Marathon training

Training for this half marathon has been so different from last year.  I feel much stronger this year and have been focusing more on recovering well.  Plus, it's been huge having Ben train with me.  You can see him running home here:

 

P.S.  I totally forgot to blog about Alison starting Girl Scouts!  She's only had one meeting so there's not much to say, other than she's really excited.

 

I'll admit that my pride was pretty high going into training.  I've done this once before and assumed that Ben would follow my lead on training.  And then I ate a huge piece of humble pie.  I wanted to train for this race because my motivation was lacking.  Without teaching I felt a lack of set plans or direction for my workouts and needed a boost in "you have to do this".  I was surprised when Ben said he would run a race with me and even more surprised when he never once lacked motivation.  He was always ready to run a little bit further and always ready with a route and plan.  He was always encouraging when I wanted to quit and made sure I got enough protein after a long run.  You want to know how spoiled I am?  Ben carries 2 water bottles, 2 gu packs, plays the music and tracks our run.  Do you know what I do?  I run next to him and carry nothing.  I thought I would be the one pushing him and giving him training tips, but it turns out that I was the one who really needed him.

At a Nickle Creek concert

The other day I was thinking how perfect running together is for a marriage.  Those who sweat together, stay together.  Right?  I think that's actually pray together, but I still think it's a good motto.  On every long run, we have some disagreement.  It's always small and usually about distance or pace or water stops and when it happens we start laughing because it's become a thing.  "Long run fights"...it's the way to go.  Why not hash out things while you're stuck together for an hour or more?  You have to choose your words carefully because you only have so many and raising your voice is pretty much impossible.  But, more than little disagreements, you have to listen and compromise and sometimes submit to a plan you did not want to follow.  Then there are spots on the run that are just plain hard and you have to encourage each other to push through it.  It reminds us that we are strong and will stick together no matter what hills or valleys face us.