It is Actually Day 2

I need to start out by saying: I Love My Husband. My love language is words of affirmation - it's important what you say and how you say it. However if this blog is an honest reflection of how I feel he is going to come in for a lot of my exasperated words. So I love ya honey, thanks for being a good sport.

It's actually Day 2

My husband of 18 years decided to begin a couch to 5k jogging program. For some reason I said I would run with him. It was an amalgam of a bunch of reasons that prompted me to offer. I had been half-heartedly toying with some sort of exercise that doesn't include getting out danced by Daisy Duck on the Lion King level of Disney Dance Dance Revolution. Donald, yes, he has the energy and drive of a pugilist- but not Daisy. I wanted to encourage my oft chair bound husband to exercise more. I thought it would set a good example for my three grade schoolers. There were a stack of pants on the padded bench in my bedroom that were just a little too tight for me to wear. All of these rolled around in my head as I opened my mouth and I said, "I'll do that with you."

Here I am on day 2 regretting my mouth's ability to operate independently from my brain. It is fair to say I regretted the words on day 1 too, it's just I had forgotten some things about the Dear Husband on day 1 that remembered on day 2.

Today is my anniversary. 18 years ago today I said "I do" to a goal oriented man. It was a carefully chosen quality - not one that I have naturally myself. Gumption and ambition are part of this quality. I tend to let things come as they may, life is an ever moving river, most of the time I don't care to be the salmon fighting against it. He is also a researcher and he gets manias. Most of the time he researches things like how to create the perfect omelet sandwich, make hashbrown bottom quiche bites or how to efficiently move laundry from the washer and dryer. The manias result when a researched subject captures his imagination. Most of the time it is a one and done proposition - it's the reason I only have one brass steam-punk lamp in my house. Sometimes though the mania morphs into a genuine interest which is why I have four guitars in my house and he plays with our church worship team.

What if this is not a one off mania?

I woke up this morning to the wind howling and a cold rain drumming on our roof. The hurricane off shore was driving a weather system our way. A typical cold March day in the Pacific northwest. Sustained gusts up 50 mph were predicted. "Happy Anniversary!" chirped my husband. "Looking forward to our run?" At least he made me coffee. After the kids got off to school, we went running. I was one of those people. The nutjobs running in the rain. The kind I judged as drove past in my minivan.

I was not running. I was aerobically walking punctuated by a slow jog every few minutes. The cold rain was curving in the hood of my windbreaker and dripping off my nose. What if this is not a one off mania? The horror of that thought sunk in. I may not be goal oriented but I do keep my promises. I had promised. Dang it.

This exercise program bill itself as couch to 5k. But exercise people are not true couch potato people. True couch potatoes would be home making brownies right now. I wanted to be home making brownies. I could practically smell them. Did those exercise people really have any idea how hard it was to jog even this little bit? Stupid exercise people, they probably liked the exercise for itself and not as a means to an end. Exercise people don't understand the allure of cheetos (crunchy, not puffy). They probably wore yoga pants to do yoga-not just because they were comfortable.

Soaked to the skin, we were done. I took the last of the coffee. I earned it.

Running play list: Diving In -Audio Adreniline, Let it Rise - Big Daddy Weave, Your Glory Defined - Casting Crowns, Your Grace is Enough, Sing, Sing, Sing, & You Lifted Me Out - Chris Tomlin, Lift Up Your Face - Third Day, The Cave - Mumford and Sons, Rolling In the Deep - Adele