Still Running Together after 18 years

Andy and I got married very young, Memorial Weekend, 18 years ago.

We were 22 years old.  I am not that person who is going to tell you our marriage has been sweet, with all the bells and whistles. I am not going to act like my marriage is a stain glass window and it looks so good when the truth is we really made a lot of mistakes.
It has been hard. And it has been worth it.

We both like surprises. It was Andy's turn to surprise me this year. All he knew is I wanted to run a race.

Run Thru The Shores 5K
Race Start: 12 pm
Weather: 80 degrees
Number of participants: 300-400
Course: There and Back

This guy was cracking me up. I called him Captain America

The gun went off and we slowly headed to the starting line.
Andy was happy that I was running with him, however, he also really wanted me to race this.
I had studied the runners prior to running and knew that I had a good chance of medaling. "Be Smart Anita." The little competitive voice was quickly drowned out by reason. We are in peak running right now. I have to be smart with my knee. I lwant to be able to just GO. I want to run like my legs were created to do. I wanted to run out of breath and pained from giving everything I had. It was not that day. I could still have a great run, I would run with Andy and cheer him on.
As I ran alongside Andy I had to chuckle. 18 years ago, who would have thought we would celebrate our anniversary running! It was the perfect metaphor for our marriage. We are still RUNNING Strong. 


We had a fun race. I tried to pace Andy at a 8:15 pace. He did really good the first mile. The second mile he was asking to slow down. The 3 mile I was telling him to hold on a little bit longer.

We had a good finish. Andy used those long legs and finished strong.

After catching our breath we checked out the results. I was not even on the results pages. We went to the timer guy, who is a Hansons guy I know. He recognized me and shook my hand. "No problem I will take care of it."

And he did. I ended up getting 3rd place in my AGE group! That was pretty exciting for not racing.

Time: 25:13

Pace: 8:07

Place: 3rd Place in my 40 year old division!

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We stayed in Windsor. I love present time!

Andy spoiled me with all my favorites!

Godiva CHOCOLATE, my first ALTHLETA tank in my favorite color! AND, He saw my pictures of all the running books on my twitter and bought me another book!!

My new shirt and book!!!

 

It was a great anniversary.

 

Anita