Yesterday morning was the annual Girls Just Wanna Run 5K. It’s the largest women’s only run/walk event in the state of Missouri. It’s also one of the runs my wife participated in last year while we were separated.
This year, it was bigger than ever, with over 1.000 registrants and well over 900 actually completing the course. As I did last year, I volunteered so that I could be part of it, although obviously, not as a runner. Lots of husbands and boyfriends serve as traffic directors, man the water stations, etc. I try to get stationed near the start of the course so that I can see my wife go by, then get to the finish line in time to be there for her after the last person passes my intersection.
As a traffic director, I get to watch hundreds and hundreds of women pass by, but I only have eyes for one. Last year, as my wife came by, she was sort of on the outside of a fairly large group of runners, so she was more or less running right toward me. I smiled and said a quick encouraging word (which she didn’t hear because she had her headphones in), but she gave me a high five, and I was pretty much on cloud nine with that.
This race was deep into our separation and was at a time when it was really sinking in that she might not choose me or ever come back to me. That little gesture, and really any sign of friendship or affection at that point, went a long way with me. At last year’s finish, she was exhausted from the extreme heat and disappointed with her time. We hung around for some of the activities and door prizes, and also just so she could have a chance to recover from the heat and humidity.
After the race, they held a zumba demonstration, put on by some instructors from a local fitness center. My wife was looking for a new zumba class and wanted to meet one of the teachers. We went over and talked to him about the class, and at one point, he asked, is this your husband? There was way too long a pause before she said yes, and I was really struggling with fears and doubts. I knew that as fit and attractive as she was, she would have no problem getting pretty much whoever she wanted, and I didn’t know at that point how to make her want me.
Thank goodness it was always me that she really wanted deep down and I was able, with God’s help, to show her enough to make her believe that things were going to be right again between us. She just needed to believe that I was really going to love her forever the way I had promised to so many years ago. That race would be the last one she would run in before we were together again, although it didn’t seem possible that day.
Of course, this year’s race was an entirely different story. I got an enthusiastic high five from her at the turn, and there was no doubt that we both felt the same way. It was hot again, but her time was quite good and she nearly finished in the top 10% of the field. She was still disappointed in her standing in her age group, but I kept telling her, “you beat almost 900 people today.”
It was wonderful to be a couple afterwards, instead of me feeling like a tag along that she may or may not have wanted to be hanging around. We knew quite a few people at the race, and most of them have never known us as anything other than a committed husband and wife. That’s how quickly and completely things can turn around, and that’s why you need to never give up if you’re struggling or fighting for your marriage. Keep believing and do what you need to do, but never give up. There’s always hope.
The Restoration Tour 