Running with Mike

I love my running partner, obviously. This post is for me to remember what training for a marathon with him is like and for anyone reading this to understand what he is like to run with.

Mike is an athlete. He can seriously do anything physical that he wants if he puts his mind to it. When it comes to running, he totally tackles the mental battle. It's pretty amazing. Additionally, he is fairly fast. At one point when he was training in State College, I am pretty sure he could run a 5k on a treadmill in 19 minutes. Last night, when I took the day off, he ran 8 miles at an easy pace in 1:07.

Mike has always wanted to run with me. He loves working out with a partner and since his #1 workout partner lives in Colorado, he was very excited when I decided to train for a marathon. While I run slow, he tells me that the distance is still a good workout for him.

Because of his strength, Mike has WAY more breath and energy than I do during any given run. This is great when I want to be pushed. He can keep up with me whenever I decide to sprint and he never falls back on hills. He always runs ahead of me to push the crosswalk button so I don't have to and he is my second pair of eyes on the roads and cars to keep me safe.

Mike uses some of his excess energy in other ways during our runs. Let me entertain you:

- He talks. Mostly about math. I have heard about matrices, quantum physics, converging series, q-series, proofs, counting, primes (regular and Mersenne), teaching methods, coding theory, etc. Most of the time, because I am a nerd too, its pretty interesting. Also, I know that he doesn't expect me to respond, so its a good topic. If he ever asks me a question or tries to start a conversation on a run and I just don't have the breath, all I have to say is, "later", and he totally drops it.

- A few weeks back he informed me, during mile 4 of our run, that sometimes, on our short runs, he likes to try to run just on his toes. He likes to try to keep his heels up. Then he demonstrates for me. I don't have the energy to look over, so I just see in my peripheral that he is bouncing more than normal. "It's a good workout", he says. Meanwhile, I am trying to make it up a hill.

- Near mile 8 of the Shamrock Run (i.e. mile 14 of a 16 mile run) there was an "aid station" handing out cups of Pabst Blue Ribbon. If you recall, I was tired and my legs were dead. Mike, on the other hand, tells me to keep running, dashes across the course to the opposite side of the road, grabs a big red cup full of beer, downs it, throws the cup away, and catches up with me.

- While I stare at the ground when I run, Mike looks around and announces to me what he sees. For example, "Wow, that house is really purple!" (That is an exact quote).

- When running with our group, no matter how far we have run, he is always able to bend down to pick up dropped water bottles, etc. Around mile 17 or so, that comes in very handy. I think that this makes Mike a favorite among the group. (Try bending down to pick something up after running for 3 hours for full understanding of this point)

Most importantly, Mike is the best and most supportive running partner anyone could dream of. He high fives me after every run no matter how good or how bad it went. He pushes me when I should be pushing myself no matter how mad he knows it will make me. He tells me to stop pushing when he knows that I am beat and it is okay to rest. He gets mad at me when I don't stretch. He carries my water and my Gu packets (which is just ridiculous). He makes sure that I have enough ice for ice baths. He is a live-in personal trainer that seems to love me no matter how crappy I run.

Mike, thank you for training with me through the good and the bad. You are the best. I love you.