Why do we run?

I run to eat.

I want to eat whatever I want, whenever I want and not worry about it. So I run. Probably not enough. I thought I was doing pretty good. Maintaining would be the word I would use to describe what I was doing. The problem arises now that I have a running partner. Yes, you read it right. Those elusive things people talk about having. Usually it is in the past tense and goes along the lines of "When I had a running partner I ran 8 times a week and was twice as fast as I am now..." and so on. I run once a week with my running partner and I am feeling it! You run different when there is someone there who might not be as tired as you or as slow as you or as freakin' lazy as you. I say that with a smile because I think most running partners feel the same thing--so it all evens out. Everyone runs harder than they would alone. And on this rainy day in June I climbed a mountain I would not otherwise have climbed. Now, I can't seem to get up and move over to my sewing machine for my other planned activity of the day. I discovered today that my new running partner is a mountain climbing machine. My lungs conked out after the first 15 steps of near vertical powerline and I just tried to keep up and still get enough air into my body to stay upright.

The other nice thing about a running partner is that whole 'conversational pace' thing. I never knew what that was because I don't run w/ people very often and when I do they are my zippy-fast friends who can sing an opera while running at my pace. Actually, when I did run w/ a singer it was really nice b/c she could keep the bears away with loud (very good) singing and I didn't have to make a sound. My running partner and I are (I think) fairly evenly matched (Except for that little climbing problem she has.) and we don't like bears or any other kind of wildlife, so we have to keep talking while we run. I think this slows me down, but in a good way. I am now running at a conversational pace and not going-as-fast-as-I-can-and-not-fall-down pace. The GAFAICANFD pace tends to result in really slow second half's of the run.

Anyways, now that I can't move I don't know whether to blame it on the run/hike or on the curry soup I ate afterwards. I think I will go get some chocolate to tame the tummy.