Zach`s Birthday

First of all Happy Birthday to my baby boy, Zachary Taylor Rayburn. If you are 15, that means that I must be...old. Anyway I love you very much and know that you are destined for greatness. May you continue to find favor with both God and man.

I am blogging from Venice, Italy. This is a pic of the Bridge of Sighs. Today is the first day that I have ran here. We have done so much walking that my legs felt kinda tired and sore from that, not to mention that we have been staying out late, so it is hard to get up. I am going to try to run again Sunday before we leave. There is a tiny island across from Venice called Giudecca. That is were the Venetians go to run. It has a nice smooth walkway about a mile long. Not quite long enough for me, plus there are many sets of bridges (READ: STAIRS) That have to be crossed. Anyway I did about 7 miles today and it felt good. I was really a nice, although hot run.

Venice is great. We also went to Florence the other day. It was way cool. A lot more hustle and bustle than that of Venice though. We saw Michelangelo`s David. WOW! Very magnifico!

Gotta go see some more stuff, can`t spend all my time and Euros on Internet. :)

Ciao, Ciao!

MC 200

"That day when evening came, He said to His disciples, 'Let us go over to the other side.'  Leaving the crowd beind, they took Him along, just as He was, in the boat.  There were also other boats with Him.  A furious squall came up, and the waves broke over the boat, so that it was nearly swamped.  Jesus was in the stern, sleeping on a cushion.  The disciples woke Him and said to Him, 'Teacher, don't you care if we drown?'  He got up, rebuked the wind and said to the waves, 'Quiet!  Be still!'  Then the wind died down and it was completely calm.  He said to His disciples, 'Why are you so afraid?  Do you still have no faith?'  They were terrified and asked each other, 'Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!' "-  Mark 4:35-41 (NIV)

Hey, just wanted to blog to say that we survived the MC200.  For those who don't know, 8 of my running friends and I ran in the Madison to Chicago Relay.  (That's right, 9 persons:203 miles.  Do the math.  Most teams use 12 runners.  Wimps.)  Over 203 miles, and very little sleep later, 2 vans full of insane runners completed the run.  Why?  For the fun and experience and to benefit the Special Olympics of Wisconsin and Illinois.  I ran over 26 miles in the course of 2 days and stayed up for more than 40 hours, (barring a little nap here and there.)  It was a blast.  I have the privilege of running with some of the finest people on the face of the planet.  We did have two weather stops; One for a tornado and one for lightning.  The later prevented me from running with my friend Christine, who dragged her blessed family out only to be put on hold.  Thanks anyway Christine, maybe next year.

Much love and thanks to the CRC.  You are all beautiful people.  Pics to follow.  Vacation next week!

1st of June

"Behold, I stand at the door and knock.  If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in and dine with him and he with Me." - Jesus the Holy Son of God

Just got back from a beautiful 8 miler with Mark and the Pink Flash.  What a perfect day that the Lord has made.  Let us rejoice and be glad in it!  It was more of a recovery run after yesterday's "Morocco Challenge."  The now infamous day started with Scott, Logan and I biking the 19+ miles to the nearby hamlet of Morocco.  It was a challenging ride into the west wind.  No gravel, no dogs, no traffic, no worries.  On the way over we discussed life, running, biking, etc.  Scott expressed concern about not knowing the course.  He also mentioned wanting to come in ahead of Roger, the local 58 year old running legend.  We laughed about it and continued our journey. 

We arrived to a small field of runners and snazzy purple shirts.  As the race began, Scott immediately shot to the lead and held on strong.  He burned up and wasted a North Newton High School Cross Country runner, who had to start walking at about the 1 mile mark.  A man from the Kennukk Running Club was close behind him.  Wise Roger held on to third.  It looked like Scott had it in the bag.  

Logan and I ran most of the race together with him pulling ahead of me to make us 5th and 6th.  Logan's fiance was the top female finisher.  After crossing the finish line, I started looking around for Scott to congratulate him.  He was no where to be found.  It turns out Scott missed a critical turn and keep going straight.  He got very far off course and came back like 20 minutes after Logan and I finished.  The funny thing was that the Kennukk followed him, leaving Roger to win the whole thing.  

So this is the tale of how Scott came to be known as "Raging Bull."  He coulda been somebody, he coulda been a contender.

We rode the 20+ miles to Original Devon's Family Resturant for a very big breakfast, and even bigger stories of the day.