Sibling Rivalry

When I was about 12 years old, I remember my brother Abe walking in the house after a basketball practice. He said something to me like, "Girl, I just ran more today than you will ever run in your whole life."

I took that as a challenge.

There was always a battle between me and Abe growing up. We never got along. The real problem was that I am five years younger than Abe and, let's face it, a 5-year old girl is annoying to a brother who's 10. A 10-year old girl is annoying to a brother who's 15. We were perfectly, awkwardly spaced to get on each others' nerves.

Even with the constant bickering, a part of me was always trying to impress my older brother. He was so cool in school. He was a basketball star, and all the girls had crushes on him. When he would play with me, he always had the most creative games. I frequently heard about how smart and clever he was. Abe was some fierce competition and a tough act to follow.

I started running on my parents' treadmill right around that age. In 8th grade, I had a friend who got mad at me because I preferred running on Friday nights to hanging out. I joined the track team while Abe was on his mission. I remember writing him to tell him how far we had to run at our first track practice. It wasn't until about 9th grade that I was certain I had outrun his basketball practice experience. His innocent comment was frequently the motivating force behind my early running career.

It really wasn't until Abe got home from his mission that we finally got along. We started running together. Abe was the founder of "the loop," my favorite running course. I ran "the loop" just about every day during my last two years in high school.

I wish Abe and I had built-in odometers because I'm thinking we'd be pretty close in mileage right now.

So in an effort to continue to outrun Abe, I am planning on running another half marathon. I know, you all saw this coming. I figure it's the perfect way to lose the baby weight and there's conveniently a downhill race in Cedar City in two and a half months. I swore after both of the other races to never do it again, but I just can't resist. Abe's taunting voice is in my head egging me on. So wish me luck once again as I train for my third half marathon!

And yes Abe, you can take this as a challenge.