Reason #502 why I love my husband

...he gives up every Saturday morning so I can run! As I get ready to run my second marathon in 11 months, I have to take a minute to thank the one person who has truly made it possible. I have been a "runner" off and on our whole marriage. In the beginning it was 2 mile runs just to get some excercise every once in a while. After Dallin, my oldest, was born I knew I needed a goal to motivate me, so I signed up for this crazy Oregon relay race called Hood to Coast. I trained pretty regularly, and he bought me a CD skip-proof walkman to show his support. Let's jump ahead about a year. We went through fertility treatments(another blog for another day) and I gained about 25 pounds before getting pregnant with Emily. After she was born, I decided I had a lot of weight to lose and needed a big goal again. I contemplated the marathon, but was not really sure if I would be able to run it. The most I had ever run at one time was 9 miles, and it was not pretty. :-) Well, for Christmas 2004, Jeff surprised me with an MP3 player and told me, "This is for your marathon." It was very sweet, and for the first time, I thought maybe I really could run a marathon. He has always made me feel I could do anything I set my mind to and he has always given me wings to fly. He supports me in all of my crazy goals and all he asks in return is that I am happy. This past year I think I only missed one Saturday long run, and he never once complained. I do try to run early so that it isn't too burdensome, but it is every week. I wondered if he was getting tired of my committment to running, until this Christmas he bought me The Watch! (Garmin Forerunner 301) This was something I had looked at for a long time, but could never justify because I just run for "fun." Well, he surprised me with it and I LOVE it. It tells me my heart rate, how fast I am going, how far I have gone, and I can plug it to the computer so I can graph every run I do. The science nerd in me loves this stuff! So, now he knows I definitely won't quit. He knows that running is "my" time and makes me a happier wife and mom. He was my shoulder to cry on when my first marathon didn't go how I wanted. He said the perfect thing, "Kelly, you didn't do all the training JUST to run a marathon, you did it for all the things that came with the training." He understands me and why I run. (Kind of!) Also, when I was dying to have a run where I averaged under an 8 minute mile, he ran a 5k with me and stayed by my side the entire run. Now, he is helping me stay focused the week after the Boston Marathon when the crazy part of me starts thinking I am ready to try to qualify. So, even when I sound bummed that he doesn't want to hear about Boston again, I know he is doing exactly what I need, reminding me of why I run. He wants me to have a great marathon. I love him for that. So, thanks Jeff, for always being there for me.