Mother’s Day Marathon Classic

As they cruised past the 10 mile marker of the Mother’s Day Marathon Classic, Dan said, “Good plan of yours to take a walk break at every water stop, John, and I love that they have cups of ice, too. It helps in this horrible heat.”

They’d decided before the starting gun to keep a nice easy pace and not concern themselves with their final times. Finishing upright and healthy was the sensible goal for a bad weather contest.

“No lie. Just be aware to not drink too much water.”

“You can drink too much water?”

“Oh, yeah,” said John. “In serious cases, it can even kill you. Drinking too much in something like a marathon can lead to hyponatremia. It happens when you screw up the balance between water and electrolytes in your body. Even in mild cases it can make you dizzy and confused, and maybe lose your cookies.”

“No kidding? Although with the pre-race regimen you forced me into for this race, I haven’t got too many cookies to lose.”

The pair were friends who’d remained close since meeting in middle school. In their case, opposites seemed to attract. These days, John is a very left -brained Manager of Network Maintenance and Security, and Dan a primarily right-brained professor of Medieval English Literature. Perhaps the fact that they both enjoyed distance running was the origin and glue of their strong relationship.

So it was ironic when John, the more dedicated athlete of the two, said, “Geez, why the heck are we running a marathon on an 80 degree morning with barely a breeze?”

“Because you signed us up for it seven months ago, brainiac. Without asking me. And since the entrance fees and hotel booking are non-refundable, we run or we’ve wasted mucho dinero.”

“Yeah, well, who could’ve guessed the very un-merry month May would be one long heatwave. Mother’s Day is not supposed to be this hot.”

“Life’s full of surprises, Dano. Some places are getting inundated with deafening cicadas, while we get cooked. And, hey, though you may not think much of the merry month of May, Peg sure did.”

“What?”

“Turns out that phrase is from a poem from the 16th century by Thomas Dekker, part of a play of his called ‘The Shoemaker's Holiday.’ Of course, Peg didn’t know that, so she was deeply moved when I read her the first stanza of the poem on her birthday. Let’s see, how does it go?

The month of May, the merry month of May,
So frolic, so gay, and so green, so green, so green!
And then did I unto my true love say
Sweet Peg, thou shalt be my summer's queen!”

John couldn’t help but laugh. “I’m almost embarrassed to be seen with someone who quotes poetry in the middle of a 26 miler. And she doesn’t know that you didn’t write that yourself?”

“I’m sure she does by now. You know how smart Peg is. But she loves me, so the plagiarism won’t bother her a bit. She'll consider the effort of finding and stealing the quote is very romantic.”

The pair paused for water, ice and electrolytes at the tables a few yards past the 16 mile marker. When they resumed running, Dan decided to broach a possibly touchy subject.

“So, uh, Peg told me you and Ginny may be heading for the rocks, for real this time. But, hey, if you don’t want to talk about it right now, no problem. I’m just trying to avoid thinking about the ten miles we still gotta go.”

“Aw, it’s the same old argument, too little time together. Though this time it nearly got out of control. Damn it, I know she’s right. I just don’t know how to fix it.”

“Really? You’re a veritable Mr. Fix-it.”

“OK, I do know the answer. I’m just not sure I can do it.”

“You’re my best friend, John, but I gotta tell you I worry about you at times. You are the quintessential personification of the phrase ‘burning the candle at both ends.’ At one end, your head, because you put in way to many hours on your job, letting them call you or drag you into the office at all hours. At the other end, your feet, because you won’t trade marathoning for a distance that requires less training time and a lower likelihood of injury.”

“Come on, Dan. They depend on me at the office, you know that. Computers and network equipment breaks down.”

“Too much so in this case. John, we’ve discussed this before. The company’s doing well. They can afford to upgrade the machinery. And you need to have an assistant to cover for you so you can have a real personal life.”

“OK. Enough. I know you’re right. It's just hard. But I don’t want to lose Ginny. I’ve thought about asking her to marry me, and I’m absolutely sure she’d be a great mom. But she’s so mad at me right now…I hope I haven’t lost her.”

“If you really feel Ginny is the best thing that’s happened to you, this fight doesn’t have to be the end of the story. I know for sure the relationship can survive if you’re both willing to compromise. I know Ginny is. She talks to Peg all the time. And Peg talks to me.”

John was quiet for a minute. Finally he glanced at Dan with a smile that said both ‘You win,’ and ‘Thanks.’

“Just eight miles left, buddy. You good to pick up the pace a little? I want to get home and make some changes.”