On the First Time

On Friday, Chavonne and I had our first re-committed run as a marathoning couple and I have to say, it really was a challenge and a gift. We walked and ran a split of five minutes each, and the pace we were able to keep was pretty impressive over our three miles. The runs remained difficult and my feet in particular continued to hurt as I was breaking in a new pair of running shoes with insoles. At one point, I was passed by a blonde woman whose pace inspired me to do my best to keep up and I managed to run about a third of a mile over the five minutes; that may not sound like much but it is a fairly major achievement for someone with as sedentary a history as I have. The second-to-last run was by far the most challenging; my stomach began to cramp, by calves and hamstrings began to burn, and my mouth began to choke with bile. I was fairly positive I would throw up into the city reservoir, which would have been an ecological disaster to say the least.

However, the walk restored my strength and my breath and I even found the energy and drive to sprint the last fifty yards to the finish so I could make a time under fifty minutes for a pace of sixteen minutes and forty seconds. I could not believe I had it in me to sprint as fast as I did which, again, is not objectively fast, but an achievement nonetheless.

The best part (other than finishing and sitting in our air-conditioned car) was seeing the look of happiness on Chavonne’s face as we both pressed and encouraged each other to run harder. It really drove home the point of why we are running in the first place for me, which is to extend our lives with each other by getting healthier. I want to be able to play with our future son (named "Noah," we believe) without getting short of breath; I want to live to see him grow up; and I want to live to protect and love my wife as long as I possibly can. Maybe marathoning is only a step on the road to better health and better lives for both of us.