard. At one point I found it easier to walk backwards so that the snow wouldn't blind me. This morning we awoke to find almost a foot of snow on top of the four or five inches that already lay on the ground.

It was superduper marvellous!

So although I've been hopping around a lot on my right foot yesterday, the pain is starting to subside. I also feel a lot better now after playing all day yesterday in the snow. That's a form of exercise too I suppose.

I know I won't stay injured forever and that miracles can happen when you just keep praying and believing in God's healing power. Instead of focusing on running a sub-20min 5k, I shall just focus on doing what I have to do at any given moment. The rest, I shall simply entrust to God, understanding that His ways are higher than mine and His thoughts higher than mine.

:)