Core Work

It seems like there are endless ways to relate running and fitness to life. My husband and I found another one this week. Our fifteenth wedding anniversary was a few weeks ago, and this week we managed to get a few days away at Steamboat Springs to celebrate. We slept in, went to bed late, ate dinner at 10:30 p.m., and just spent time together uninterrupted. We talked about everything serious and funny. We spent time being together without talking, just holding hands and looking up at the mountains. But, for me, the best part of our time together was the running hikes that we took up Mt. Werner and Fish Creek. We covered about 8 miles the first day and 7 or so the second. I especially enjoyed the time on Fish Creek. When we left, my legs were feeling worn. On the way up, I was just keeping up. As we progressed up the mountain and saw the late day-sun shining gold on the waterfalls, my energy returned. I think it had much to do with the encouragement of the wonderful man that was sharing his memories of the trail with me. He'd run this section down during the Run, Rabbit, Run 100 mile race last September. We got up on top and saw some amazing views of the world that God has created for our enjoyment. Some places the trail was cut from the rock face of the mountain. Sometimes aspen whispered to us as we passed. The undergrowth brushed our arms, containing ripe raspberries, gooseberries, and several unknown varieties as well as a yellow, purple, white, and orange wild flowers. Most of the time, the sound of rushing water accompanied our conversation. We kept stopping to marvel at the beauty of another waterfall or pool. We even stopped to dip our toes in one pool on the way down. The big excitement came as we were nearing the last mile of the trail. We'd been running, but my socks were slipping. I stopped to fix them. Justin stopped to wait for me then shouted back, "There is a bear on the trail." I thought he was joking, but looked up to see a small grizzly bear looking at us. He wasn't far down the trail, but after looking at us, he wandered off the trail. We were thankful for that as the only way back to the car was where he had been. We kept up the noise and finished with a bit of running after getting well past him. During one of our downhill running sections, we had remarked how what we'd been doing in the days that we'd had together was a lot like core work. In running, we talk about strengthening our core to keep us from getting injured and to help make our running stronger. Taking time to be with my husband this week without the usual demands of our lives, strengthened our relationship much the way I want to strengthen my core for running. The time invested in our relationship will help when the struggles of life come. I will confess that the core work that we got to do this week was more enjoyable than other types of core work I've done, but I think that the rewards will be much the same.