The Running Date

Despite being together for 19 years I have learnt that running together can be a dangerous date disaster for us!  Our first race date night was at the Lanhydrock 10 miler a couple of years ago.  It was a pleasant drive up and I was looking forward to having his company on my first long race.  ‘I will run the whole way with you’ he said.  Just before the whistle he changed his mind.  Romantic, I was dumped on the start line, left in his dust.

I took it steady from the beginning, during the middle and at the end.  Being fairly new to off road racing I wanted to finish comfortably.  I was looking forward to a well-earned drink in the pub after the race, especially as we were childfree.  Quite pleased and happy with my time I was looking for him to share our stats.  To my surprise he was kneeling in the grass, lobster red, feeling sick and in a lot of pain.  Great, I had to drive us home early, skip the pub, relieve the babysitter and put him to bed with a glass of water and some painkillers.  He did however have a fantastic first race and won an age group trophy.  This has now taken pride of place on his bedside cabinet.  My side has the empty bottle of wine.

The following month a pattern started to emerge.  Date night was turning into race night.  This is when I realised he had also caught the running bug.  This year he has taken it to a whole new level with his intense ultra-running underway.  Often out on the coast path until gone midnight I now give him kudos rather than a kiss goodnight.  I have since negotiated a ladies running trip away to the Lunada Mountains in North Spain so he will have to send my goodnight kiss by pigeon post.

Next year we will celebrate our 20 year anniversary, perhaps a trip to the Budapest for a half marathon race TOGETHER?

Demelza