6.2 miles before 8am on the 4th of July. Not everyones cup of tea. The Peachtree Road Race – one of the largest road races in America takes place annually on July 4th in the sweltering Atlanta heat – with 60,000 runners this morning.

The Peachtree happens to be one of my favorite times in the summer and I have on three occasions used my persuasive tactics to convince “non-runners” to take place in the glory of sweating alongside thousands. Last year, my sister. Rachel had never run more than 3 miles in her life (or maybe 2) and she {reluctantly} agreed to run the Peachtree. She ran over 5 miles without stopping and even made it up the infamous “heart attack hill”. I could not have been more proud of my little sister – and as I promised, she felt on top of the world at the finish.

I love running, races, competitions, so naturally I was a little bummed yesterday thinking about how I would miss the Peachtree this year.

“I think I’m just going to wake up and do my own Peachtree in the morning” I told Michael.

“Oh I’ll do it with you,” Michael, my I-don’t-enjoy-running-more-than-2-miles-husband said. “We can create our own race.”

We titled our 10K the Deantree Road Race, we mapped out a course, and I got to work on numbers (because we ARE official).

7am, July 4th: We rolled out of bed, brewed expresso, pinned our numbers on our shirts, and set out on our 10K loop. We cheered ourselves on the whole way, had several “what race are they running and where is everyone else?” stares and enjoyed each other’s company.

Waking up early on the 4th and running 6.2 miles would never be Michael’s first choice of something “fun”. But he excitedly agreed to participate because of his love for me – he desired to see me experience joy. And the best part? He enjoyed it and announced we would make it an annual tradition.

Before we were married, a couple told us how important it is to find activities we enjoy and can do together – because over the years couples often drift apart because of vastly different interests. Living life together, as one, often means we don’t get our first choice of activity, but it might be Michael joins in a 10K with me once a year and I learn to play golf. Because seeing our spouse find joy will bring us joy as well – and suddenly running or golf or car mechanics or Muay Thai become enjoyable. Learning how to live in relationship with each other means it’s no longer just about me and what I want to do – the Bible says, “in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others.” (Phil. 2: 3-4). What a great man of God and husband Michael is!

The Peachtree started with 110 runners in 1970 and the Deantree started with 2 newlyweds on our one month anniversary in 2011. We laughed about how our kids are probably going to complain, “I don’t wannntttt to run the stupid Deantree!!”(foot stomp)…but it won’t be up for negotiation:) Joy!

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