Overcome fear by looking it in the eyes

Last night I went to a haunted trail with a few others from my church. At first I was terrified. And by "at first" I mean before we even pulled out of the parking lot to make the one hour trek to the trail.

I was questioning why I was even going to the trail. I'm the one that has to stay the night at someone's house after watching a scary movie, and I am the one that after hearing a scary story typically can't sleep for the next several nights.

As we were driving over to the park, my friends kept telling me "It won't be that bad. Just relax." So I did my best. We picked up our tickets and then started toward the trail. The sounds of the undead were coming from the woods. At this point I was pretty calm. My friends, they were starting to get worried.

We started the 35 minute hike through the woods with ten houses to go through. It soon hit me, in order for me to overcome my fear of this place, I had to stare down what was scary. I ended up being the "brave" one of the four of us. Yeah, there was some pretty scary things out there. But when you remember there are rules, such as they are not allowed to touch you, it makes it easier.

Even if there weren't the rules, what were we going to do? If something started to happen, we would need to get out. We couldn't stand waiting. We would need to have sense enough to know what to do.

What I'm trying to say is the world is scary. There's a lot of uncertainty. That is my biggest thing, not knowing what is going to happen. Even though the world is scary, we need to look our fear in the face. We'll likely see the what the fear really is. Most likely, it's not that scary. It could just be another person with face-paint and a bad costume.

The next time something seems scary, standup and look it in the face. Chances are, you'll win.

Three More Classes!!!

Not that I'm excited or anything. I started my last fall session of Graduate school with Multinational Corporate Environments and Operations Management. I'm excited about both, but I'm nervous this will be the toughest session yet. I need to remember to prioritize and focus. Once I get back into a nice rhythm I'll be golden.

After this session, I'll have only three classes left! I'm excited for June 16, 2013 as I will complete my MBA on that day. It'll also be the first time I won't be in school while living in Virginia. There are several things I want to explore without having to be concerned about having to write a paper or post in a discussion board.

Even though Grad school can put a strain on life at times, I wouldn't trade it. Yeah, it's hard to balance about church, work, school, running and personal life, but in the end it's worth it. Yes, somethings have suffered. I haven't been able to focus on running as much as I have in past years, but that can also be attributed to injury this year.

Well, I'm off to put the finishing touches on a paper for this week!

Student Lane

15 Miles of Thoughts

This past weekend I had a 15 mile training run. It was broken up nicely as I didn't want to be more than two miles from my water at any point along the run.

I woke up earlier than normal and made it to the trail with enough time to put a couple miles in before meeting my group at 7:30am. I was hoping this would get my legs moving and awake enough that my friends wouldn't feel like I was slowing them down.

So I was off. 7:10am on a Saturday ant the temperature was barely 35 degrees. Brrr. As I was running I thought it might be cool to go back and write down some of my thoughts from the run. Here goes:

Mile 1: Seriously?! I thought waking up early and running before meeting my group was going to be a good idea?

Mile 1.5: Ok, I see my group. Linda and Maureen will run with me this morning.

Mile 2: Those slackers! I can't believe neither Linda or Maureen showed this morning. I guess I'm running on my own.

Mile 3: I'm going to run only slightly a head of these two women because their conversation is quite interesting.

Mile 4: I think Hayley would be interested in what these ladies are talking about. Maybe I can get Hayley to run with me one day.

Mile 4.5: Turn around point. I'll take the horse trail back.

Mile 5: I wonder if there is water at Smith's Switch. I'm kinda thirsty, and I need to wash this Clif Shot Block down.

Mile 5.5: Stupid City! They turned the water off to keep the pipes from busting. 1.5 more miles until I can drink some water.

Mile 6: Why did I choose the horse trail? Obviously, I wasn't thinking. This hill sucks.

Mile 7: Water!! How many miles do I want to run today? 10 or 11?

Mile 8: Ugh, I forgot about this hill.

