The Power of Two

Today was a "bad air day."  My lungs were struggling just walking out of the house.  Two minutes into the five mile workout dear Jayne and I had sworn to each other we would do this morning (solely to justify hitting the grand opening of the Chick Fil A here in town!) I knew I wouldn't be running.  Five minutes in, I had to slow it down from a brisk walk to a bit of a meander.  Lungs burning 10 minutes in, and I knew going an entire five miles was a fantasy.  Four hits off my inhaler seemed to confirm that.

This is my greatest struggle with asthma -the unpredictability.

Left alone, I probably would have stopped after two miles.  I hurt, I was whiny, I just wanted to stop.  I could feel tears prickling the back of my eyes. 

But, see, Jayne was there.  I promised to be there for her, so no matter how slow I had to go, I had to keep going.  When I got to the 2-mile mark, I said, "I'm going until YOU hit five miles, and then I'm done."  She laughed and said, "Well, I'll run more so you can stop sooner!" and we both cracked up.

I was on that treadmill over an hour before my lungs started to ease up.  I was able to run a bit the last 3/4 mile to hit a full five miles.  Jayne had already hit her five miles but she stuck with me until I was done.

I about cried when we stopped... because it hurt, because I did something I really didn't think I could do, out of gratitude Jayne was there, because I didn't give up when I really, really wanted to, out of happiness to be able to complete the original goal... lots of reasons, really.

Still, that chicken biscuit tasted even better sitting across from Jayne and knowing we did what we set out to do!