crazy

I must be crazy.

Crazy in love with my hubby.

As most of you know, Chris is in training for his next marathon in December. He has a running buddy that he does his long runs with on Saturday mornings, and he happened to be out of town this weekend.

Earlier in the week, Chris asked nonchalantly, "Do you want to ride your bike alongside me as I run on Saturday? It would be a great bonding experience for us!" I'm sure he never imagined that I would answer with a yes! Because this was going to be a 20 mile experience. TWENTY MILES!!

I've ridden beside him one other time, on a really short run. We went through our old neighborhood, and he was just starting running, so he was still fairly slow. On a bike, that was very slow going.

Let's just say that at this point in his training, he is a lot, lot, lot faster!!! So there was not too much coasting for this bike rider. Especially since I do not have a road bike...I have a mountain bike. Mt. Fury. The behemeth. Not the best bike.

He got up at 6:00 am, I got up at 6:30 am. We got ready, and were on the road by 7:10 am. It was still dark. It was chilly. And it felt good to be doing this with him.

We rode in two large loops, out on the country roads. Mostly flat. About three hills. Each loop was 10 miles.

After the first loop, I wanted to stop. Not that I was necessarily exhausted from the exercise, but my butt was extremely sore from the bike seat, and my elbows were hurting from being locked in the straight position. I wanted to stop. I pulled off in our driveway while he continued on, and I drank some water and stood there for a minute.

And I thought, "He wants me to do this with him. The second loop is where he needs the most support. He expects me to not finish it. I can do it."

And I got back on that bike and caught up with him.

The second loop, I got much more tired in my legs. But I am so happy with myself for continuing on. I do feel that Chris and I enjoyed a great bonding experience. I was with him for twenty miles, while his feet were pounding that pavement. I almost witnessed an entire marathon with him, really. It was so neat to see that in the second loop, he actually ran FASTER. He has so much mental strength, he is amazing to me. He talked to himself with motivational words, telling himself that he felt great, that he was running well, that he was fast and strong.

And we talked about all kinds of stuff...and enjoyed the beautiful Texas scenery...and when we were done, he told me how proud he was of me. And that means a lot to me.

He expected me to not even agree to do it. And then after that, he expected me to not do the second lap. I surprised him. And that's a very hard thing to do.

The crazy things we do for love!!

I am proud of me.