You might be married to a runner if...

I'm dedicating this post to my handsome, funny, servant hearted, gracious, hard working husband. He not only puts up with me but he puts up with my running...which at times probably feels like the third wheel in our marriage.

You might be married to a runner if....

1. You are solo after 8 PM every night.

Adam and I used to enjoy staying up late to watch TV together. He now gets to watch whatever he wants to as I pass out the minute the kids have stopped coming out of their room asking for one more "nuggle" or "tiss". If someone invites us out and I know it will keep me out past eight then I have to either politely decline, check the weather real quick to see if I can push my morning run back some or send Adam solo.

My hubby and big man enjoying a ranger game with our neighbors. I totally volunteered to stay at home with the kiddos knowing that I had a long run planned for the next morning!

2. You are solo after 4:15 every morning.

Poor Adam. My alarm is set for 4:15 every morning and the ring I have is two levels above "BEYOND ANNOYING". It has to be. He knows the routine. I will be up for the next 20 minutes rushing around the house, turning on a lot of lights, filling up my water bottle, searching with my phone light for my fitbit, opening and shutting doors, opening and shutting the garage door and he can finally go back to sleep around 4:35. I try to be quiet. I lay out my clothes the night before. BUT, for the love it is 4:15 in the morning, I am still a little disheveled.

See the time this is posted? Yup, started running at 4:42 am.

3. Your spouse has a whole section of the pantry labeled "parents food only"...which really means "momma's food only".

Hey, before you start judging. I NEED MY PROTEIN. What Adam considers his 15th small meal of the day is my energy boosting, 15 grams of protein, expensive kindbar before my long run on Saturdays. Those things are expensive. I also hoard my own cereal that has lots of fiber and protein and is low calorie so that I can have it the minute I sit down for breakfast.

This bar isn't particularly high on the "healthy" scale but it sits well with me and sticks with me through long runs. In fact my last PR was set after I ate this bar before running.

4. You have learned to ignore the damp clothes that are standing up on their own in the bathroom. Just walk away.

Poor guy, he literally just keeps pushing all of my NASTY clothes into a pile until the weekend when I do LARGE loads of what smells like locker room laundry. There are times when I will pick up clothes off the bathroom floor and wonder how on earth they will ever bounce back from the state they are in...10 miles in the TX heat does weird things to the feet....that smell ain't natural.

(A picture here would be way too disgusting)

5. You aren't surprised anymore by anything.

Adam barely flinches now when I come home with another running story. Like when I fell and had blood all over my hands and knees and ran 9 more miles covered in it only to get home and show him my battle wounds, he didn't even blink. He continued to hand out the kids breakfast while I limped around and bandaged myself up.

Goober took this picture for me...as I said Adam wasn't impressed at all with my battle wounds :)

When I swore I saw a wolf at a park during my last long run he just looked at me and laughed and said " are you sure, I highly doubt it". I was expecting him to grab me and say " I am so glad you escaped the dangerous public park with the wolves....you probably were running to fast for him to catch you". Nope.

When I come home and announce another PR that I am so stinking proud of he just smiles and says "Good Job". I am expecting him to take me out for celebration coffee and declare my awesomeness to our neighbors.  Instead later on when they ask why he doesn't run with me he smirks and says " I don't like to run that slow".

This was my fastest time ever. My splits got faster and faster. I am accrediting it to three things 1) the marathon protein bar, 2) the fantastic weather that morning and 3) my new breathing methods. 

6. You know that the key to her heart is a new pair of running shoes...... flowers and candy are a HUGE NO NO.

Adam and I recently went shopping with another couple...the wife is one of my running buddies. I think the husbands expected us to want to spend our money on jewelry or purses. Nope, we went straight to the running gear and tried it all on. We also spent the majority of our time trying on shoes, running around the store with them on, talking about all of the new inventions out for runners, how our arches would be supported and in the end I GOT A NEW PAIR OF SHOES. I haven't even taken them out of the bag yet....They will be unveiled after my race this weekend. They are stinking awesome. Thanks hubby!

These awesome shoes will soon be retired to weight lifting days and spirit wear days at school. 

7. You get threatened if you forget her snacks!!!!

I have seriously changed my metabolism. I can't go 2 hours without a snack. I have never in my life been this hungry.... I mean there was that one time when I couldn't eat before surgery and I felt hunger pains. BUT, this is a constant battle to keep myself full, especially the day after a 9-12 mile run. I plan out my snacks for the whole day so that I am eating 100-200 calories every 2 hours. This keeps me energetic but not so full that I feel sleepy. Well if Adam is in charge of getting our snacks for the day into my fridge at school and he forgets....he might as well sleep on the couch that night. THERE IS NOTHING WORSE THAN A HANGRY (HUNGRY PLUS ANGRY) WIFE! I have also been known to demand that we leave events early because I can feel myself getting hungry and one of us have forgotten the snacks. He has even referred to me as gollum and smeagoll off of Lord of the Rings before....my mood does change quite quickly.

One of my new favorite meals is a protein packed stir fry with edamame, spinach, low fat feta cheese, roasted cauliflower and asparagus topped with mustard. It does have a weird smell to it but taste amazing!

I also LOVE LOVE LOVE spaghetti squash, roasted tomatoes, baked shredded chicken and tzatziki sauce!!!

Zucchini noodles are also a new fave...one can only eat so much salad and tofu noodles. I shave these with a carrot peeler and then add tomatoes, pineapples, blueberries, strawberries and sometimes shrimp!! YUM!