Two of my cousins are training for a marathon. They are sisters who also happen to be full-time moms with careers outside of the home. One has a sixteen-year old daughter who is as self-sufficient as a teenager can be. The other has four kids under the age of thirteen; her youngest is only sixteen-months-measuring in on the zero-to-little self-sufficiency scale.
In our extended family, these two women were the first in our generation of cousins. They were born a couple years apart — and then came me, the third oldest in our family of over 4,312 cousins. (There are actually only 19 of us first-generation cousins, but nowadays, many of us have children, so it kind of feels like a jamboree when we all meet for Sunday dinner.)
Growing up, my older cousins were my pseudo-big sisters. They handed over their Coke-a-Cola polo shirts and Guess jeans when they outgrew them. They took me shopping at the Fashion Shop’s blowout sale every Jan. 1 (to get more Guess jeans, stirrup pants, and obnoxiously big Bill Cosby-like sweaters). They let me hang out with them and their high school buddies when I was just a grade-schooler — I remember listening to my first Violent Femmes song while lounging poolside with them and their friends.
As any big sister should do, they both set the bar fantastically high. One graduated from Notre Dame, the other from West Point. And while they both maintain super-successful careers — one a lawyer, the other an executive for big-time companies like G.E. and Home Depot — neither has made her career her guiding force. With them, it’s all about their families. I’m still in awe of all they accomplish during their daily routines.
And now, they’re running a marathon.
Ugh, I think, slow down! I’m never going to catch up at this rate.
Of course, I could carve out a few mornings to train with them; but, that’s assuming I could hit the ground running (literally) and survive their 5- and 10-mile jogs — I’m not sure I could keep up on a bike at this point.
I suggested that one of the sisters publish a blog to track her marathon training and call it www.SeeMeRun.com. She said it would be better named, www.watch-me-chase-my-sister-while-my-other-sister-laughs.com. (These two sisters have a younger sister who is just as accomplished and also a mom; although, she’s not as courageous on the workout front. Most of her exercise routines include intense ab-workouts from laughing at her older sisters).
It takes a special kind of dedication to train for and finish a marathon. Committing to 26.2 miles is not for the faint of heart or foot. Come October, there is no doubt in my mind that these sisters will complete their run, adding yet another accomplishment to their long list of look-what-I-did (not that they keep one). They will also have a new set of experiences that went into and came out of their run-more stories to add to their sisterly-ness, which I think is the most important aspect of all (sisters without any stories are like a diaries without any words).
I won’t be joining them during their training routines, but I am considering showing up at the finish line. Between now and then, I will take advantage of their new goal as motivation for my own (much less intense) workout goals. I will keep up with all the miles they cover over coffee, games of Bananagrams, and Sunday dinners. And while I will probably never be able to catch up to their speed (and stockpile of successes), I will be forever grateful that I have them to follow.
Amy Gesenhues is a freelance writer who lives in Floyd County. You can read her daily commentaries at www.AmyWroteIt.Wordpress.com. E-mail her directly at amy@amywroteit.com.
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GESENHUES: Chasing my cousins
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