Andrea watches a lot, A LOT, of shitty reality television (note – all reality television is shitty, but her shows are generally, the worst of the worst).  The thing that drives me most insane about these shows is when one of the characters (usually a dumb blonde or no-longer-relevant actor) talks to the camera, and says something preposterously overdramatic and entirely untrue like “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life” or “I’ve never wanted anything so bad in my life”.  

Now I understand it’s TV, and that drama sells.  But it’s bullshit.  Complete bullshit.  In generations past, before reality TV, I think these grandiose statements were actually meaningful.  Those phrases were reserved for the few times in life that actually mattered.  So for the people in the world that actually do something of great merit, I find it insulting towards them for people clinging to their 10 minutes of fame on TV to try to bolster their appeal with this fake drama.

For Andrea’s sake, and for the sake of everybody that truly puts their heart and soul into something they love, let’s appreciate the following statement for what it’s worth, and not just take it at face value:

Andrea has never worked this hard towards something in her entire life.

That’s not just words.  She has walked the walk.

She changed her diet (among many things, she gave up ramen noodles… RAMEN F-ING NOODLES!!!).  She changed her step and stride (she went to a foot doctor specializing in athletes).  She signed up for every race possible (and won most of the local ones).  She hired a trainer to write her a training schedule (with the goal of 3:35 in mind, and the training difficulty was increased concurrently with her time improvements).  And more than anything, Andrea stuck to her training schedule and ran.   It was, and still is, unbelievable.  I honestly can’t imagine putting in the persistence, time and effort that Andrea puts into her running.  I don’t even think it’s fair for me to attempt to describe it, because I don’t know that level of grueling commitment.  It’s every damn day.  She runs, at an insane pace (usually at 7 minutes/mile… for comparison, I ran a 10 mile race at an average of 11 minutes/mile and that was giving it everything I have).  While she never does a full marathon distance during her training, it’s not uncommon for her to run 15 miles.  And then, after 15 miles, she just goes about her day, like that 15 mile run was just a 15 minute walk with the dog.  That might be the craziest part to me about her training.  She’ll run these super-long distances, and then still want to walk downtown for dinner, or walk the beagle to the dog park. 

So I am proud of my wife, and of all her accomplishments.  She has pushed herself beyond what I thought was possible.  A hobby has become an obsession, and her pace and race times reflect her hard work.

So my dear… Go.  Get it done.  You can do it, you’ve proved it to yourself.  You put in the time, you put in the work.  You owe it to yourself.  I love you, I’m with you, and he’s watching.  This is how you remember.

Dan