Running with Jennifer

One mumble from Jennifer about maybe slightly possibly kind of thinking about taking up running after Gavin was born and Tom immediately bellied up as Coach. He snapped into action about a half hour after Jennifer's obstetrician gave the all clear on exercise. Coach Tom fired off a series of running route maps, conveniently located around Jennifer's neighborhood and complete with mileage and topography notations.

Tom followed up with advice on proper sneaker fitting and how not to look like a roadnoob. A liberal sprinkling of phone consultations ensued, topped off with the proclamation that his protege would race in the spring. Jennifer was to pick a 5k out of the race forum and Tom would run with her. Wax off, Jennifer-san!

Race day finally arrived last Saturday. The turnout was big. Eric showed up with Nabeela, Adison, Gavin and a Camera as big as Gavin. Donna and Bob were also in attendance. Although Jennifer's First Five Kilometers was, of course, the main event, the secondary event was that Sethie and I would escort Jack and Ella on their first legitimate 5k. (Recall last December when Mary "Rosy Ruiz" clipped the back two off the Big Chill race course, pushing Jack, Ella and a boat-sized stroller across the finish line in a disqualified sub-30.)

As a result of adversities like obsessive-compulsive disorder, leaving late, being pulled over by the law, or maybe just for the sheer drama of it all, the Nutch and Mary squealed into the parking lot after the race had already started.

Because I am magnanimous, I patiently waited for Sethie to assemble the baby jogger. Then we securely strapped Jack and Ella into the baby jogger. When we finally made it over the start line, it was a whole bunch of minutes post gun going off and long after every single runner, jogger, slogger and walker had vanished into the distance. Luckily there were a lot of pokers so we only achieved wildly dead last for maybe a couple kilometers.

Around midway, we eye-spied Jennifer and Coach Tom up ahead on the downside of a big hill. Jennifer looked frisky of foot and very aerodynamic in her new light blue Nike running shirt.

The crowd went wild for Jennifer's highly photographed finish. She commented later that Coach Tom's training had paid off.

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