My wife and I recently made a friendly bet to help jump start our work out routine that had been lacking as of late. A half marathon was the bet. Who ever had the fastest time would win. It wasn't our first, not even our first time running one together. But it was our first high stakes race.
We had a tough time deciding on what the bet would be. More truthfully, we had a tough time deciding what my prize would be. I came up with a few ideas. But my wife quickly informed me that Jennifer Lawrence, Jessica Biel, and Alyssa Milano are too busy to get involved in a bet over a half marathon race.
I finally settled on a set of golf clubs. Taylor Made RocketBladez to be precise. I've been golfing with a bladed irons instead of cavity irons and I've been informed that blades are harder to hit. So I've been wanting to make the switch to an easier to hit club. So why not include it in our bet. It's a bit pricey for a bet between a husband and wife, but I've used the same clubs for nearly 15 years and it's about time for an upgrade.
My wife had no problem coming up with her reward...
So we started training for the Middleton Haunted Hustle Half Marathon. I started off not training as hard as I should have. My wife was strong out of the gates with T25 and some running to compliment it. I finally decided that if I wanted to have a chance of winning new clubs, I would need to start training. I told my wife that maybe I would just diet instead of training for the race. She rolled her eyes.
Little did she know that I did start to train. I travel for work so I decided to bring my workout clothes and run while I was on the road. I reported back that I had an uneventful evening while running in Louisville, Harrisburg, Columbus, Omaha, Minneapolis, and Norfolk. When I wasn't traveling I would bring my work clothes to work and run during my lunch break. We did our long runs together and she just thought that I was foolish and only running those.
I felt kind of bad for the lie by omission. She does the laundry so she could have noticed the sweaty towel I used post shower at the office. Or the running clothes that were in my bag after I returned from a trip. But she never did pick up on that. The weight I lost was explained away by my new 'training via diet' strategy. We even had our son's Godfather as the impartial judge to determine if what either of us was doing was considered cheating. I got the approval, my conscience was clear, and she was none the wiser.
Then she got an injury.
She had to take a couple weeks off due to a sharp pain she got in her leg after lifting some heavy objects at work. She said she felt it whenever she walked. It did not look good for her completion of the race. She was feeling really down after taking two weeks off, was frustrated, and vented to me. "The thing that makes me so mad is that you haven't been training at all. I would have totally kicked your ass if it wasn't for this injury." I laughed to myself. I asked her if it would make her feel better if I had been training and that she didn't have the win in the bag. She said "yes." I revealed my white lies. I told her about the running while on the road and during my lunch breaks. I pointed out all the evidence that she could have found but did not. We both had a laugh and she ended it with a "Good!"
Then she said she wanted to try out her leg on a long run. An 8 mile long run after only have ran 6 2 weeks prior.
We went out for the run and she got better. That's right... BETTER! She got through the 8 miles okay. The next day she felt better than she ever had. I was demoralized. I revealed my secret too soon and stopped training as hard. I should have started training harder. Come the day of the race she absolutely smoked me. She set a PR by nearly 20 minutes. Little did I know that when she got her I needed every workout possible to try and keep up with her on race day.
I was so very happy for her. She ran a great race. I PR'd as well. Despite starting off too fast to TRY and keep up with her (unsuccessfully after 3 minutes into the race) and nearly walking the last 3 miles. I felt awful but it was my fastest time.
So come sometime this winter, I'll watch our two boys as my wife gets all dressed up and packs a travel bag. I will kiss her goodbye and tell her that she deserves this prize fair and square. And when she returns I'll do my best to keep a smile on my face as she tells me every detail of her spa day in Lake Geneva, WI :)
She's so lucky to have married such a selfless, loving, and slow husband.
Please check out my Kickstarter to fund my book about running 12 Races in 12 Months
If funded, I'll blog about it here as well.
