I've had lots of little stuff this week, none that would be worth its own post so I thought I'd roll them into one.

Sunday Run

At Rich's suggestion, I've been biking before my long runs. Last year I did all my long runs very slowly (10 min/mile at the fastest). Today I biked 12 miles and then ran 8 miles at 9:17 min/mile pace.  I'm pretty psyched I could run that fast (for me!), especially on tired legs and recovering from overtraining. I'm not sure how this will factor into the next 6 months of training and racing, but I think it's a good start.

Toys

REI is having a sale. I love REI. I love running. I love shopping. I love sales. I literally had a hard time sleeping on Friday because of my excitement of Christmas coming in May. Damage:

Garmin Forerunner 305: On sale for $165

Native Sunglasses: 20% off ($108)

Nike running shorts: On sale for $19.99

Considering that the total was less than what I would have paid for a Garmin at retail price, I consider my shopping excursion a success. 

Love and Running

This months' Runner's World had a section about running and relationships. It made me consider how running has impacted my relationship with Chris. I knew that Chris being a runner was a good thing, but I had never given much thought to it. Considering we've spent our entire relationship either 400 (DC) or 6,000 (Iraq) miles  apart, we don't run together a lot, but I love when we do. It's great to start or end a day running with someone I just love to spend time with. He's usually pretty quiet (or maybe I just talk too much), but he chats on runs, likely because he's slowed down to keep up with my pace while I am busy keeping up with him (sucker is fast even when he slows down). 

In races I love that we compete with each other but we're not competitive. I have a better marathon time, due to some combination of my training and his lack-thereof. At one 10K he flew ahead at the start to be passed by me on a hill, after which he went on to beat me. Having him run challenges me, but we're supportive of each other and our successes. I love sweaty kisses at the end of a race or a run. I love that we know just how to motivate each other and do so well and often.

In thinking about this, I realized one of my favorite things is our time post-run. Usually in the morning we wake up, make breakfast and drink coffee while we read the news (I read the NY Times and Washington Post, he reads military news) and share interesting things with each other. We do that post-run, too, but usually after caring for each other. The one with more energy gets water. I make him my signature protein shake (vanilla soy protein powder, milk, frozen bananas and almond butter) while he makes me his signature scrambled eggs (they are AMAZING!) We could do this without running, but there's something about earning it that makes it that much better.

I am so happy that I have a significant other who runs. I am so happy that Chris is due back from Iraq in two weeks and he'll be moving to Pittsburgh. I know that means lots of great things for us, but at the very least, it means (if I have any say at least) more runs, races, sweaty kisses and hard-earned breakfasts.