Running on Empty

Another holiday milestone: Chad and I just celebrated/experienced/endured our 25th Valentine's Day together. Our major festive activity was running the Valentine's Day TC 5K around Lake Harriet (so no, this was not the dash in your underwear down Nicollet Mall).

Once again, I'm going to resort to a cliche because I can't think of any better way to say it: If you had told me 25 years ago that I would run a 5K in frigid (3 degrees Farenheit) temperatures I would not have believed you. I was definitely not a runner, or a jogger, or even much of a walker or mover back in my youth. The upside of that is I have really had no where to go but up. As I age, I'm not haunted by my past athletic glories.

I was very obsessed with getting my race shirt.
Sorry, but you are going to see a lot of this damn shirt. 

These days, a 5K run isn't daunting, but I was totally freaked out about running in the cold. So why did we do this? This run is part of the TC Summit Challenge series that I've signed up for (Chad is doing the challenge that includes the marathon) so we had committed before we knew how cold it would be. And although I was dreading it (the night before I tossed and turned and dreamed about how my character from our upcoming play, Louise, would run the race in a seventies pants suit and head scarf. I had to wake myself up and tell myself that Louise wouldn't run the damn race) the cold turned out to not be that big of a deal. We layered up, we wore face masks, and it was fine. I even got a little too warm during the run. The cold was really only a problem walking back to the car.

Now I get to feel tough for surviving the cold and psyched because I had a really good--for me--average mile pace of 9:20 (so THAT'S why I felt like I was going to throw-up...). I'm not quite sure how I feel about doing relatively well for my "age group" (which I am just about to age out of). I think I will count that as just another plus of being active as I get older. And I did learn something that day: sometimes I can do something that I don't think I can. Now I just need to remember that nugget of wisdom as I turn to freaking out about my first ever 10 MILE race which is fast approaching..

One of my Valentine's gifts to Chad.
I'm not posting a picture of dryer balls.

So is running a 5K together romantic? I say yes, even though it's not like Chad and I ran the race while holding hands. Actually, we can't even technically run together, as Chad's pace is much faster than mine. (We did run "together" last year in Central Park but that involved Chad running backwards for much of the run, and I wouldn't let him do that with the somewhat icy 5K path). But I think it's pretty awesome that we can share some (not all) interests and hobbies and passions and do things together but still as individuals and at our own pace. Sometimes it does blow my mind how we can do the same thing, like be in the same play or band, but experience it so differently. Those differences can infuriate me, but also challenge and inspire me. It's also romantic that I ran a 5K on Valentine's Day, because these years with Chad have helped me become the person who would participate in such an event.

Another thing that I would not have believed 25 years ago is that I would give my husband a gift of dryer balls and that he would be happy about it. Stay tuned for a future post about the romantic/spiritual/personal growth implications of laundry...