Running for Jase: Why I am doing this blog

On June 10, 2010 my life was forever changed! My beautiful 19 month old son went to be with Jesus. Nothing can prepare a parent for the death of a child and I would not want anyone to ever have to experience it. Jase was a sweet, caring, and beautiful little boy. He passed away peacefully in his sleep from a rare virus. He showed no symptoms and did not suffer. If a parent has to lose a child...I could not think of a better way to lose him.

Now lets back up to earlier in the summer of 2010. I decided that I would TRY to run. Crazy I know. I used see the same lady run down a busy highway everyday and think, "SHE IS CRAZY!" So I had started the program Couch to 5k. On June 7th, I remember running around the seminary campus thinking, "Why am I doing this exactly?" When I was done for the day and walked in the door Jase and Addison were both so happy to see me I had my answer... "I am doing this for them."

After Jase passed away I wanted to run more than ever. I had started something and I was not going to quit because I did not want to fail him. During the summer I was improving at running and I could run almost 2 miles without walking and to me, that was a big deal. Then winter hit. Winter in Missouri is not good for runners...its cold. Cold and I do not get along. I never quit running, but I ran less and less. I hated treadmills. I tried to run on one once and it turned out to be disasterous. Let's just say it is a good thing I do not go to the gym to impress people because no one was impressed that day! I was always thinking to myself "I wish I had an indoor track to run on."

I started a new job in December. One day one of my co-workers had come to work and was talking about the gym she joined had an indoor running track. YES! I knew I wanted to join. Not only did it have an indoor running track it had an amazing area for kids and that is important because I wanted to be able to take Addison to the gym too. I came home and talked to Ben about it and he told me to make it worth the money I would have to go to the gym 5 days a week. Well ok then! I joined the next week! The co-worker I had talked about is not only a co-worker, she became a dear friend. We started running together. I restarted the Couch to 5k plan again. I remember how long the 5 minute run seemed, but the runs became easier and easier!

Now fastforward to yesterday. I reached my first goal, and ran my first 5k with my new running partner/friend. My time was 34:36. Now to some that probably seems slow but to me it was a huge acomplishment! There was a fairly good size hill on this run that I was not anticipating, and there were times that it seemed like I could not go on. I would just picture Jase's sweet beautiful face, pray to God for strength to go on and I did! He gave me the strength to go on as he has many times since that day in June.

I named this blog Running for Jase, but I run for Addison too! I am going to make a runner out of her and someday we both will be running for Jase.