Running a Marathon One Mile at a Time in a 24 Hour Period with My Husband, the Bubble



My husband, Scott, is my bubble.  Bubbles are people who bring lightness and joy into your life.  I can be serious and a professional-grade worrier at times. He is not.  Scott generally lets things roll off his back and is always ready to joke around or make anything into a game.  Worrying is not in his repertoire.  I am so jealous about that.


So a month and a half into quarantine, he had a brilliant idea.  He wanted a challenge to spice up his running regimen.  So, he challenged us to join him in running a marathon in a 24 hour period.   Two miles at 6:00 P.M., two miles at 7:00 P.M., and then one mile each hour until 26.2 was reached.  Running 26.2 miles sounds insane.  Running a mile is doable.  So we all agreed to take part in the insanity - except Luke.  Luke (15 years old) decided that he would start with us and then decide later how far he would go.  


6:00 PM - no problem other than eating dinner too close to 6:00 PM


7:00 PM - no problem


8:00 PM - a good friend came over to join us 


9:00, 10:00, 11:00 - still ok - the May night was cool and still - one mile was totally fine. 


People started napping in the family room around 12:00.  The alarm would go off five minutes before the hour.  Whoever was sleeping would wake up, put shoes on, join the crew, run, mark off the chart, take shoes off, and then go back to sleep.


Every hour since mile one Scott would take photos and videos of the event, often narrating in an animated fashion how excited we were, how well we were doing, and whatever else he wanted to say.  Around 1:00 AM I wanted to slap him.  I am not proud of it, but I was tired and didn’t want to run anymore. I wanted uninterrupted sleep.  The sound of his alarm waking us up again and again five minutes before each hour can still be heard ringing in my ears.  And he was so happy the whole time even at 3:00 AM.


Looking back - what was there to be unhappy about?  Was it exhausting?  Yes.  The people I loved most in the world were doing this crazy thing with me.  My friend joined our family bubble and stayed the night.   We were healthy, and we had the next day to completely recover.  Why was I so visibly cranky in some of the wee hour pictures?  No one forced me to do this.  Luke understood this and went to bed, abandoning the challenge from 2:00 AM to 7:00 AM.  


Luckily my bubble ignored my crankiness and just kept going.  He smiled, joked, and even gave me a little bit of space.  But he kept being his bubble self. And that is good, because that is what I really needed. 


Lesson learned:  Be nice to the bubble.  Embrace his ways even when you don’t feel like it.  Chances are, you are most in need of his bubbly-ness at those times. 

Comments

  1. onathought.comMarch 9, 2021 at 4:02 PM

    What an adventure! How lucky to have someone by your side to keep it light like this. I've been spending the whole quarantine trying to get myself motivated to get back to running! So this was amazing to read!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. MJ StrongMarch 9, 2021 at 4:07 PM

      I could never run a marathon. I am a slow runner who maxes out at 5 miles. This was a fun way to get a crazy amount of miles under my belt. I highly recommend it.

      Delete
  2. ChristinaMarch 9, 2021 at 5:29 PM

    As a runner I really enjoyed this unconventional challenge. In some ways, it is even more challenging, because you have to deal with inertia over and over again. I also love how you call your husband your bubble for multiple reasons. Thanks for sharing this fun piece.

    ReplyDelete

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