Realize How Good You Really Are: Run Dedicated to David

Sam and I went for an easy four miles this morning. Boy was it humid! This was a watch-less run. I got a Garmin Forerunner 310XT for Christmas last year and it has been a saving grace. I am able to better pace myself and know exactly how far I have run. Before, I would run only routes I knew and guesstimate on my time. On the bike path, I would ride my bike and use the computer on it to determine distance. But doing that, I was limited in how far I could run. Being a bit anal about getting my distance down to a T, I would have to round out my miles.

That being said, I started to rely a little too much on Garmin. I would always run based on time rather than on feel. My easy runs would turn into more tempo-style runs because I would want to bring down my time. Now, I try to leave my watch at home for my easier, shorter runs. This allows me to run completely based on how I feel and really enjoy my surroundings and my run in general.

Today Sam and I ran four miles on the bike path. We went toward Davenport and turned around by the golf course right before the little bridge. I like this route because there are not as many hills as there are going the Bettendorf way. The first hill is Kimberly Road followed by the hill by the golf course right after the turn-around. Then it's fairly flat until I get off of the bike path onto Parkway Drive, and I finish running up Olympia. I suppose this is good for me in the long run, finishing running up a hill, but I curse our house location every time I am on my way back from a run. Why the hill? Why?!

I'm planning on hitting up a track workout tomorrow morning with a group that meets at the Y. Phil P. suggested I check it out. I have been going to the Cornbelt Running Club track workouts at Augustana College on Tuesday nights, but the track is being torn-up so they are running elsewhere and the I-74 bridge is awful to cross at that time.

Today's run is dedicated to my husband David. I thought about him a lot on this run because A) I was running with Sam and she always reminds me of him, and B) he worked hard all weekend helping my sister's husband roof his house. I got to sleep in, but he had to be at work in Clinton at six this morning.

David and I were married almost four years ago. (Wow. That sounds like a long time. Okay, maybe not to some of you, but I am still coming to grips with the fact that I am a full-fledged adult.) I remember when training for my first marathon, David was the water man. He rode his bike all over the bike path bringing water to my sisters, my mom, my dad, and me. Needless to say, he is happy that I have a group with which to do my longer training runs so that he won't have to do this every weekend. Since we have been married, David has come to a number of my races as support. He helps me set up at triathlons and is there with a smile and a hug at each finish line. He puts up with me obsessing over my runs when we travel, especially when we go to his side of the state (Sioux City area). David really enjoys running with my aunt Kelli (who just had a baby) and my sister Jessica (who is going to have a baby in December). He and Kelli ran every morning when we were on vacation in Colorado, and he and Jessica run every other Wednesday night when we go to my grandmother's for dinner. One goal he has is to complete a half marathon, and he is looking at the Des Moines half marathon in October.

David is a techie. He loves building things and figuring out better ways to make things work. When we went to the Trek store to buy me a new bike, I was looking for a good color while he was checking out the components. I won't get into everything, but I will give you a few examples of what he has done around our house. 1 - we have a media center computer hooked up to our television so that we can listen to music, watch Netflix and Hulu, and view pictures right in our living room. 2 - Our agreement for the basement is that once it is finished, David gets triple monitors so that he can game in style. 3 - I have a carputer in my Saturn. This allows me to control music, GPS, movies, etc. using a touch screen attached to my dashboard. 4 - He built his own speakers for the basement and sometimes goes over to "the speaker guy's" house to compare their speakers. I think this is awesome. I like to give him a hard time about how nerdy he is, but really, this is something for which I admire him. If we were stranded on a deserted island, David would rig up a way to make contact with others and then we would wait in style. He listens to Stuff You Should Know often, so he is full of random facts and knowledge. It's funny because, being a tech-guy, he despises Macs, but I got an I-pad for Christmas and so he has come around to the idea of having Mac products in our home.

To thank David for his hard work, this is what I made him for dinner tonight:

It's chicken and rice made in the Crock Pot. I must say, it looks delicious, and it doesn't taste too bad either (David really likes it). Notice the liner used for easy clean up.

David has a great sense of humor and is usually able to put a smile on my face. Wow. Okay. This post is longer than I had anticipated. Sorry about that.