"Once during a run with my friend, I repeated myself during our conversation and we
realized how funny we were, and could not stop laughing. I am not sure the exact point she started
plucking or colouring grays, or exactly when I could no longer read the text on
my Blackberry without my glasses, but it’s happening.
This exchange brought about a good laugh, but also an
important perspective. Aging can be a b*#ch,
but it’s the people we age with who make it bearable, worthwhile, even
funny. Think about it – she hates her
gray sprigs, while I can’t see them.
This type of exchange with a running partner works out great…
All this to say that we should choose our running partners
wisely, because they become our friends and eventually become like family, and
then we grow old together…
Maybe instead of dating (which I dislike and quite probably
am terrible at – I don’t do it often enough to know for sure) which has hefty
implications of looking for marriage material, I should think of it more like
choosing a running partner. You know,
more casual. Trying a short run first,
so there is no time commitment if our paces don’t match or conversation falls
flat. Then if that goes okay, maybe a
longer run, or another short run with coffee afterward, eventually leading to
breakfast. Over time we night have a
regular meeting time, a standing run. If
I sometimes opted to run with him over my sweat sisters, some eyebrows would
lift, but in a goo way. We can talk and
run side by side, sharing more personal things without the added weight of eye
contact. We can tackle some hill, and
see how it feels to suffer and say nothing, taking turns with a pull. We could disagree, run off steam, try to talk
about it later, post-sweat, when we are both better people. We could take a big step, and sign up for a
race together – in the future. This makes the presumption that there is a
future, or at least the potential to visualize one, and we could come up with a
plan. We could train together. We could mix up long runs, easy runs, hilly
runs, interval runs, tempo runs. We
could see good days and not so good days.
Eventually the newness would wear off and then we’d get to see the good
stuff – the moods, the grouch, the sullen, the snippy, and uncertain. But it would be bearable. Because we would be
moving in the same direction. We would
give each other the gift of time. It
would always be okay, because there are always more miles.
That’s what I’m thinking for me (Santa, are you listening? I’ve
been a pretty good girls this year). A
running partner (can you make him smart, and cute and tall with a killer sense
of humour?!!) who eventually becomes a friend.
Which later fees like family. And then we grow old together."
