They say that opposites attract, and perhaps we are the poster couple for that saying. You are an extrovert compared to my introverted self. You chose medicine; I chose law. You will go off the beaten path just to explore what is there while I cling to the safety of a well-worn trail. And when it comes to running and to marathons, the paths that brought us to our starting lines could not have been more different.
- I signed up for the New York City Marathon and started a blog to broadcast the adventure to anyone who cared to pay attention. You signed up for a marathon 30 miles from our home and “forgot” to tell your wife for two weeks.
- I hired a coach to tell me what to do. You researched how to train to get to the finish line, and held yourself accountable through every workout.
- I run with a well vetted pop playlist. You set it on a Country station and let ‘er rip.
- Pushing myself past existing limits scares the crap out of me. You gleefully blow by every obstacle in your way, happy for the challenge.
- The thought of training up for a marathon and not running the race is beyond my comprehension. And yet you’ve done that twice now. For both New York and Chicago, you ran with me every step of every long run, from 12 to 22, sacrificing your pace to run mine. And at the end of those training miles, instead of competing in big goal races you knew you could finish, you chased from point to point through the cities to cheer me on. It was an extraordinary act of love.
Opposites attract?
Maybe.
But I choose to think of it like this instead. We are two pieces of an interlocking wooden puzzle, and twenty-three years ago we decided to join them together. We are shaped differently, we each have parts that are incomplete, but when coupled together, we are strong. We are whole.
Tomorrow is your day to run 26.2. You came to this race in your own way, on your own terms, and for your own reasons. I could not be more proud to be your cheerleader like you were mine, and to watch you do what you know how to do so well: run strong, run fast, and run in all out celebration of life.
Love you, honey. Now go get ‘er done.
Post Script: Hubby ROCKED the race ... great finish with a Boston qualifying time!