Running Magazines

At our house, we use the division of labour approach: I look after the inside while hubby tends to the exterior. Now, he hasn’t quite realized it yet but picking up the mail is an outdoor job; in the winter, I rarely get the mail.

WARNING: NEVER LEAVE YOUR RUNNING MAGAZINES AROUND UNLESS YOU HAVE READ THEM FIRST.

The problem with this is he sees my running magazines before I do. Being the A-type, gotta-have-control gal that I am, I am obsessed about being the first one to read MY magazines; in fact, there have been more than a few times when I have carried one to work and back to ensure that I will read it first.

There are a few good reasons why I never leave my magazines around for him to read first:

1. The Crease – When hubby opens it up, he neatly folds a crease down the side of the page so that it doesn’t fall back while he is reading it and eating breakfast. The new look is gone.

2. Food – Eating breakfast, hubby puts a glass of orange juice on it, leaving a ring and permanently removing that brand new look. With two boys, food is sometimes left on the kitchen table and it can also find its way to the back cover.

3. Bathrooms – Need I say more. Hubby is well-trained and does know better than to sit and read, but when the cat’s away….who knows what goes on?

4. Tech. Talk – After buying a new pair of shoes, I was recently asked by hubby what I got. “Asics,” I replied. “What model number?” Suddenly, hubby is as knowledgeable about running shoes as he is about cars and motorcycles. Whatever happened to just “the pink ones”?

5. Competition – Non-running husband announced last week, after reading my iRUN CANADA, that there is a fall marathon in Hamilton, just 30 minutes from home. This was on my list of “maybe’s” until hubby said he’s thinking of running it. I guess it wasn’t enough that I had to plan my schedule around music concerts for the boys. Now, I have to contend with my husband’s new running goals too.

Now, I am being supportive of his new venture, and I have told him that he can run Hamilton if that’s what he wants to do. After all, he and the boys have been very supportive of me for the past year and there is always another marathon for me to do – if I even go that route.

And, now I’m definitely going to start hiding my running magazines!