In Sickness and in Health

I remember saying those words as part of our wedding vows in August of 1991!  I am pretty sure that I was probably more concerned with one of us getting sick and pictured hospital beds and wheelchairs in my head.  Jerry and I have so far been really blessed with good health.  We never take that for granted though and we have always done whatever we can to support each other in a healthy lifestyle.  We actually met in an exercise class so it was sort of destined to be this way!  Early on we enjoyed lots of biking and hiking together.  Then came endurance sports which really took that "in health" vow to new levels.

Jerry is all signed up to do the Burning River 100 endurance run again this summer.  A lot of conversation goes into these decisions and I really appreciate that he takes the entire family into consideration before signing up for anything.  Is this a good year?  What else is going on?  Can we handle it?  Can we afford it?  It's a pretty long list of issues when you think of the commitment and what it takes to train for something like that.  I swear we had decided against it and then a few days later we swung 180 degrees and the check was in the mail.  That's usually how we do things.  Over over over analyze..............We are the opposite of spontaneous; an engineer and a woman with a science degree.  We consider every last variable to the nnnnnnnth degree.  It's kind of embarrassing.

On Tuesday I passed by Station Road which is a major aid station stop for Burning River.  I started thinking of all the ways the girls and I will need to support Jerry during this race.  We need to be there with lots of food options, drinks, first aid, extra clothes, socks, shoes, cameras, chairs, etc.  The back of our car turns into a big ugly mess.  The night time is when it really gets fun though!  The girls are already looking forward to being out all night and watching the sunrise.  We are trying to figure out if any or all of us girls will pace him at any point.  I'm not so good in the woods, especially at night!

In general we delight in the fact that Jerry has so much energy.  I noticed last night as we all sat down for some TV time that we utilize his energy in strange ways.  Within 60 seconds of sitting down, the requests started.  "Dad can you get me some water?"  "Dad can you get me some pretzels?"  "Can somebody give me a blanket?"  I started to feel bad but after 22 years of knowing him I realize that he just cannot sit still.  Movement is his nature.  He truly does not mind all the requests and I sincerely think he enjoys doting over us three ladies.  It's sort of like payback - we support him during the training for Burning River and on race day; and in return he supports us whenever he's not out running!