San Antonio Rock'n'Roll

Our latest race was yesterday in San Antonio! This is a great race; very organized and well done! There were 30,000 runners, the pack never thinned out completely, just enough space to pass and not worry about bumping into each other.

We had a great time during the race.

On Saturday I wasn't sure we were going to be able to participate. Ginger got sick right after we got our Race Packets and she was in bed all day Saturday! She was only able to eat a couple of bites of lunch and dinner. She woke up on Sunday and was only able to eat a few bites of breakfast before the race.

Ginger was able to finish the race feeling good. We stopped for lunch and she could only eat a few bites, I on the other hand was starving and eat everything in sight. We stopped dinner and Ginger could only eat 1 taco. When we got home she crashed on the couch and slept all evening.

I feel God did a miracle and allowed us to complete the race. Ginger had a fever the entire time but still enjoyed the race.

Our granddaughter Chloe had told Ginger she needed a TuTu. So our daughter and Chloe made a pink and purple tutu for Ginger to run in. The pink was for Ginger's friends that are survivors and currently fighting Breast Cancer. The purple in the tutu are for friends and relatives surviving and fighting other forms of Cancer and for L.L.S. that helps families fighting blood borne Cancers of all kinds. Keep up the Good Fight!!!

The Race Set Before Us

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. (Hebrews 12:1-3 NIV)

I've read these words countless times.; dozens of times since Ginger and I have started training and participating in races. These verses have brought on new meaning and depth as we have been training for endurance races.

The importance of being surrounded by witnesses that have previously ran the race and those cheering you on. Both of these are important for different reasons.

The verse that really stood out to me today was verse 1. Even though I have read it dozens of times the NIV version spoke something different to me today.

"And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us".

Two things jumped out at me. Run with "perseverance". I immediately thought of Ginger during our Marathon earlier this year. She was almost doubled over in pain, she wanted to quit sometime after mile 15 but she kept going with persistence! We finished that race it wasn't easy but persistence paid off and we have the "prize", a Marathon Finisher's Medal to prove it!!!

The second part that jumped off the page was "the race marked out for us". Other translations say the race set before or other similar verbiage. The NIV said marked out for us, this brought me back to the same race. One of the hardest parts of the Full Marathon was the split with the Half marathon. At the slit the person manning that station would look at your Race Bib ( the thing you wear that has your race number on it) and tell you to turn (for the half marathon) or go straight if you were running the full 26.2 miles. It was hard because you knew if you went straight there was no turning back it was all or nothing.

The race course is laid out ahead of time and the turns are usually clearly marked. It is up to the runner's or walkers to pay attention and make the correct turns.

Today that spoke more clearly than it ever had before. God has clearly marked out our lives and we are to pay attention to the markers. If we do we will be in His plan but if we don't there could be hazards or we have to go through things God had not intended on us to go through.

Let's run this race of life with perseverance and keep our eyes and ears open for our Father God's directions. There is a prize at the end to keep our eyes on but also a lot of good things around each bend along the race course. Don't forget to enjoy the journey, it's about a lot more than just a destination!!!

Another year to live and give!

By Ginger

December 2011 was an amazing time. Darrel and Ginger participated in their first half marathon (13.1 miles). It wasn’t just to run or get into shape or even to check off another item on their bucket list. It was for a cause. A life changing cause, to raise money for the Leukemia, Lymphoma Society to fight blood cancers. They raised a little over $3000 thanks to many of you. The money goes to finding treatments, cures, and financially helping those families with expenses that are in the battle.

Darrel lost his mom, Pat, to colon cancer 27 years ago, his grandmother to lymphoma in 2000 and Ginger lost her stepdad, Tom, to brain, bone and lung cancer 2 years ago. Ginger’s stepmom, Vivian, was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma 9 years ago. Darrel is also a survivor of melanoma cancer 15 years out. Cancer is no stranger to their family. I’m sure many of you have similar stories.

 

Once we got involved with Team in Training, the fundraising arm of the Leukemia, Lymphoma Society, we began hearing stories all around us of people touched by the disease, mostly children. Our hearts were broken by young parents sharing their stories of their brave children and the battle they are in. Many children have went on to be with Jesus. Brave is the word we hear many of them say to describe their little ones. This experience has increased our prayer life over our own four grandchildren. This disease often comes quietly, unsuspectedly.

As I, Ginger was running last years event in Dallas something wonderful happened. I felt so close to my stepdad. It was as if he was right there cheering me on. When I got so tired, hurting all over and wanted to quit, I remembered being by his bedside and his fight to never give up fighting cancer. This was a healing after his death that I never expected.

Last year we also ran in honor of June ( a friends mother that was diagnosed with Chronic Lymphcytic Leukemia (CCL) after we joined. She is doing very well now.

A diagnosis of leukemia, lymphoma, myeloma or myelodysplastic syndrome brings daily challenges. The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (LLS) is the world’s largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research, education and patient services. LLS is committed to providing information and support to people living with these cancers and to the health professionals involved in their care.

Our race this year is in San Antonio, Texas. It is called the Hero-thon. It is the first race of this magnitude that LLS has put on. Helping others is what it’s all about. That is why we run!

