My husband and I did the Father Joe's Turkey Trot in Balboa Park for the first time this year. Typically, I don't like running with my husband, but I figured this was only a 5K and just a fun run, so what could go wrong? In fact, it was fun and nothing (too bad) went wrong. We saw this guy at the start:
What a cute little turkey.
And while all the dogs were cute at the start line, it quickly became annoying once the gun went off. With thousands of people and many of them with dogs, it and was more stressful and chaotic than fun for about the first 10 minutes. There was a weimaraner bark-howling at every other person and trying to break free from it's leash, some kind of little wiry terrier kept jumping on passersby, and then there were multiple owners who let the retractable leash go too far...you can imagine. So, for the first mile my husband and I jogged slow and circumspect while entertaining ourselves by making gobbling sounds and then going "Ppiwww" like a shotgun. The two guys dressed like turkeys did not think it funny when my husband pretended to shoot them...and I was mortified. Which brings me to why I don't like running with him: when he's not actively doing things that he knows will embarrass me (like making farting sounds as he jogs passed someone getting into their car, or walking with their child), he's listening to his headphones shouting observations at me over his music, "DID YOU SEE THAT GUY?!" which is even more embarrassing. So that was the last 2 miles of the race... me being annoyed that he couldn't run a stupid little turkey trot with me without headphones.
I know I shouldn't care. I should let him do whatever makes running easier for him, but it's just not what I imagined when I asked him to run it with me. I always forget that when I ask people to go on runs with me, it's more like asking them to run beside me and ignore me while they listen to music.
Oh well. I'm still thankful for running, and I'm especially thankful for the fact that I can function as a runner without headphones. I know so many runners "incapable" of running without them these days. Running in and of itself is what's enjoyable to me-- not my pace or my finish time or my playlist.
I hope you had a great Thanksgiving.
Remember to be thankful that we can run whenever we want!
Is that a new profile pic? I like!
Turkey trots tend to be chaotic, and that turkey trot in particular because the roads are so narrow and the crowds so vast. As for your husband, maybe next year you keep him on a shorter leash. :-)
Rule Number One you should tell your husband. Runners don't run with headphones when they are running with others (wife included). Solo runs are a different story. Wow...seems pretty basic to me. But that's just me.