Oh the finish lines we will cross: My goals for 2010

In 1999 I met the GeekGrl for the first time. I had just gone through a difficult divorce but was wrapping up the course work for my Ph.D. She was a struggling single mom who had just completed her first master's degree and lost her mother to heart problems. The GeekGrl had three kids and I never planned on having any. Our very first interaction was me giving her a wink while I was rummaging through a storage room looking for overhead projector sheets to make slides for a class I was teaching and she going to tell on me for getting into drawers that I was supposed to ask for help before going into.

It didn't take long before both of us knew that we wanted to marry the other but we were also both gun shy so we didn't talk about long-term plans we just started spending increasing amounts of time together. We had about six months of separation early in our first year as she had already planned on attending graduate school at the University of Alabama and I was already heading to Dallas, TX for my internship. It could have been much worse, we could have been more than 600 miles apart, but as it was we drove back and forth regularly to spend time with each other. The GeekGrl became disillusioned with her graduate program and she and the kids moved to Dallas to live with me and she and I were married shortly thereafter in July of 2000.

In the 10 short years we have metaphorically crossed many finish lines together. We have raised three kids, earned advanced degrees, begun new careers, purchased two homes and experienced several personal and professional accomplishments with each others support. We even crossed one finish line together quite literally when I ran alongside my bride for her very first marathon.

So it is that this year my goal is to marry the GeekGrl all over again signifying the beginning of our new life together after 10 years of marriage. We will renew our vows on December 5th at this year's Las Vegas marathon. Between now and then it is my goal to run every race and cross every finish line by my wife's side.

I think this will be my best racing year ever!