I remember my first run with my now-husband, shortly after we met. I ran much faster than I normally would, both from excitement to be with him and a desire to impress him with my running. Afterward, he said “you kept a great pace”. What a compliment for a girl like me! The fast runs continued through our first few months of dating. He lived in Seattle and I was in Ohio so we only ran together when one of us flew to the other side of the country to see each other. It was fun, and tiring!
Still in the “honeymoon phase”, San Fran, 2005.
Eventually, my real training pace revealed itself – I stopped trying to impress him and started getting real. Since then, when we run together (not so often these days) we follow my normal pace.
A few nights ago, we were able to run together while his mom was visiting and watching Currie. The run was so much like our early dating days! We started off fast, and only got faster. We ran hills at his pace and I didn’t complain! He wanted to go longer and I was right there with him!
Life is a lot different now, but some things will never change. I will always love to run, and always enjoy impressing my husband!
Have you ever tried to impress a partner or friend with running?
Jen you rock! Your next big win is just around the corner. Even running down a busy street I use my best running posture:) and never a cool down pace!
Thanks Joe! Yes, sometimes I run faster to impress people I don’t even know!
Ironically, my husband and I met on runnersworld.com haha! Our first run together was super slow in the muggy Texas heat. I’m also from Ohio, so needless to say I was NOT used to triple digit, humid runs. I almost passed out on our first run together! Anyway, we’ve both evolved with our running. We went from 30 minute 5ks to him joining the military and obliterating me on our runs now, even though I’ve improved to about a 26 minute 5k… *sigh* we don’t get out much together anymore – I am jealous of your run together, that’s awesome!!
Online dating at its finest?!
That’s very cool!
Yes, we don’t get to run together often anymore (especially if we want to run together without the stroller which is most enjoyable) so I really appreciated that run! I didn’t realize how good we had it (in terms of running) before we had our daughter!
my dream in life is to find a runner husband and to have one of those “runs to impress”
this isn’t going so well for me…
im considering sitting on the side of the road at a race with a sign that says “available doctor” – thoughts?
Haha, the only way to know is to try 😉
My favorite “impress your sporty love” story is actually Steve’s – we met when I was fresh from racing a half-Ironman and beginning to train for an Ironman (which I never raced, since my training turned into hanging-out-with-Steve), and I was cycling insane amounts. On our first date we talked about, among other things, biking, and he asked about my bikes and mentioned that he never had a bike other than the hybrid he used to commute to and from grad school. I specifically remember him talking about how it had fenders. At the end of the date we made plans for a second date – to go cycling on a rails-to-trails path in Durham.
The day of the date (our second), I made a mental note not to use my road or tri bike, and opted for my mountain bike, expecting a nice leisurely ride with Steve on his hybrid. He showed up at my house with a suspiciously shiny Fuji road bike. Halfway through the ride, I worked up the nerve to ask him about it, and he confessed he bought it for our date. Talk about investing in a relationship early on.
I decided it was more awesome than not, we biked together a ton, got married, and now our bikes sit happily together in the basement gathering dust and waiting for us to break ’em out again.
Awww, too cute! I love sporty stories like yours!
I hear you on the bikes collecting dust these days. Jeff and I bought new semi-expensive bikes when we lived in Seattle. Jeff rides his almost daily (commute) and mine hasn’t been out of storage since we’ve been in ROC. My poor lonely bike!