‘H e’s treated like a hero when he does marathons,” says Julia. “But once, while we were watching him cross the finishing line, my aunt leaned over and said: ‘You deserve the medal, for doing everything behind the scenes, so he can do all that training.’” From 5Ks to Ironman races, most people will have a friend, colleague or family member who is training for some kind of fitness challenge.
The odd parkrun isn’t enough to merit kudos these days – the bar is set somewhere around “triathlon”. But what about the Lycra widows and widowers who solo-parent, fix bikes, sleep in cars while “crewing”, and diligently stick chicken in the air fryer five times a day to support their sport-mad partners? Where’s their “me-time” after they’ve done bedtime for the 11th day in a row because their partner has been out on a six-hour training ride? Julia’s husband Chris (not their real names) has run six marathons – he started when their children were two and five. “He runs five to six hours each week, after having been at work all day.
And again at weekends when I need his help,” Julia says. “I effectively become a single parent for four months while he trains.” It’s not just the hours lost to training.
“He once did an insane 100-mile run through the night,” Julia says. “You’re supposed to do it in a relay team, but he wanted to do the whole thing himself. He collapsed at the finishing line and was in bed for two days.
There was a lot of, .