Today started off a little challenging.
Some background: My dear husband is also in training for the Outer Banks Half-Marathon. Hubbster started running after the kids and I ran it last year and thought it sounded like fun. (We're still trying to figure out how he got that impression - eh, oh well.) He's done a couple of 5ks since January, the Resolution Run on January 1 and the Get in Gear 5k in April. He trains at the fitness center on the DT and has been primarily doing 3 miles at a time a few times a week. Last night, I convinced him that he needed to start doing long runs on the weekends and that we should start that this weekend.
The growling and grumbling was minimal. I think he thought I'd drop it or that we would wake up and it would be raining. He knows me well enough to know that I will give up under both conditions. Ha! I fooled him.
The alarm went off at 6:30 a.m. today. I was up after one snooze, into my clothes and laced on my shoes and down the stairs to take care of the dogs so he could have just a few more minutes. I was hoping the sounds I was making in the kitchen would drown out the growling and grumbling which it did until he came downstairs.
After all the fussiness in the kitchen, we were out the door by 7:30, off to do 5-6 miles. The first mile and a half was more of the same. How could I expect him to run twice as far as he's run so far? Grouse, grouse, grumble, grouse. At this point, I'm praying for patience and a sweet spirit until finally I give into my baser self and tell him to lose the bad attitude or else. He must have seen something dangerous in my eyes, because he did stop with the trash talking and focused on his running.
I decided to try for 5 miles, rather than 6. It seemed like the right thing to do. We would run until he felt the need to walk and then we'd walk, probably farther than he really needed to, but I was trying to be nice.
At 2.5 miles, I think I found my running fuel! Something natural, something tasty and easy! Aspen Ridge Honey Farms Honey Stix! I had stuck two in my new Camelback handheld water bottle, one for each of us. I popped the cherry one, sucked half of it down and gave the other half to my better half.
I also had Lemon Tea flavored Nuun in the water bottle, after having been persuaded by my daughter to give it a try. I'm not a fan of the flavor, but again, here is something that doesn't seem to cause any issues! So very excited!
Okay - back to the run. We ended up doing 4.5 miles, short of my goal for the run, but I was letting Hubster decide when to quit. Now that he's done 4.5 with no adverse problems, I think getting him to do a longer run will be easier.
I'm ahead of my donations now in miles. I still have a ways to go to hit my goal at which point, I can turn my focus on helping my team meet its goals. If you're reading this, would you please consider a small donation. The company I work for matches dollar for dollar, so your donation is doubled! How cool is that!? I hope you'll consider.
I hope to tell you about my friend Heidi in my next post. I think you'll enjoy getting to know her as much as I do.
Until then, I'll be running along.
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