Spousal Support
My wife doesn't bother trying to read everything that I write anymore; between a newspaper column, a few websites, and an occasional magazine piece here and there, it's more than she can manage to keep up with.
(Plus, to be honest, when it comes to an abundance of similar-looking trail running gear or the multiple nuances in minimalist shoes I talk about ad nauseam, she could kind of care less - and considering everything else on her plate, I can't say that I blame her.)
However, she knows enough that when she's picking up kids at school and other parents make comments to her like, "Hey - I read about you in the Herald!", she should probably track down our local paper and see just what her husband has been writing lately. The disclosure she finds usually isn't anything especially embarrassing or overly revealing (not from my standpoint, anyway) but more often it simply reminds her - and by extension, much of Monterey County – that she somehow ended up married to a lunatic.
Such was the case a couple of weeks ago, in regards to the Monterey Herald column my friend Mike and I wrote, which follows below.
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Running Life 03/22/12 "Spousal Support"
It's a well-known axiom that behind every good man is a woman – and along the same lines, we'd add this: behind every dedicated runner is an equally devoted spouse.
In the best of circumstances, your spouse won't merely tolerate your running life, but will understand and support it as well. Having a spouse who is also a runner tends to make things easier, but we know of spouses who are incredibly sympathetic even though they don't share the running habit.
The two of us are fortunate that our wives share our healthy lifestyle. Both of them are actually pretty fast (in the running sense, that is), and participate in our sport in addition to supporting our own endeavors.
Donald's wife juggles work and responsibility for 3 school-aged kids, but runs a few times per week and occasionally enters a race when it fits in her busy schedule. Mike's wife Julie has run about 30 marathons with a best time of 3:11 and has run a sub-40-minute 10K. She actually won the 1st Moorea International Marathon in Tahiti some years back. However, our wives' understanding of running doesn't mean total acceptance, and occasionally they poke fun at our compulsive natures.
We both do most of our running in the early morning, usually in the dark on the trails in the Fort Ord open space or Garland Ranch in Carmel Valley. Donald is a special breed of crazy, and while training for ultramarathons will often slip quietly out of bed at 2AM to head out for a high-mileage run. When he does, he sometimes leaves to the sound of his wife muttering about being married to an idiot before she rolls over and goes back to sleep.
When Mike returns from running in the dark, Julie is usually just headed out to run on the Monterey rec trail. She often teases him, "You know, there's a beautiful ocean out there - you should see it some time!"
Last week, Mike returned from running at the track, and Julie asked him how the workout went. Mike said, "It was OK, we did speed work." Julie quickly replied, "I'm surprised you guys still call it speed work" - not so subtly indicating that our group isn't very fast any more.
The sad part is, she's right. Mike's fast 400-meters intervals are now about the same pace he used to run in the marathon, and Donald doesn't need much speedwork in order to run 100 mile races. For better or worse, no one knows us better than our spouses, and we take their comments on the chin with equal parts humor and humility.
Our wives also know what's best for us. When Mike leaves for a race, Julie's last comment is always, "Don't forget to kick!" If she happens to be at the race watching the finish, her first comment will be, "Was that a kick?" Donald's instructions are usually simpler; whenever he leaves for an ultra, his wife simply says "Come back alive." The bar for success is set quite a bit lower for ultramarathoners.
Above all else, our wives make us realize that although running is important, there are a lot more significant priorities in life. It really doesn't matter to them if we run slow or fast – but they care about us enough to support our active and healthy lifestyle, and fortunately for us, running is just one more thing they weave into the complicated fabric of our families.
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Check out the Running Life book for a collection of our most popular columns.
(Plus, to be honest, when it comes to an abundance of similar-looking trail running gear or the multiple nuances in minimalist shoes I talk about ad nauseam, she could kind of care less - and considering everything else on her plate, I can't say that I blame her.)
However, she knows enough that when she's picking up kids at school and other parents make comments to her like, "Hey - I read about you in the Herald!", she should probably track down our local paper and see just what her husband has been writing lately. The disclosure she finds usually isn't anything especially embarrassing or overly revealing (not from my standpoint, anyway) but more often it simply reminds her - and by extension, much of Monterey County – that she somehow ended up married to a lunatic.
Such was the case a couple of weeks ago, in regards to the Monterey Herald column my friend Mike and I wrote, which follows below.
**
Running Life 03/22/12 "Spousal Support"
It's a well-known axiom that behind every good man is a woman – and along the same lines, we'd add this: behind every dedicated runner is an equally devoted spouse.
In the best of circumstances, your spouse won't merely tolerate your running life, but will understand and support it as well. Having a spouse who is also a runner tends to make things easier, but we know of spouses who are incredibly sympathetic even though they don't share the running habit.
The two of us are fortunate that our wives share our healthy lifestyle. Both of them are actually pretty fast (in the running sense, that is), and participate in our sport in addition to supporting our own endeavors.
Donald's wife juggles work and responsibility for 3 school-aged kids, but runs a few times per week and occasionally enters a race when it fits in her busy schedule. Mike's wife Julie has run about 30 marathons with a best time of 3:11 and has run a sub-40-minute 10K. She actually won the 1st Moorea International Marathon in Tahiti some years back. However, our wives' understanding of running doesn't mean total acceptance, and occasionally they poke fun at our compulsive natures.
We both do most of our running in the early morning, usually in the dark on the trails in the Fort Ord open space or Garland Ranch in Carmel Valley. Donald is a special breed of crazy, and while training for ultramarathons will often slip quietly out of bed at 2AM to head out for a high-mileage run. When he does, he sometimes leaves to the sound of his wife muttering about being married to an idiot before she rolls over and goes back to sleep.
When Mike returns from running in the dark, Julie is usually just headed out to run on the Monterey rec trail. She often teases him, "You know, there's a beautiful ocean out there - you should see it some time!"
Last week, Mike returned from running at the track, and Julie asked him how the workout went. Mike said, "It was OK, we did speed work." Julie quickly replied, "I'm surprised you guys still call it speed work" - not so subtly indicating that our group isn't very fast any more.
The sad part is, she's right. Mike's fast 400-meters intervals are now about the same pace he used to run in the marathon, and Donald doesn't need much speedwork in order to run 100 mile races. For better or worse, no one knows us better than our spouses, and we take their comments on the chin with equal parts humor and humility.
Our wives also know what's best for us. When Mike leaves for a race, Julie's last comment is always, "Don't forget to kick!" If she happens to be at the race watching the finish, her first comment will be, "Was that a kick?" Donald's instructions are usually simpler; whenever he leaves for an ultra, his wife simply says "Come back alive." The bar for success is set quite a bit lower for ultramarathoners.
Above all else, our wives make us realize that although running is important, there are a lot more significant priorities in life. It really doesn't matter to them if we run slow or fast – but they care about us enough to support our active and healthy lifestyle, and fortunately for us, running is just one more thing they weave into the complicated fabric of our families.
Get updates as soon as they're posted! Click here to subscribe to Running and Rambling.
Check out the Running Life book for a collection of our most popular columns.
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