If you would like to help by making a donation, the easiest way is on our website: http://pages.teamintraining.org/ntx/herosa13/BrooksRunTheRace

or you can mail it to us:

3426 Lillie Street Sachse, TX 75048

Checks made out to: The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society 

Lastly, you can join TNT in your area and run.

Thank you all so much and God Bless you!

Darrel and Ginger Brooks

Please Visit our Fundraising Page...

Runs with the Grandkids

We did 2 runs with Caleb and Chloe this year. It was a blast!!! Here are some photo highlights.

Rock-the-Block: (5/19/12)

Labor of Love (9/3/12)

Dallas Rock'n'Roll-30 yrs.of Adventure!

‎30 years ago today I married the love of my life and started this great adventure. We started our adventure hand in hand and I look forward to the next 30 yrs. hand in hand. I love you Ginger! Happy 30th anniversary!!!

Dallas Rock-n-Roll

I'm not sure if we were caught up in the hype of our first Full Marathon or it was a moment of temporary insanity.

While we were picking up our race packets for our first Full Marathon we also signed up for our second Half Marathon. The issue being it's less than 4 weeks away. We ran the full on 2/26/12 and now we've committed to a half on 3/25/12!

We weren't taking in account for injuries or recovery. We didn't know The Cowtown would take such a toll on our bodies. In fact we had talked about being in the Dallas Rock-n-Roll strictly because of the date it will be held on.

We will be celebrating our 30th Wedding Anniversary on 3/27/12 and we wanted to do something very special. We didn't have the money to go on our Dream Alaskan Cruise. We didn't have the money to to fly to California and retrace our Honeymoon trip up the coastline towns. We really didn't have the money to travel anywhere BUT we could enter a local race and get a medal that we could always remember as our 30th anniversary race (not everyone can say they did a half marathon on their 30th anniversary!).

Here we go again, half crazy, sentimental, in love and still having FUN!!!

1st Full Marathon

The Cowtown Marathon 2012 was not only our first Full Marathon it was probably the hardest 8 hrs of my life (actually 7:52:11). Ginger compared it to natural child birth...(I'll take her word on that) but I will say she went through the "Transitional Phase" in similar fashion (except this time she made phone calls to tattle on what I was making her do, even though the whole thing was her idea).






The day started off like any other race day, we had set our clothes out the night before.






We arrived early. Did some people watching...all types at these events. We settled into our corral in plenty of time for the gun. (I think Ginger said there were about 25,000 runners.)

The gun sounded and we started to slowly walk to the start line...15 minutes later and "we're off".









We wound through business districts, old neighborhoods, downtown but the coolest place was the Ft. Worth Stock Yards.














At one point there were runners as far as you could see...

After a few hours we came to the "slit" this is where the "half crazies" go one way and the "crazies and ultra crazies" go the other way.

Then it got real lonely...














At mile 13.1 we crossed a timing mat, I heard a "beep" and the guy had the nerve to say "only 13.1 to go" (I'm not sure if those were his exact words but those were the words I heard). Now I'm thinking if I were doing the half I would be drinking some coffee having some real food while putting my aching feet up... But NO now I have to do a second Half Marathon without a rest. Ginger's still going strong at this point.








I'll fast forward to mile 18...the trail pickup and a Police car fall in behind us...this puts the pressure on "we're in last place". Ginger is starting to have a lot of pain and our pace is slowing. We had almost caught up to another runner but when he saw us and all the flashing lights behind us...he took off.





Mile 19 and we got to get off road and ditch the trail vehicles. Just before that though we stopped at a Boy Scout water stop and one of the boys said very excitedly, "I got some good news and some bad news, I get to go home but you don't"...I was very happy for him after the awkward silence since his comment. Back to the trail...


Ginger began to politely ask to quit and that I could finish and get the medal for both of us. I was not as polite when I reminded her this was all her idea and that a marathon was not on my 'Bucket List'.

We caught up to the runner in the red shirt, the one we had chased earlier. He was quite a character and all his stories kept Ginger's mind off her pain for a few miles...










After mile 20 Ginger was in a huge amount of pain and I was having to talk her into each block. She began to call people and "tattle" to them about how I was "making her do this". I tried telling her she would have to walk back to the car anyway and she said she had already made arrangements with the tail vehicle to catch a ride and follow me in. After a short discussion on how that was not an option she made another call to our Team in Training Coach David. As she was speaking to him I could see 2 people walking towards us, as they got closer I could see it was Coach David and Landon (his son). Ginger was so involved in the phone conversation she didn't know he was there until he grabbed her arm.

Coach David and Landon began walking with us and encouraging us. We could not have made it without their encouraging words. For those last 5 miles or so. Team in Training is so much more than an event it becomes like a second family, a support system, and a way of life. TNT is an awesome organization, and Coaches David and Meg are a vital part of making it such a success!!!














Well we finished!!! We even picked up another runner along the way and Landon encourged "Kyle" to finish despite his 2 broken ribs!!!
















Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (Hebrews 12:1 NLT)