A [Running] Love Story

This isn't just a love story.  This is our love story.  Except it's just a tiny little part of us and how this makes us... well, us!

When I met my husband in 2006, I was running.  A lot.  I wasn't necessarily training for a marathon but I happened to be following a schedule for one.  I had a very long run on my list (I think it was somewhere around 18-20 miles).  Somehow, I convinced Bryan to do this run with me.  Keep in mind that we both ran in high school (rival schools) but he hadn't been running due to a few injuries.  I can only imagine how painful this training run was for him.  If you ask him, though, I'm sure he'd tell you that it was a walk in the park!

Fast forward several weeks later, we decide at the very last minute to sign up for the Columbus Marathon together. (It was both our first time running a marathon... we hadn't even done a half marathon before!)  We ran it and cross the finish together, too.   As soon as I crossed, I knew I wanted to do this again!  He didn't quite feel the same.

I knew I really, really liked him before this marathon.  I knew I loved him at the finish line.  A lot of things happened between that marathon and our next.  Yup, I convinced him to do another!  (Or maybe he convinced me?)  We graduated from The Ohio State University, got married, moved from Ohio to Mississippi for Bryan's pilot training, bought two yellow labs, had a baby, moved to Oklahoma, and then back to Ohio where we bought our house.

It took us until 2011 to run a marathon again.  But we ran it faster & finished together (plus, I was just a few weeks pregnant with baby #2)!

Well, we're at it again!  Since our last marathon, we haven't had that many life changes... You know, just another baby! :)

We registered this time without even giving it a second thought (we didn't even have a bottle of wine open, yet!)  I am so excited to do this with my husband again! It's not about our finishing time (although we do have goals), it's truly about making lasting memories together doing something that we love to do.  I can't think of anyone I'd rather spend 26.2 miles in agony with on October 20th.

P.S.  Yup, that's a hot dog bun that I nibbled on for the first half of my run over the weekend.

Anybody else training for a race, big or small?  How about with the love of your life?  And when did you realize that your hubby was a keeper?

Janice