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A Woman’s Perspective: Becoming an Athlete with Inspiration from Her Husband
By Ann Brennan January/February 2011
For the Washington Running Report
Eighteen years ago, a couple of weeks after my husband and I got married (we were college sweethearts), we decided it was time to lose all of the weight we had put on in college. Influenced by my father-in-law, a lifelong runner, we decided to train for a road race. That first spring we were diligent about our training and diet and thrilled to see all the weight we had gained fall off. Over the following years, though, we were less diligent.
As our marriage progressed, my husband, Blaise, decided to go to law school and I decided to stay home with the kids. Our exercise routines went in two different directions. I threw myself headfirst into marathon training. Even though I didn't know what I was doing most of the time, I was religious about following a training schedule and putting in the miles. Blaise, on the other hand, was too busy with work and school to even think about exercise. Still, whenever I mentioned a local 10K or 10 miler I had entered, Blaise, with good intentions of getting back on the training wagon, would sign up, too.
For the next couple of months, I would follow a routine I had found in a book or a magazine. Without fail, Blaise would look at the calendar a week before the race and head out the door, run as fast as he could--for as long as he could--and come home declaring he was ready.
I would love to say that my smarts beat his smarts, but that isn't how it worked. Race morning would come along, I would plod through my race happy just to finish and Blaise would be waiting for me at the finish having run much faster than should have been possible on a one-run training regimen. Silently, I fumed at his ability to be fast and stay thin with little effort. But outwardly I would encourage him to work harder and maybe train for shorter distances, but he was just too busy to take running seriously and it wasn't important to him.
At some point, I don't know when, things changed.
I would like to think it was after watching me cut 20 minutes off my marathon time, but it more than likely had to do with the big 4-0 coming up on the birthday calendar. My husband, the "train-once-before-a-race" runner, got serious. Blaise started training with a schedule and a religious fervor. I knew he had gotten serious when he would wake me up at 4 a.m. with all of the, "Honey, have you seen my red shirt?" type of questions. I watched my once soft and cuddly husband turn into a hard bodied athlete.
Part of me was jealous and another part wished I had the same body type for such a transformation. But the biggest part of me was proud. Proud of all of the work he has put in, proud of the strides he has made since those law school days and proud to watch him cross the finish line of his marathon with a Boston Marathon qualifying time.
The confidence that has come with that qualifying time has been truly inspirational. To watch my husband who never thought of himself as an athlete becoming one at 40 has been inspiring. I can watch ESPN SportsCenter all day long and not come away believing I could be a better athlete. As I watched my husband crank out 6:30 minute miles over a half marathon distance (coming in 16th overall and 2nd in the masters division) it made me believe that I can do more, push harder and be better.
When we were first married we could have made a decision to continue our sedentary lives, continuing to grow wider and less healthy with each year. I cannot pinpoint the moment we made the decision that that was not the life for us, but each day, even at 4:00 a.m. when I am awakened by a husband who cannot find that damn red shirt, I am thankful that we got up off that couch and did become athletes and the runners we are today. I am hopeful that in the next 18 years we will continue to push ourselves and inspire each other.
This was adapted from an entry in Ann Brennan's blog, www.annsrunningcommentary.com. She also has a bi-weekly column, "The Athletic Annapolitan" on the Greater Annapolis Patch and contributes to "Eye On Annapolis
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