Mile 8.5: "Lane, I knew it was you. I couldn't miss you with that hat on." -Atle, "There's no water ate Belmount Ridge." -Conan. I hate Conan right now.

Mile 9: I guess I'm running 11 miles today. But 15 miles sounds really awesome!

Mile 9.5: **Trip** Who put that rock there?

Mile 10: Why am I running on the horse trail again? Oh, yeah the regular trail is too boring.

Mile 10.5: I can see the finish.

Mile 11: I feel like 4 more miles. I wonder if I can get anyone to run with me.

Mile 11.5: Still solo. Why wouldn't anyone want to finish this run with me?

Mile 12: One more mile until my turn around.

Mile 13: Good thing I'm only running 15 miles. I'm out of Clif Blocks.

Mile 14: Yep, There's a blister forming on my foot.

Mile 15: That was amazing! Let's do it again. Anyone? Anyone?

Who wants to go running with me next weekend? I promise we won't do more than 15.

Runner Lane

Grad School

Since I graduated with my undergrad degree in 2008, I've wanted to go back to school. But pinpointing what I wanted to study was hard. Nothing stuck out to me.

I didn't really want to get my MBA because it sounded like a buzz word, and it seemed like everyone was getting one.

About a month ago, a friend of mine came across an MBA in Social Media Marketing.

Wait! Hold the horses! MBA in Social Media Marketing?! It was like the heavens opened up and a bright light was shining down. I knew this was the degree I was going to get.

I quickly inquired and by the end of the week I had applied. Fast forward about 2 weeks. I was accepted and enrolled.

So this June, I will be starting my program and in approximately two years I will have my MBA.

Yay!

Student Lane

Belief vs. Faith

We are having a Gospel Meeting this week with Brother Gary Henry from Nashville, Tennessee. The first three days have been amazing. I am very blessed to have the opportunity to hear him speak.

On Monday, Gary spoke about Faith: Faith based in tradition versus Faith that is ours. He said that faith based in tradition is more like belief. We believe something is possible. While faith that has become ours and no longer the faith of the person who taught us the gospel is indeed faith.

Gary gave a great example. I wish I could remember who he said he first heard it from, but it went a little something like this:

Belief is believing it is possible for some one to push a wheelbarrow across Niagara Falls while walking a tightrope. But faith is getting in the wheelbarrow.

How many times do we forget to get into the wheelbarrow? Do we just sit back believing it's possible or do we truly have faith?

Get in the wheelbarrow!

Faithful Lane

Marathon training: Ready, Set, Go!

Marathon training starts on Monday. Being the overachiever that I am, I like to be ahead of everything. So really marathon training started this week. I do this so I can get one more long run in in my training.

I'm running the Women's Half Marathon on November 7th. I have a little over 2 months worth of training separating me from the race.

My goal is to finally break my 2:10 mark. This means I need to shave about 10mins off my time from January. Here's hoping I will!

I'm going to try my best to stick to my training plan. 3 runs a week, 2 days of cross training, 2 days of strength training. The cross training and strength training usually fall by the wayside, unfortunately.

But not this time!!

~Runner Lane

About the Lanes

By day, I'm a working professional in higher education.

By night, I'm a volleyball coaching, sports reffing, distance running, faith professing fool attempting to start my master's.

When your day starts before 6am and you aren't eat dinner until 8pm or later most nights, your day is packed with activity and you will see a small glimpse of it here.

I've been coaching and playing sports for as long as I can remember, but I became very involved coaching volleyball in the Fall of 2009 and haven't looked back since. When I can, I ref games on weekends when I'm not coaching.

I was always an active person. In 2008 a friend turned me on to running and since I have ran a half marathon every year. When I don't have time to run, those around me can tell and sometimes get irritated and tell me to go run.

My faith is important to me. I grew up attending church with my family and still attend to this day. I try my best to live a life God would be please with.

So as you read my blog you will see the different Lane's of life: Working Lane, Coach Lane, Ref Lane, Runner Lane and Faithful Lane.