My body has a cold…but my heart is warm.
First of all, do you think it’s called a cold because your hands and feet get so chilly? My feet were frozen last night; they felt like they might crack…and I had socks on. At bedtime, I removed the useless socks, turned off the light, got into bed next to my husband and then iced my left shin with my right foot.
Then my brain started spinning.
What if I’m hurt again? It’s the same thing as last year. I’m never going to get to run a marathon. Maybe I’m not a marathon runner. Maybe I should just stick to 5k’s. Why are my arches tight? Maybe I shouldn’t be wearing orthotics at all. Maybe it’s their fault. What did I do? I don’t feel like I’ve overdone anything. I’m only running three times a week (except for a couple weeks when I ran four times, but that shouldn’t matter). I’m running less than I did last year. Why can some people run marathons every weekend and some people can’t even get one? This is what Christopher McDougall was talking about. It’s not fair. Wah, wah, wah.
My eyes started to get blurry in our dark room, and the love of my life — my best friend — Mr. T, reached over, patted my thigh and said, “It’s going to be okay,” as if he’d heard everything going on in my head. Then he kissed me goodnight and, “Happy anniversary.” I slipped my frozen toes under his warm legs, quieted my brain and fell asleep.
 |
| 2002 |
Today is our 9-year anniversary.
I actually met Mr. T in college at the end of 1995 and we officially began dating in January of 1997. I wasn’t much of an athlete then. Not like I was in high school.
In high school, I had swim practice and soccer and track and cross country. There was a time I had basketball and softball, too. And I would run in my neighborhood. I would run mid-day during the hot Central California summer months. I would tackle monster hills…for fun. In PE class, I would actually run laps around the track while most of the other girls would walk it.
But in college, I really only occasionally ran. I went for a jog if I ate too many Pizza Pipeline Tricky Stix (cinnamon and butter breadsticks that came with frosting to dip them in — heaven) the night before, and once I ran five miles around the track when I was homesick. I played soccer (for school credit!) and occasionally took an aerobics or abs class with my sorority sisters. But I didn’t eat, breathe, sleep, write running or any of those things.
 |
| 1995 |
Then we graduated and I worked long hours in a newsroom. He commuted to Seattle. We were busy, busy, busy. Working, working, working. This is how it went for years.
We got married in 2002. We’d spent the year before the wedding getting in shape, but forgot about that after the honeymoon. Then T Junior came along in 2008 and everything changed. I worked less and had to learn how to be a mother. And, even though, that’s what I wanted, it still felt like something was missing. Like I’d been missing something for a long time.
Two years ago, the herniated disc (and the threat of having surgery) was my wake-up call, and when I began running to get back into shape so my chronic back pain would go away (and hopefully lose some weight, too), I found out what that missing thing was.
Running.
And Mr. T’s wife changed. And she started to talk about running all the time. And writing about it. And she became cranky if she missed a run. And she was gone on Sunday mornings all the time. And she filled her dresser with running clothes. And she spent way too much money on races. And she got injured and cried about it a lot. And he discovered registering her for a marathon is actually a good gift.
 |
| From L-R: Baby (T Junior), Mommy (me) and Daddy (Mr. T) at Santa Runs Tacoma in 2010. |
My running addiction has definitely been something we’ve had to work on in our relationship over the past couple of years. He supports me, but he also has to keep me in check. If you’ve read this blog for any amount of time, you probably know I can get carried away. Just a little bit.
He also knows what running this marathon means to me. And, as I realized last night, I don’t even need to say it. He just knows.
21 comments
Happy Anniversary!! It sounds like you got yourself a good one. Think positive thoughts!
Happy Anniversary, Kerrie and Mr. T.! Thanks for sharing your story! I can so relate on so many levels. You found yourself a keeper there. Hugs!!!
My husband is very supportive of my running…within reason of course 🙂 I try to be respectful of his support and not take advantage of it. He fully recognizes the 180 I do after a run in my attitude, emotions, mental state etc–and sometimes he'll even tell me, please go run! Happy Anniversary!!!
