Jill Frisch was waiting at a stoplight during a run when she saw something that sent her into a panic. A car, her car, with her husband, ultrarunner Zach Frisch, at the wheel, approaching the intersection. Jill knew that Zach always noticed a fellow runner on the street.
"I really thought he saw me," she said. When she told him about this later, "he was like, 'Honestly, I think I would have just been like, Wow, she looks a lot like Jill.' He couldn't even comprehend that I would be running. If that doesn't show you how much I hate running, then I don't know what does." Why, you might be asking, was Jill so nervous?
If so, you probably haven’t seen her ultra-viral video about this. Jill, a Utah florist and cake artist and avowed non-runner, was panicking because she had been training in secret — for months — so she could run with her husband in the Utah Valley Marathon & Half. That day, Zach was driving her car to a photoshoot.
Here’s another thing Zach didn’t know: his wife had hidden the Altra running shoes she'd secretly purchased in the trunk of her car, right next to the spare tire. What followed was a mission straight out of a cloak-and-dagger spy movie. "My dad dropped me off, and I had to sneak over without him seeing me, open up my car, and then grab the shoes," she said.
She managed all of it without being seen, only for Zach to drive past her minutes later. It was the closest call she experienced in weeks of secret training, though there were many moments she was certain her husband would figure it all out. But all of that anxiety, and all that running, paid off when she made it to her big reveal.
As anyone who has taken on a serious running event knows, training is a serious challenge. And as anyone who has been in a relationship knows, keeping what you’re up to from your partner is a serious challenge. Put these together, and the stakes — and rewards — can be very, very high.
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