Post #9: Race Day !!!

THANKS TO ALL FOR THE SUPPORT : The marathon was amazing !  Upheld by grace, prayers, & encouragement, I was able to run the whole marathon in good health !

Here's a quick recap, as told by the creative and encouraging signs and slogans that the crowds were using to cheer the runners on:

#1: BUCKET LIST: CHECK
Good news: the marathon is over !  Check that off the bucket list.

#2: YOU RUN BETTER THAN THE GOVERNMENT
Well, if I do, that's really unfortunate, because I don't run that well!!!  Until the marathon, I hadn't run more than 15 miles due to various injuries.  Nonetheless, with the encouragement of an awesome running buddy, seminarian Marco, we ran the whole 26.2 !

#3: KENYANS ARE LAZY. THEY ONLY RUN FOR TWO HOURS.
Haha. They only run for two hours because it only takes them two hours to run a marathon. CRAZY.
Our final marathon time was 4 hours and 38 minutes.  In retrospect, running the marathon is pretty much a five hour party of people cheering for you.  To be prosaic, it is much easier to run the race when you have people encouraging you along the way!!!

#4: DO EPIC S**T     [stuff]
Although there are less graphic ways to say this, this sign really gave me a good laugh, and even a boost of hope.  Our millenial generation is pretty redonk (that means ridiculous), but they are also creative, humourous, and, deep down, looking for people to be real HEROES-- to live lives of INTEGRITY-- to be EPIC.  This sign was truly encouraging: if I could make one adjustment to the words, I would write: BE EPIC.

In short summary: WOW-- this marathon experience has been CRAZY awesome and challenging and very, very spiritually rewarding.

Looking forward to walking again,
Jess

PS: A picture of some of the TEAM OLA runners !!! In the end, about 35 runners ran the marathon for Our Lady of the Angels.

Post #8: A Nun on the News !

Sister Stephanie made national news AND Chicago news!

She wrote a statement for the Chicago Marathon essay contest whose prompt was: Why are you running the marathon?  Her story was selected to be one of a handful published stories, and as a bonus, NBC Chicago ran a feature on her!  The clip can be seen at this clip:

http://www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/2013-SISTER-STEPHANIE-SD-FOR-COSI_Chicago-224930552.html

After NBC ran its feature, WGN took interest in the story, and decided to feature her on the national news! She was featured on the 9PM news across the country yesterday, on October 9th.  The video is embedded in our Franciscan website, which can be found at this link:

http://www.franciscansoftheeucharistofchicago.com/video/

Check it out!

Sister Stephanie has been a fabulous coach and friend throughout this whole marathon training season.  She's also been one of my biggest cheerleaders, assuring me that I can finish the race! She has truly been an inspiration for me, and is now a national inspiration!

Post #7: Picking up new Habits

Some  community news....

The fall season is when everyone moves up a level in formation.  As I blogged about earlier, I became a Postulant September 8th.  A month later, I'm still loving it, and it has truly been a month of personal growth!

Meanwhile, we have been celebrating everyone else as folks take things up a notch:
September 21st-- Sister Stephanie took first vows!
October 4th-- Matt and Jaime became novices, and now are called Brother Matt and Sister Jaime!
October 11th-- (tomorrow) Sister Kate and Sister Alicia renew their vows !

Here's a photo from Sister Stephanie's vows of the whole crew. We had a huge celebration with many friends and family members!  First vows is a big deal because it's when you make your first real committment to live the vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience.  First vows are temporary, they are only made for one year at a time.

Matt and Jaime joined the community in January.  On October 4th, they moved on to the next step: they are now novices!  Check out the habits ! (A habit is the brown uniform that they are wearing). Other new uniform additions include the cord belt and, for Sister Jaime, a white veil!




Finally, tomorrow Sister Kate and Sister Alicia will be renewing their vows for another year!  Temporary vows (the series of one year vows) typically last from 3-5 years.  The final step is called "final vows" or "perpetual vows".

Our community of Franciscans are psyched !  It's exciting for the whole community whenever someone else moves up the ranks.  Lots of joy to be had all around.