Over Seventy, Loves Running and Life
On Thursday, May
2, 2013, I got an email from Jim Simpson asking me if we could run together in
the Potomac River Run the following Sunday. I had known Jim for several years
and we had talked about various aspects of several marathons, so I thought he wanted
to discuss something of that nature. I still didn’t suspect anything when Frank approached me
before the start to tell me that Jim said to tell me that he wanted to run with
me. Not even when another friend repeated the same thing. It wasn’t until later
that I learned his true motive. We had been running together for a couple of
miles when he reached for my hand, saying, “My hand’s cold. I need you to warm
it up.” As we approached an aid station ahead, one of the volunteers said to
the other, “Look how cute. They’re holding hands.” Only then did I realize Jim was flirting with me. He
later told me that he’d had his eye on me for more than three years, before he
worked up to courage to make a move. Let me explain why.
Jim runs a lot of marathons. He was the first American to
reach a lifetime total of 1000 marathons or longer, and is on his way to 2000.
He has over 1600 as I write this. He ran 205 in 2013 alone. The way he does
this is by spending most of the year living in his pickup truck and camper,
traveling from marathon to marathon. He thought I (or any woman) would not
tolerate him running so much and would want to settle down in one place. Hence,
he hesitated to initiate a relationship.
I, on the other hand, expected
to be alone for the rest of my life because I thought no one would tolerate my
normal schedule. When I am at home, I am fully absorbed in my tutoring
business. But I am away many weekends for the same reason as Jim—to run
marathons. While I don’t do nearly as many as Jim, I run more than the average
runner. I managed to run 102 in 2014, becoming the fifth woman in the world to
run 100 or more in a calendar year. My total is a mere 345, not in Jim’s
league, but still respectable.
Jim and I are both competitors.
Not so much with the clock, or even with other runners. But we set goals. We
enjoy great fulfillment when we are able to complete a goal. Each of us
competed in other ways in our earlier years, and now we find our challenges in
running marathons. Running not only brings both of us enormous satisfaction and
many wonderful friends, but it also brought us together.
And now I accompany Jim in the
camper for much of the year, as we continue on our quest to meet personal
goals. You’ll see us in our red shirts, usually in the back of the pack and
often holding hands.
-Bettie Wailes-
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