Outdoors: Running

When you stop and think about it, there are many parallels that can be drawn between a marathon and 50 years of marriage.

Both are filled with hills and valleys.

Both require plenty of patience and perseverance.

Both can test your will at times, while also bringing moments of great joy.

To be a part of both is in their own ways something really quite special.

So when Hannah and Joseph Miller learned that the Cox Sports Marathon was going to be held on the very same day that the Warren couple would be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary, they decided that running the marathon together would be a wonderful way to commemorate the many years they’ve shared.

``We just thought a marathon is a good metaphor for 50 years of marriage,’’ said Joseph, a school teacher for 26 years before becoming a Presbyterian minister, although now retired.

``It’s really been a wonderful marriage,’’ added Hannah, also a retired elementary school teacher of 31 years. ``There are always ups and downs. After 50 years, you can think back and remember when things were a little tougher. But we’ve really been blessed. We started out without very much at all, which I think is a big blessing. . . . We always worked hard, but we always had fun. We’ve always gone off and done exciting things. We’ve taken our time to go for a sail or climb up Mt. Washington, and I think that’s been important.’’

The Millers, both 71, admit they weren’t sure what to expect today.

Although Joseph had previously run 18 marathons, dating back to the early 1960s, and Hannah had run 9, neither had done one in more than two decades. What’s more, their training schedule went somewhat off course after their daughter suffered a bad skiing accident and needed help with her recovery.

Nevertheless, says Hannah, she and her husband went into the race confident they would find a way to ``shuffle through.’’ And they most certainly did. Just under 6 hours after setting out from Johnson & Wales Harbourside Campus, the two arrived in downtown Providence this afternoon. Holding hands as they made their way down Weybosset Street, they crossed the finish line and embraced.

``We’re just lucky,'' Joseph says of the couple's long and successful union, adding that respect, gratitude and communication have also played an important role. ``We’re soulmates, I guess.''