COUPLED RUNNING...

So I decided to go running with Soprano this morning, this was after he ran and finished the JoziRun yesterday 07.10.2012 ,I felt so motivated that I can also run, he was a novice after all and he did it. So when he woke up and geared up, I joined him, I was confident in my abilities that I will be able to take him on. I’m not exactly a couch potato, I do exercise, so I figured I will be able to run nonstop easy peasy.

It’s amazing what you can achieve as an individual  when you decide to step out of your comfort zone and challenge yourself and test your limits, and when you have someone to share the experience with you it’s even better, makes the process that much more exciting. It’s also impotent for a couple to have shared interests, as individuals we both want to be healthy and keep fit, and the fact that we are being parents as well motivates us further, because we want to be able to keep up with our kids.

 OK back to the story at hand, running on a treadmill or getting on one of those Orbitrek machines like i have been doing, is nothing compared to the abuse your body will endure when you decide to go outside and run, where Mother Nature is right there with all her elements waiting on you. I started off well, kept the pace and managed to keep up with him; it felt easy enough everything just felt n sync that was until we had to do the second lap. Here’s the thing with being human more often that most we tend to either underestimate or overestimate a situation, we all have that misplaced ego that lets us believe that we can achieve anything without putting in any effort, we will even go as far as judging someone who we believe in our eyes is not as capable as we are, and base our victory on that. This is the same arrogance that has people voicing their disappointment when they feel an athlete fell short of achieving greatness, bear in mind the person going on and on like this has never made an attempt to run to the corner, let alone the track. So Mother Nature gave that harsh smack back to reality and boy was I mortified.

The second lap shocked my system, my body couldn't understand what was happening to it, this resulted in my legs feeling heavier and heavier and my lungs failing to get the right amount of oxygen they needed to carry me through. At this point I started to realize that I underestimated Soprano’s fitness level and overestimated my ability to run hassle free. I was mad at myself for listening to my ego and no thinking logically, I mean if running was easy everyone would be running the comrades, those that are concerned with their health anyway. Soprano was just gliding; the only thing missing from his face was a smile jut to show how pleased he is with himself, it was just effortless, from my eyes anyway. As I began to slow down he wanted to slow down and run the same pace as me, but that didn't make any sense to me, and I didn't want him to hear me slobbering like a baby, so I did the decent thing and told him to run ahead, I will catch up eventually, I just need to regroup. Then I will be back on my C game,*sigh*.

 It didn't help much that as I ran my shorts kept going up and now they were starting to feel like underwear,*note to self: run wearing tights* so I decided to power walk, regain my strength then I will continue running again. As cars kept passing me by, driving as slowly as they were, I felt demoralized, and Soprano was way ahead now, i felt like crying but I’m not a quitter, I can do this and I was going to. So I psyched myself up, paid no mind to the cars passing me by or the shorts that kept going further and further up my bum and now i was starting to feel violated and I ran. Mind you,Soprano was no longer within sight, this meant only one thing I have to step my game up, my B game was now in gear, I made my way up the steep slope, breathless and sore, and I turned the corner.

 There he was stretching after utterly denting my ego, I ran all the way to our finish line, when I eventually reached him, he high five'd me and said well done. It had escaped me that this was my first run, and I was trying to keep to the pace of someone who had been running for weeks, crazy aint it?! We got in the house, hydrated and the run was done, just like that it was over, those felt like the longest 6 min of my life. I was happy that I ran with him, didn't give up and managed to reach the finish line, much like child birth, during the process the pain is so excruciating that you feel as though it will never end its hard to imagine let alone see the light at the end of the tunnel, but once you are done, the overwhelming joy that envelopes you is priceless. I will be running again with him tomorrow morning, it’s such a fulfilling experience and best of all I get to do it with him. Killing two birds with one stone, the best of both worlds; exercising and spending some quality time before the madness each day brings begins.


 It’s all love.