Eight is great

Pre-workout fuel: Slice of whole-wheat toast with Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams and half-caff coffee
Mid-workout fuel: Orange Gu, at 3.9 miles
Workout: Ran 8.04 miles in 1 hour, 14 minutes and 15 seconds; average pace, 9:14.

Gather round, kids. It's time for a little story.

It was nearly two years ago, on a chilly December day, that Mark and I got married. For better, for worse. For richer, for poorer. He was mine and I was his. But before I could say all those words I had waited so long to say, my bridesmaids and I had to stand outside in the cold for 10 minutes. Waiting. Just waiting.


Waiting until Mark finished up in the bathroom and got his little behind up to the front of the church. I didn't know that what was going on when I was in the middle of a bridesmaid huddle - it was only until later, on the honeymoon, when he shared those lovely, lovely details.

Of course, he continues to share those details. Sometimes, for 8 miles. I could barely control my laughter (and other reactions) as he "called for ducks" along the Greenway. I'm surprised we didn't have a gaggle of geese trotting along after us. Wouldn't that be a sight? Of course, the birds would tire out after a while, and I would have been left alone trying to maintain my composure and my stride.

Why do I tell you this? Because running isn't always glamorous and it's rarely romantic.

Grossness aside, I couldn't be more pleased with this run. I maintained a comfortable effort for the first half of the run and did myself to push harder in the second half. With the exception of the heat, it felt really good.

Wait. Except for that part when Mark thought in the last third of a mile that we should go hard and go home. He was holding a sub-8:00 pace and just expected me to go along. Yeah. OK. Except I'm not the one hoping to go sub-1:50 at Fort-4-Fitness. So I did what any girl would do. I screamed that he sucked, kicked it into high gear and passed him just as we neared the house.