Planning a wedding and training for a full marathon has proven to be an adventure. Last Sunday, between picking out tuxes and mailing out invitations, we found a way to throw in a 21 mile run. Throw in is putting it very lightly. We had to find a way to devote 3 hours and 15 minutes to non-stop running and hope we had enough energy afterward to continue planning a wedding. From what I can remember, I think we accomplished both of our goals. I don’t really know how, but we did.
For us the 21 miles was a mixture of tired and more tired. Somehow we just kept running, even when we took a detour to run through the shaded streets of a neighborhood and got lost. It took us 20 minutes to find our way back to the park. But, during it all, we kept running. We laughed about our horrible navigation skills and the fact that in an effort to find shade we had completely strayed from our path. We kept trying to find the silver lining in it and that’s just what you have to do sometimes. The mind must always stay positive.
We wanted to stop plenty of times, but we kept saying, “We’re almost done,” even when we still had 40 minutes to go. We looked at every five minutes as small victories while we rewarded ourselves with gulps of water or Gatorade. Our legs were heavy and towards the end you could hear each of our shoes scraping against the ground, trying desperately to keep moving forward. When Rachel was feeling tired I put her on my back and when I was feeling tired she put me on hers. We were completely in it together.
In the end, we both made it through the longest run of our lives. It wasn’t easy, but we had each other and that made all the difference. I can’t imagine running without Rachel, because I would just feel incomplete and I’m not sure I would be able to finish. During our long run I realized that, not only in running but also in life, times may be hard but if you are able to lean on each other you can accomplish anything. Somehow we made it through that long run and then found a way to get a lot of wedding planning done. We did it by working together and doing our best to support each other. The key word in this is TOGETHER.
Running On Empty 
Love this blog and the message it holds! I’ve been married 22 years and if you apply some of the rules to running on your life together you’ll do just fine! As for the 21 miles….holy heck that is just awesome!! Right now full marathons are sort of like unicorns, such a pretty idea! The thought of running that far scares the heck out of me. When I finish a long run and feel like I’ve got more in the tank to go further I think,”well, maybe I can do one” and then the following week when a 10 mile run feels like 50 I think, “maybe not”. I will say you both are very inspirational and make me think “maybe!”
Good luck with the wedding planning and the marathon training! Most people would only try conquering one of these things at a time! Y’all might be Super Heroes!!
It’s funny how sometimes you feel like you can run forever, even on a 9 mile run. Then, you can be running 3 miles and you feel like you can’t go any further. It was crazy to us that 21 miles was easier than 17 miles, but then again, if you would have asked me to run 21 miles yesterday I would have cried. I don’t know how we are going to do this full marathon!