Reunited

Last Sunday evening just before drifting off to sleep, my husband turned to me and asked “Do you want to go for a run together tomorrow?” I demurely answered “Sure”, but my mind began racing – why does he want to go with me? He usually goes with Kyle (our son). I must be looking puffy or not be doing something right. You see, I’ve been running solo since last year’s Capitol 10K. My husband, John, and Kyle began training for their full marathon shortly thereafter and I was left to go it alone. I did every bit of Hal Higdon’s Beginner Half-Marathon training program by myself and I hadn’t planned on my partner returning. John was my first coach, mentor and cheerleader. He listened to me whine, complain, and say, “I can’t do this” more times than necessary. John encouraged me literally every step of the way. While I had missed his company, I knew there would be new challenges placed before me when we ran together; move faster, breathe more rhythmically, push yourself just a bit more.

We started out Monday morning while the sun was still on the rise. After stretching, we cleared the chrono mode on our watch timers, checked our iPods, and got ready to head out. John leaned over, moved his cap bill out of the way and gave me a kiss, just like he had practically every other time we had gone together. As the tenths passed, I kept waiting for my “training” to begin. But it never did. The only comment John made was a simple yet profound, "I like this. It's nice." Our run together seemed less stressed, comfortable, natural; in part I think because my self-confidence level has increased. Now I know I won’t get to run with my husband every session, and while I do still enjoy my alone time, I’ll appreciate our couple time even more. It just “feels so good!”