On Marriage and Running - Half Marathon Training 9/22/10

Let's face it.  Yesterday wasn't really a good day.  Between the news about President Strassburger's death and a couple of other things coming from a few other directions, I really just wanted to leave work and crawl into bed.  Instead, I forgot to stop for lunch and ended up at work late fighting with FedEx International customs declaration and the phone when I tried to call long distance.  Then I rode my scooter home.  In the rain.  In a WHITE shirt.

Okay, one day I'll look back and that part will be a little bit funny.

Needless to say.  I was hungry, tired and not in the mood to be around people when I got home.  Bruce and I had planned to head over to Stone Mountain to run when he got home, but the last thing I wanted to do at that point was share my running time with anyone.

I know that sounds awful.  But it's the truth.  I wanted to wallow by myself.  But Bruce and I had made plans and telling him that I was going to run and he couldn't come with me would have been selfish on my part.  So I took a deep breath when I got home and made a really late lunch (ha, I don't think 6:00 can count even as a late lunch) and waited for my husband to get home from work.

Eating helped.  It actually helped a lot.  I am a firm believer in Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs - our bodies need fuel before our minds and our hearts can work.  We don't really have much in our kitchen right now (must.go.grocery.shopping), so I boiled a piece of chicken, made rice, threw some vegetables in the mix and drizzled the top with a little honey mustard.

(Not necessarily 5 star, but I think I managed to hit a couple food groups!)

Bruce got home around 7.  I looked up when he walked in and I remembered why I love him and why - even when I want to wallow alone - I love being in this partnership ...

... he brought me flowers because he knew I had been having a rough day.

I love him.

The run itself was actually a LOT better than I anticipated.  We were both a little cranky, dehydrated and under-fueled.  It was HUMID outside.  Bruce had a long day at work and his iPod died less than a mile in.  Not the best running formula.  We did our best to encourage each other when we got the energy to do so (Me: I know this hill is b*tch, but maybe when we get to the top, Jesus will be up there preaching ... Bruce: I don't think it works like that) and we allowed ourselves to just run in silence ... side by side.

I was thinking about our marriage while we were coming around the front side of the mountain.  I think it speaks volumes to our commitment and love for one another that even with the level of blah and cranky we were both feeling today that we were still willing to run next to one another for five miles.

At one point during our last mile I looked down at my pace watch and realized that we were probably going to round the mountain at a faster time than when we did when we ran it last week.  I said that out loud and - without saying anything intentional to one another - we both picked up our pace.  We wanted to beat ... ourselves.

I love that we are both so competitive that don't judge each other for trying to beat our own times even when we're just training.

I also love that even though we were exhausted, we pushed ourselves because we knew we would feel better in the end.

I hope that is a metaphor for our life.

In the end we covered 5.00 miles in 57:42 - almost 3 minutes faster than a week ago!  I know that we are training for distance, not for speed, but the fact that my times are getting faster means that I'm building my endurance, which will be awesome as my distances increase.

Add five more miles to the books!

Let's make today a great one, okay?

xoxo