How it all started...

I get a kick out of standing next to Walt when we are around someone new who just learns that Walt is a crazy runner. The conversation always starts off with "So Walt, I assume you were a runner when you were younger". I usually stand there, looking like the spouse of a celebrity on the red carpet, where no one has any idea her name, as her husband is getting interviewed by the press as the crowd gathers around to hear tales of Walt lettering in cross country 4 times in high school. The funny thing is that I am the reason he started running. No, not to get away from my ocd of having a clean house, but it was my idea that afternoon in April of 1998 to go for a run. The run that would change my life forever.

It all began on a spring day in April of 1998. I had always been involved in fitness my whole life from being a cheerleader in grade school to dancing and being on pom pom in high school. After high school while I was in college, I started taking aerobic classes which led to me becoming certified as an aerobic teacher and teaching classes. Down the road, I decided to become a personal trainer, all while working full time as a paralegal downtown. I had the mindset that, cardio was just as important as weight lifting. Then Walt walks into my life.

Walt enjoyed working out as well, but at Powerhouse with the guidos. Walt, who is designed just like his father, is tall and thin but when I met him, he was a "muscle head". His arms had veins that were so protruding that it made Popeye look like Wimpy.

When we started dating, I assumed his large biceps were from pulling a bow and arrow, for every single guy I dated seriously, was a hunter. When Walt told me he didn't hunt or had never hunted, I assumed his large muscle mass was from steering his boat. When he told me, it wasn't from steering his boat; I knew this guy could not have grown up in Michigan. A guy who doesn't hunt, drive a boat, has never been to Mackinac or had never been up north, well, there had to be more to the story.

And there was. Walt was a Jersey boy. Grew up here in Michigan until 5th grade, moved to Jersey, went to College in Connecticut and moved back to the mitten state when his parents moved back, where he would start law school.

We met, fell in love, got engaged, bought a house and got married!

Then came that day in April when I said to Walt, after we both got home from work, "let's go for a run. You need to get some cardio in your workout". And so it began....