running

I know I prepped you slightly about my obligate running.  its that part of the marriage contract down in the fine print on the bottom.  at least on ours.  we had a friend at a camp we used to work at in Maine talk about his testimony using a marathon he had run recently as a recurring example.  my wife got inspired.  i got tired.  somehow i agreed to run the houston marathon with her as our first.  a good course, nice and flat.  (a lot of you will appreciate that this weekend when your fulfilling your contract in houston).  afterwards, i thought to myself - whew, did that for the wife and now i can cross that off my list of life goals.  1 week later i get an email in my inbox - "congratulations on your registration for the austin half marathon" - i guess at least it was only a half. not like the marathon we did the year after that - after a certain point (mile 20, more specifically) my calves like to go into superspasm - they literally fibrillate (think of a big bag of worms creeping and crawling)  i walked backwards the last 4 miles on the last one. and popped pills from a stranger because he said it would help. (i figured they had to be good, since the race was in California)  it was easy to spot the 6ft5 undertrained guy.

-its not that i don't enjoy running - its just that i really don't enjoy running

-so now, as i alluded to in a prior post, "santa" signed us both conveniently up for a local 10K.  its interesting, don't you think, that his bowl full of jelly and rosy cheeks couldn't do 10K.  why do i have to?   i know, i know, quit your whining- its only a 10K.  but its not really about that - its about the process

-we now live in the foothills - and my feet and these hills don't get along- up and down.  i prefer the flat island i grew up on- at least for running that is.  a simple 4 miles ain't the same with the "simple roll" of the hills - we have one large hill on our normal route that has been dubbed the "big nasty" -its only like 25% incline, but brutal nonetheless.  i'm not sure where the nasty comes in, but you get the picture

-the other thing in our neighborhood has got these super caved out gutters.  you know that kind that seems like the construction crew carved out of the earth.  a deep chasm were the road gives away steeply into the abyss of the underground.  it might swallow you, small children, and definately any animal under 40 pounds if you get too close.  i almost fell in the other week when it was icy after our snowstorm.  i started wearing my ring on the band of my watch in case i get sucked down one - maybe they'll take pity and try and find a wife to send my battered body to

-now that we have kids - forget about running with them.  ever pushed a 15 pound stroller with a 2 year old and a 10 month old up and down the rolling hills - brutal.  especially when they throw out their passies, juice cups - an onslaught of goldfish to the eye, a giraffe careening for the bottomless gutter and cinderella thrown at the neighborhood dog.  forget it.  we take turns now and run seperate.
-then there's the music - we share an ipod - i should probably get my own, but we share the music.  my wife's serious about the music - if she can't find it or the battery is dead, she won't go.  and the playlist.  lets just say we have a little give and take - she prefers a long line of hillsong, 80s cheese christian music and godspell - now i reallly like hillsong most of the time, but i have a hard time getting motivated to "put a pebble in my shoe" or "by my side" as i trot alone up the "big nasty".  i'm a little more rockin with some beats - moby or black eyed peas -my wife was telling me she does like to run to the one moby song that's the theme music from the jason bourne series - she like to pretend she's angelina jolie bolting down the street as an undercover agent of some kind - you know, normal undercover agent stuff like running in broad daylight with reflective clothing 
-there's also this preponderence of songs talking about going home or moving on her list for some reason - "i'm going home to the place where i belong", "take me home country roads" (not really sure how that got on there), "dare you to move" (i'm going already), and my favorie motivating moby - 'run on' that goes like this "you might run on for a long time - run more, dunkin and dodging, run on children for a long time..." - let just say it certainly feels that way = especially since it repeats this line over and over - but its at a good rhythm that keeps me moving up the big nasty.

-the joys of marital obligations