Happy Monday! I know I owe you a race report and there will be one in the next day or two. Before I share my Surf City Half story, I want to focus on something even more important – my best friend and #1 support system for all things, Mike.
Three years ago today Mike and I went on our first date. I knew from that first meeting that something special was possible with him, but I couldn’t have imagined having anything as incredible as the relationship we have today. I could go on for days about all of the things I love about Mike but for the purpose of this blog I wanted to talk about him as my support system and training partner.
Mike Supporting Me at the 2012 Tri Classic
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that I’ve seen a dramatic change in my fitness since meeting Mike. Although all of the goals I’ve set for myself over the last three years were self-created, I think that just having him in my life as a role-model for athletic achievement (he had just finished his first Ironman when we met) has opened up my mind to more possibilities of what my body is capable of.
In addition to being an inspiration to me, having my best friend and partner working toward the same fitness and nutrition goals as me has made it so much easier to complete them. Since we’ve met, we’ve only competed in a few races separately but we are always there to cheer each other on if we’re not racing. Since meeting 3 years ago, we have raced 7 half marathons, a urban adventure race (City Chase), 2 5ks, a Mud Run, 2 marathons, a sprint, olympic, half ironman and full Ironman triathlon together in addition to a full round of P90X, a modified second version of P90X and most of Insanity. Mike was there to support me at both of my beginner triathlons when I was learning how to swim/bike/run, even though he had to wake up before 6 a.m. on a Saturday to be there just to spectate. He also was my very patient supporter when I was on the crazy game show Oh Sit which took a 16 hour day to film!
There have been many times, especially during Ironman training, where Mike put my training selflessly before his own. He taught me how to ride a road bike, fix a flat tire (many times), set up my transition, and swim in the open water. He arranged all of his long bike rides so that we could meet up at pit stops so that I wouldn’t be riding alone even though it would have been better for his own training to go ahead without waiting for me. He patiently calmed me down when I woke up crying in the middle of the night before the Ironman because I thought my knee injury was going to keep me from finishing even though he should have been sleeping before his big race. I can’t put into words the appreciation I have for Mike for all of his selflessness and I hope he knows how much it means to me!
Mike also helped me stay on track with my diet when we did P90X. It was much easier to go to a party and drink only water, only eat at the one restaurant that worked with my diet and eat eggs and cottage cheese for breakfast every day for a month when I had someone there to do with me. Last year when I became a “flexitarian,” Mike jumped right on board, preventing me from making two different meals every time I cook (which is twice a day since I make our lunch and dinner almost daily).
Clearly Mike enjoys fitness as much as I do and we are lucky to have found someone with similar interests. However, Mike really has gone above and beyond my expectations for a partner. We make a great team and are definitely stronger (and fitter!) together than we are on our own. I can’t wait for the many more adventures and races in the years to come with my best friend!
Do you work out and/or train with your significant other?
Love this post- you two have achieved a lot together! Happy anniversary!
Kelly and I are approaching 10 years of being together (crazy how fast time has gone) and I wouldn’t trade our passion for health, fitness and adventure together for anything!
Looking forward to seeing how yesterday’s race went!
Aww!! Congrats! That is so wonderful. In my last relationship, we were exactly like that and I loved it! If fitness is such an important part of your life, it definitely helps for your partner to be in the same boat.
Awe. How sweet. My partner will only run 5Ks with me, but he is training now to run a few miles of my upcoming marathon with me (cute that he thinks he has to train for it!). But mostly I run alone and I enjoy that. Hiking is the thing we do together and it is always fantastic!
So sweet!!! I think its so important to be with someone who supports you and helps challenge you. 🙂
Cute Post 🙂
I aspire to find a relationship like yours! When you do things as all time consuming as Ironman, I think you need to have a partner that (a) understands and/or (b) does them too. I have a friend who alternates Ironman years with her husband…so the person who isn’t training for a full can do all the things that the person who is training is too tired to do…like dishes and cook.
Sadly, my love for Ironmen has affected (negatively) many relationships where my SO doesn’t get why I want to spend all weekend training or go to bed at 9:30.
What a lovely post. It is so awesome that you guys can train together. My husband works out a lot, but he is more into shorter distances and doesn’t love racing (but he does a lot of P90X 🙂 ). We do some workouts together, but he definitely doesn’t train with me. I truly believe I could never do a full Ironman unless my partner was in too. The person who is left behind tends to make even more of the sacrifices than the person training. It is awesome you and Mike can share all of your training and racing together. And he’s cute to boot! 🙂 xo
Congratulations, Nicole! I have a similar story in that my boyfriend has run all 9 of my marathons with me. Despite all my bratty-ness and mid-workout meltdowns, he sticks with me and continues to encourage me every time. We’re both running the Pittsburgh Marathon in May, and we’ve decided to run separately mainly because I just want to see what I can do by myself. We run all of our long runs together and sometimes I can be a bit of a whiner because he’s faster than me and it makes me mad 😛 Anyway, I don’t think I would have thought running marathons was possible if I hadn’t met him, and now it’s such an important part of my life I can’t even remember the days when a long run was 4 miles! It’s so nice to have someone who makes your goals an important part of his/her life – something to celebrate!
That is awesome! It’s rare to find someone who actually can run WITH you for the races too! Mike and I never race together and rarely run together since he’s quite a bit faster but it is just nice to have someone who is on the same schedule!
I remember when 4 miles was long too!