It had always been sort of a joke that I would only date a runner. To my girlfriends, I'd kid that my second-date litmus test was subtly (or not) suggesting going on a run together. The test was his reaction. I figure you can learn a lot about someone that way.
Running is an important part of my life, so ideally any potential dates would support appreciate and support my running habit too. If not be swayed by curiosity to drink the kool-aid and actually participate just and see what all the fuss is about. If nothing else, throwing a run out there is at least an efficient way to weed out the duds.
For example, if the response is, "gee, I'd love to but running would likely get in the way of my crack-smoking habit," then clearly it was never meant to be. If we actually went on a run and the guy totally smoked me (refusing to slow down to run together at my pace) then clearly he is an inconsiderate ath-elitist hardly worth my time anyway. But, if he's moderately active/healthy, though not necessarily a big runner, and willing to try just a short little run together, that's always a good place to start.
So in walks (runs) Serge. He took me on a 5 mile run on the beach a few weeks earlier (we ran in the sand... my calves were aching for 4 days). He had already cleared the imaginary second-date running test early on, though we didn't actually run together until months later. The cheering support in the Philly marathon definitely helped the cause- yes, we could continue dating. (I kid, I kid). I ran an unofficial 1:37:35 that day (a huge personal best, though my official time was about 2.5 minutes slower due to an accidental wrong turn).
Anyway, when I threw out the idea of a 4-mile race together in the middle of December, he registered before I did. Race morning was probably about 25 degrees. We ran the whole thing together and finished strong. This was only his second race ever, after the Corporate Challenge (a total organizational mess, from a racing perspective) and I distinctly remember him saying, "Yeah, that was fun. I bet I can run faster next time. And bet I could definitely do a 6 mile race. But wouldn't want to do more than a half-marathon. That's just crazy"
Watch out, Serge, that's how it all starts. It is like a gateway drug. You start with 4 miles, then 6 feels like nothing. Then 8 or 10 or 12 miles suddenly doesn't seem much longer than what you've already done. And before your little toenails even grow back (just kidding! most runners keep all 10! I promise!), the evolution has begun, and running a marathon sounds...fun.
