A Little Friendly Competition Offers Unexpected Connection

As I’ve , I am a runner.  I don’t particularly enjoy the physical act of running as much I enjoy the benefits.  Running has become my main stress reliever and if I don’t get out and pound the pavement a few days a week, I can become a “mommy monster” really easy. 

Running is sometimes my time to refresh and rejuvenate.  I’ve been pushing my husband to try running for a while now.  His job is demanding and I think running would give him a much needed stress relief.  Earlier this year my husband committed to a fit challenge at work and was put on a team.  Each team member has to wear a pedometer to track their steps as well as log their total workout minutes each day. 

After sometime of doing this, my husband mentioned he had started jogging to meet his “step quota.”  Lo and behold, he actually enjoyed it.  Well, in true fashion, I couldn’t just let him continue on with the occasional jog.  I suggested that he train to run a race.  There was a small race in Cottleville on March 12 that I thought would be perfect.  It was only a 7K which is roughly 4.35 miles.  I had run the race before and thought it would be a good one for a first timer.  It’s a wonderful course and the post-race party is a lot of fun.  S

Surprisingly, he was very excited about the idea and was looking forward to the training runs.  We only had about four weeks before the race, which was enough time to get his body used to running.  With our training plans in hand, we sat down and set time goals.  His goal was to finish the race in under an hour.  I knew he would do that easily, but he wasn’t so sure. My goal, plain and simple was to beat him.  I also wanted to beat my time from last year, but the focus was finishing before him!   

Well, as with many good plans, they aren’t successful.  My husband came down with a horrible upper respiratory virus just one week into his training.  The “death flu” as I called it, had him down and out for nearly three weeks.  He was unable to continue training because if he did more than walk up the stairs he would start coughing.  Luckily, he started feeling better and was able to participate in the race.  He had abandoned his time goal altogether and decided that his goal was to just finish the race.  I still knew he would do awesome and just wasn’t giving himself enough credit.

Race day was perfect.  The temperature was great and the sun was shining.  Chris and I started out together, but I quickly left him behind.  He caught up to me around the first mile marker, but after the first water stop, I didn’t see him again.

It was a bit windy on race day, so my time wasn’t exactly what I was hoping for, but I did beat my husband.  I was pretty happy about that!  However, my husband did an amazing job for his first race.  He finished just three minutes after me, and almost 15 minutes faster than his one hour goal.  I’m sure this is the only time I will get to gloat about beating my husband, but I will bask in the glory until our next race. 

We are already talking about the next time!  The best part about all of this is that we have a new activity we can do together.  It isn’t about winning or losing, it’s more about getting to spend time together.  And that makes us both winners.