You Lead, I Follow

"...
You lead, I follow. You lead, I follow. You lead, I follow.
 tan ta-ta tan-tan tan ta-ta tan-tan
..."

Now I don't know the starting lyrics of this song nor do I know the singer. I just know the beats and the Zumba moves that go with that song. I might need to make an urgent phone call to my lovely Zumba instructor friend Allison for clarification! But that song has been ringing in my ears all day today. In our 14yrs of being together, very rarely have Bachi and I arrived at the same point at the same time. I got the VISA for grad school first and we nervously waited for his for over a month (he had a much later appointment). I went to FSU, he went to WSU and we had to wait for over a year before he transferred to FSU to join me. He graduated first and moved to wherever his career took him and I spent the lonely year and half at grad school waiting impatiently to move to wherever he was. He moved to Portland a good five years after I moved (exactly ten years ago, today!). It was very difficult staying away from each other, not knowing what the future had in store for us. I didn't mean to digress and turn this into a Bollywood story on long distance love- may be I should save that thought for another time!  It's just that we were running after one another at each phase of our lives instead of running together. One lead, one followed. 

Speaking of running, up until recently, neither B nor I considered ourselves runners in any real shape or form. The only running B could boast off came from cricket- we all know how much real running that involves :). The first time I ever ran at a real event (and not when getting chased after by stray dogs in Hyderabad- true story) was two years ago at an Intel event. I ran a 5K there at a pace most people would do slow walking. But I got a free t-shirt out of that event and a lot of unexpected enthusiasm to do better to go with it. Though it was difficult balancing my fondness for daily bike commuting with this new found interest in running, I managed to keep at it. At last year's Intel event, I talked B into running with me. Since he ran a 5K (his first ever) and I did a 10K, we were technically still not running together. Same with another event earlier this year where he did an 8K and I did a 15K. But, today, at the same Intel event as my first run two years ago, we both ran 10K! And it felt great! Finally a run together! There still is the matter of 2min and 30s that B spent after his run while waiting for me to finish. I guess I am not done singing "You lead, I follow" just yet!

He might be more ready than me for the 13.1 that I ambitiously signed myself up for this weekend!