Tuesday, December 9, 2008

Races and weddings???


They have so many similarities... let me explain.
This past weekend, I went down to Ft. Lauderdale because we were invited to a wedding, and my wife was in the wedding party as one of the bridesmaids. She is currently 7 months pregnant and had 2nd thoughts about being in the wedding d/t some difficulties with the pregnancy and being on her feet for long periods of time, but she did it anyway. (I must admit, I was a bit nervous about her being a part of the wedding over the weekend). All in all, the wedding went well and Kerry did fantastic. But the ironic part of it all is after the wedding.
So Kerry and I left the wedding, and drove over to my parents house, which was about 45 minutes from the reception... and during the drive over, Kerry is replaying to me the whole event... from her meeting the other bridesmaids at the hotel to get ready, to the limo ride to the church, the actual ceremony, the reception and every minute detail in between. She addressed everything that went well, everything that could've gone better... and then she addressed the similarities to our wedding nearly 8 years ago to this wedding.... to everything that we should've done different at our wedding...etc, etc..
The next morning, as we made our way into the van and started driving back to Tampa, Kerry rehashed the wedding details again... and you could see that she still was on her wedding high!!! Basically, it was more or less the same conversation that we had the night before, but I listened, and as she was talking, I was thinking about how passionate she is about this stuff. Instead of cutting her off, and telling her that we already talked about this, I realized that this is her marathon... this is her big race!!! And because I love her so much, I really started to get into the conversation... because I realized how excited she was about this... Honestly, we talked about wedding stuff for about 3 of the 4 hours of our drive. This morning, we went out together for breakfast and guess what??? We talked about....weddings!!!! And then I told her, "Babe, you should be a wedding planner". She gleamed from ear to ear when I said that... I guess it's like telling me, "Greg, you should train for the Olympic Trials.... you have the talent!" I mean I know that's not true about me... but that is her passion (and I truly think she would do well)... and that is exactly how runners feel.
This past weekend was a lot of marathons, and a few hours ago, I went onto a Runner's Online Forum and read so many peoples' race report about how their race went... all the details of the event and how they mentally and physically managed throughout the race. To a runner, it is almost like reading a really catching novel. Even though it wasn't my race, you know how much these people put into getting ready for the big day... and then to see it all come together for some folks... you just feel so good for them... and then to see everything implode for others... you truly feel their pain, because at some point, you have been there yourself.
The wedding is no different.... so much preparation goes into this 2 part, 4-5 hour event... and you just want it to be perfect.... for some the day goes as planned, and for others, there are many mini and/or major disasters...
To the spectators of the wedding or the race, well.... they are always much more forgiving... Kerry asked me, "Did you notice how this didn't go as planned?"... and I was like, "No, I thought that went great..."
It's basically the same as when I tell people... I ran a 4:36 marathon, and 99% of people are like... "WOW!!! That's really good!!" But for me, it is way under what I expect from myself.

Weddings and races.... so many similarities.....
I will never watch Bridezilla the same....

Why running can boost a company’s bottomline - Business of Life - livemint.com

Why running can boost a company’s bottomline - Business of Life - livemint.com