My husband and I love doing pretty much anything and everything together. We are always up to try something new, go somewhere different, and push ourselves to branch out. One of the things we have recently picked up doing on the side is running.
Now, don’t get all excited, we are amateur at best. We don’t monitor our diet or stick to any sort of strict training schedule. Instead, we eat as we normally would, run when we can, and take things at a pace that is comfortable. Nonetheless, we have been enjoying our new endeavor, which led us to run our second 5K last weekend.
Located at Knott’s Berry Farm, we were excited for the Coaster Run that featured an inspiring pre-race appearance by Snoopy himself. While getting up at 6:45AM on a weekend was less than exciting for me (I am far from a morning person), my excitement and adrenaline started kicking in as we stretched and waited in the mass of people lined up at the start line. When the gun fired, we were off and running.
It was a cold and rainy morning, but my husband and I stuck together and crossed the finish line extremely proud of ourselves. There is something exhilarating about accomplishing something like that with one another (and the fact that it was helping a good cause was a double bonus). As we high-fived and hugged, we decided that pushing ourselves to do things like a 5K at the dawn of day is a bonding experience. You overcome something together, and it is a unique and intimate thing.
Sometimes it is tough to push yourself to do something difficult or outside of the box; I get that. But when you do, it almost always leads to fun memories, laughter, and closeness. Participating in a new activity is exciting and naturally adds a little flair and novelty to your relationship, which I think just about everyone could use from time to time. As you stretch yourself, you grow as an individual and a couple. It forces you to tackle new problems and situations as a team. There is the physical challenge and the emotional and relational reward.
I want to encourage you to sit down with your spouse or significant other and make a plan to do something different. Think outside the box. Of course it needs to be something that you would both somewhat enjoy, but try to come up with something that you wouldn’t typically think of or have been putting off. I guarantee you will be happy you did.
P.S. I would love to hear any of your stories of doing something fun together either past, present, or in the future. If you email me your story and attach some pictures, I just might have to feature it on the website to encourage others!
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