CRYING AT MY DESK KTHX.You have a good guy, you know that?
This is so sweet! What a beautiful tribute to a great guy (from what I read on MvsM.)Whats your diet like? Are you getting enough calcium? Enough Vitamin D? Gotta call in reinforcements when your shins take a pounding like that.
Happy Anniversary! Such a sweet man you have! It is so wonderful that he understands. Yes, my hubby can get annoyed with how much I talk about training, races, my runs…but he does truly know how important it is to me, and those occasional “i'm proud of you” moments are so sweet! Hope you guys have an awesome anniversary!
First of all, happy anniversary to you and Mr. T! 9 years is quite an accomplishment!I totally understand what its like to be the “changing wife”. For me, I was the “changing girlfriend”. VERY shortly after my husband and I started dating is when I got bitten by the running bug. I'm sure he thought I was a total maniac, considering we had only been dating a few months. All of a sudden, I was obsessed and its all I wanted to talk about and think about. I wanted to have the fastest shoes, the coolest singlet, the most comfortable socks. I NEEDED it all. Then came the races…the endless 5k's, then 8k's, then 10k's, and on and on until the marathon. My sweet husband has been there by my side the whole way. He has never complained about the money spent on races or shoes or other gear. He has gotten up at the crack of dawn to watch me race so many times that I can't count anymore. He has always been at the end, armed with a camera in hand, ready to snap my finish line photo.Having a “partner in crime” is invaluable. He is better than any training partner I've ever had. I don't know what I would have done without his support, foot rubs, or encouraging words.
A beautiful post, thanks for sharing.
This is so sweet! Loved it. Happy Anniversary to you! And I hope things go smoothly for you. I know how it feels to want something so bad and be so scared of injury getting in the way. Keep positive Kerrie! You're awesome!
Happy Anniversary! It is such a blessing to have a husband that truly “gets” you and supports and loves you. I love hearing about other happy couples. Yay !:)
happy anniversary!
Happy Anniversary!My husband supports me but also likes to complain just to bug me. He jokes like “I wish you were faster so I wouldn't have to wait around for 4.5hours for you to finish a marathon.” He's KIDDING but I still give him a playful punch on the arm when he says crap like that.
What a great post!My husband is also very supportive, even when I say things like “Well, a 50K isn't a REAL ultra, I really want to do a 50 mile race in the fall so I can say I'm an ultramarathoner” 🙂
Happy anniversary Kerrie & Mr. T (and T Jr)!
Every race a I do I say thank you a lot to Rob, for taking over while I train, for loading up the kids and staying in a hotel, for staying with our kids who woke up at 4:30 in the morning when I tried to sneak out of the room to go to the start line, for lugging the kids out in the rain (it always seems to rain) to cheer me on at mile 11, and 18, and…the finish.When I finished the the marathon in December, it took me a really long time, it was hard. But it was worth it to hear Rob say, “What you do is hard”, he was not talking about the marathon he was talking about the kids.You may ask a lot of your husband so you can run but you are a better wife and mom because you run.Happy Anniversary,elena
happy anniversary!
Happy anniversary!
What a special post, Kerrie. 🙂 We're a 2002 model, too. I didn't realize we were both later-in-life runners. I had A in 2007. We have a few things in common, the most evident being that we are both run-obsessed and our hubbies have learned to adapt and support and encourage. Love it.
Happy Anniversary!I often wonder what it would be like in a relationship where BOTH partners are not obsessed runners. It takes a special person to be married to a running addict. 🙂
Awwww – Happy Anniversary (a bit belated)! He's a keeper! I am thankful that my hubby not only tolerates my obsessions, but cheers me on through them.
Okay, so maybe I just see things that aren't there, but in the picture of you running with the little one running beside you, at first glance, it looks as though you are holding a doll by the head. Then I realized that it was the depth perception that was making it look like that.Cute though. And Happy Anniversary!