I just wanted to brag on my girl for a moment.  

This wheelchair racing deal--it is her dream.  She brought it to us.  She started training.  She haggled for a good price on her chair.  (Thanks, Greg!)  She ran each week with the library running group.  She did the hard work and ran seven 5K's and a 10K in her first year!  It is her dream.  We just get to watch and encourage her (and drive her to training and races, and lug her equipment around(!).

Finishing the United Way 5K

Last March (2013) she wrote this in a draft for this blog:  
"00:25:38.8--This was my time.  My time in my other races has been around thirty minutes.  I did my first mile in 8:15"

June 21, 2014, she ran the United Way 5K on the runway at the Lexington Airport.  Her time?  00:20:27--Twenty minutes, twenty-seven seconds!  That averages to a 6:35 mile! What a difference a year of hard work makes!

First Place--Wheelchair Division

This past Saturday she ran a 5K in Wimore that she decided to do at the last minute.  It was not her best time, but with all the hills, it was great training for her 10K coming Friday, July 4.  On the same day, Tatyana McFadden, one of Aerelle's heroes, ran a 5K in 00:11:10.  Aerelle's response was giddy excitement for Tatyana, and then a quick, "Wow, now I've got to run one in 00:10:00!"

Wilmore start line

 What really makes me smile, though, is Aerelle's heart.  This dream isn't about winning gold in Rio or Toyko.  At its base, it is a dream to build a platform to tell others about a God who loves them desperately and died to made relationship with the God of the Universe possible then rose to give us life!  She remembers to keep things in perspective and uses all of it as worship.  She told me just yesterday, "Some of my best time to reflect on God and his Word is while I'm out in my chair."

Near the End of the Wilmore 5K