June 17th, 2012: We’re usually late for everything, but this time it was different. The race was scheduled to start at 7:30 a.m., and we arrived at Snake River Landing with 30 minutes to spare.
I worried that I would use the 30 minutes to spin myself up with worry. I’ve only done one other fun-run, and that was in 1998, and I do remember battling butterflies that day. In general, I was pretty calm yesterday, but as I watched other runners arrive with their special shorts and jerseys and fanny packs and camel-backs and energy drinks, I started to feel a little bit of those nerves from back in the day. Bear in mind my only competition was me – and whether I would finish or not. I’ve never even timed myself on any of my practice runs, so I didn’t even have any numeric benchmarks to try and beat. Nevertheless, there’s that natural instinct in us to win.
At the starting gun, we just hung back and let the masses stride away. Even if you wanted to get the best time, starting with everyone else doesn’t matter because your time doesn’t until pass under the inflatable starting-arch thing, which is where the chip in your race number gets activated.
We didn’t want to mix up arms and legs and feet with everybody else anyway, and possibly trip and fall. And then, of course, I can be honest and just say that I know most of the people would pass me within a mile anyway, so I just wanted to get it over with. This day was about enjoying the results of my work to get here.
And enjoy it we did. I think we were last or second-to-last to finish. Didn’t matter to me. Not once did we stop, and we did better than I thought we do. Took us 2 hours and some change.
Oh, and I lost a pound for the effort! 258 today. Lowest I’ve been so far. Life is good.
June 17th, 2020: I had hoped to be 100 lbs. down from my starting weight the day we ran that half-marathon, but the program didn’t include concrete timelines, and I honestly didn’t expect it – just hoped it. It was satisfying to achieve that goal of running 13.1 miles without stopping. Even though I had run that far in training for that day, for some reason this made it official.
Juliana and I working as a team made this extra special. I don’t include her contribution to the program nearly as often as I should in my writing. We are lucky in that we both focus really hard on physical fitness. We would both focus hard on whatever made our team (marriage) work. Any married couple knows the struggle, and we’re no different, but there’s something about sharing our fitness goals that really struck a chord with us.
I don’t actually have physical fitness goals, I have “I want life to be fun” goals. I just can’t see any purpose in using oxygen if I don’t somehow look for a reason to smile while I’m alive. No sense taking it from other people if I just want to frickin’ exist. Juliana’s the same way – and that might be the #1 reason we work so well. We have both ran from a snarling dog on a chain in our maximum effort to reach the end of his chain before he tears our asses off. Seems like we find some new Chopper dog to chase us once we outrun the last one, but it’s always in the direction of trying to have fun.
Happy and fun, I’m sorry to report, don’t occur all day, every day. I sometimes think if I nailed that lottery, it might be that way, but I assure you, I’d party my way into the grave rather quickly. But, anyway, I have learned that you get these bits and pieces of happy and fun almost every day if you look for them and/or work for them. You take these experiences and add them up as you go; either discarding or learning from the shittier parts of life. In the end, I’m sure the net sum will be positive. If it ain’t, well, we’re still gonna fight anyway. The program is teaching me the power of patience, yes, but also the power of just plowing forward and looking for the whole-hog that sometimes only comes my way in the form of bacon bits.
