Is it me or Is that Foreplay?

My husband just recently took up running. I guess the 'if you can't beat, join it' mantra became too much for him to resist.

I have a running partner already. She has been with me from the very beginning when I was retching on the side of the road after my first 10 minute run (I'm not shitting you). We've been through days and nights of training that involved weather so freaking cold that I thought my nipples would pop off. We've slogged through the rain, the sleet, the snow, the fog and now the heat of summer. We've never let each other down, always showing for that scheduled run no matter how busy, tired, hungover or cranky we were.

And now my husband wants to run with me...and just me.

With four kids, two dogs, a household to maintain, and my new obsession with running, there really hasn't been that much time or energy left over to devote to our marriage. I have to give him credit. He's always been supportive and accommodating. Even when I was stumbling home after my long runs on Sundays, only to crash on the couch and snooze for a couple of hours he never complained once. And now, he's decided to join me on this crazy quest for that last minute race to get fit before the years take over and our bodies fall apart. But I'm ambivalent (at best).

It turns out that my running partner is crazy busy at work and was unable to do the long run with me this morning. Soooo...my DH volunteered to be my running buddy today. I have to admit I was a bit skeptical since I'm training for another 1/2 and he's just completed his first 5k clinic/race. Though I am still rehabbing the leg, I'm anxious not to lose any of the momentum I've built up by having to slow down to my hubby's pace.

To my delight and surprise, he managed to do the full 7k with me in 55 minutes. Slow but steady so I can't complain. And what with my (supposedly) slow return, it was a satisfactory run.

But then I noticed something.

As we were walking during our cool down, I felt myself get all flushed and warm.

Me: "Um, do you feel kind of weird?"

DH: "What do you mean?"

Me: " I'm feeling kind of horny. I just got a big whiff of you and it's kind of a turn on".

DH: "Shut up"

Me: "No really, I am"

DH: "No, I mean shut up or I'm going to end up walking around with a big tent in my running shorts"

Since the grandparents took the kids for us this morning, we were able to rush home and take advantage of the 'after effects' of our run.

I'm thinking that having an alternate running buddy could prove to have pretty nice fringe benefits.