My poor wife.

She should have known better.

When you meet your future spouse at a CrossFit gym, you’re signing up for a lifetime full of workouts.

When your husband proposes to you at the top of Stone Mountain, his idea of doing something fun is being active.

When your husband talks you into doing the Peachtree Road Race while you’re six months pregnant, he’s not going to take no for an answer.

So when it came time for me to try the latest fitness craze — HYROX — I turned to my wife, Leslie, and said, “Do you want to do this with me?”

She was reluctant at first, but eventually said yes.

Our plan was to work out together and go on long runs together. That only happened a few times in August. Once school and youth sports started, our schedules and priorities shifted.

We still did CrossFit classes three to four days a week and HYROX once a week. So we were in decent shape, but not exactly race-ready.

If you’re not familiar, HYROX is a fitness race that’s accessible for everyone. It includes eight exercise zones — ski erg, sled push, sled pull, burpee broad jumps, rowing, sandbag walking lunges, farmers carry, and wall balls. Between each zone, you run 1,000 meters.

HYROX Atlanta drew more than 10,000 people over the course of three days the first weekend in November.

I set a modest goal of finishing in under 1 hour and 30 minutes. (The top athletes finish in under an hour.) We crossed the line at 1:23:07. It was an incredible feeling finishing that last wall ball shot, grabbing my wife’s hand, and racing to the finish together.

We were both exhausted and sore afterward. But I was proud of how we communicated throughout the race. If one of us struggled with an exercise, the other stepped in to help. If one of us slowed down, the other picked up the pace.

HYROX tested more than our endurance — it tested our patience, teamwork, and sense of humor. Just like in marriage, sometimes you lead, sometimes you follow, and sometimes you just hang on and trust your partner to pull the sled.