A Running Gag

Okay, I guess I’d only gag if it was right after dinner.

But Lori and I have been running (okay, jogging) every night now for a few weeks and I think we're beginning to see results.

Back in the day, I used to run three or four miles a day, eventually running and completing (very slowly, mind you, and with walking) the Los Angeles Marathon.

I'd love to take credit for our new health kick but it's really Lori's doing. Left to my own devices I'd probably tap out another chapter in whatever novel I'm writing, read one of my many tomes in the stack of "To Be Read" books or watch a TV show that I taped who-knows-when.

But Lori is serious about this and thus so must I be.

So Lori started walking around the grass common area in front of our house while I kept up my workout on our Gazelle (which allows me to work out AND watch a previously taped TV show). Pretty soon, Lori was jogging about half the time and walking the other half. Then she started encouraging me to join her.

I recalled the days of running in my past and I know how I felt after that marathon.

I remember my friend Chris speaking those words of encouragement. "Man, you just ran a marathon!"

I think I said something along the lines of "I'll never do that again." Actually it was probably more of a gasp and I think I gasped it many times over the next week of recovery.

But, as I said, Lori is serious about this.

So I told her, if she really wants to do it, I know how. I've done it before.

She put me in her care.

So now every week night (we give it a break on the weekends) we park Melody in the stroller on our walkway and, after stretching, start our journeys around the grass common area. So we can keep an eye on Melody, we stagger our running so when Lori’s at the top of the track, I’m at the bottom.

Lori started with five laps around the grass common area. I started with ten. We figured out that seven times around the grass common area was very close to a mile. So each day we added a lap to what we were doing.

Last night Lori completed two miles. Two nights ago I got tired of trying to remember how many laps I was at and jumped up to twenty-one times around, which puts me back at three miles for two nights in a row.

Lori has already noticed more shape to her (as have I) and I'm sure that noticeable weight will soon drop from me (if it hasn't already).

Oh, what we do for love.