Couples Who Run – Valentine’s Day Edition!

Couples Who Run – Valentine’s Day Edition!

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re celebrating couples who run! We interviewed AMPT Founder, Angela Casavant, as well as fellow 2020/2021 AMPT Ambassadors, Ramon Golen, Heather Hutchison, and Stephanie Ramirez to hear all about their experiences running with their significant other. Whether you or your partner are new to running or if you’re looking to spend some more quality time together, check out the insight below from some of our expert couples. We hope this inspires you to run with your partner during the Valentine’s season, and beyond!

What do some of our couples LOVE about running together?

In talking with AMPT Ambassador, Heather, she said she loves running with her significant other for several reasons! “I love running with him because he knows how to read me and sometimes, we talk the whole run or other times we just run in silence and feel each other near. It’s nice to have someone that I trust and helps me on tough runs and celebrates with me when I have a good run.” She also mentioned it is convenient because “we don’t have to try to figure out schedules and or routes because we tend to love the same type trails.” Plus, her partner is her “natural GPS”!
When talking with Ambassador Lead, Ramon, and his wife, they shared a similar response! Ramon loves that it is an activity he and his wife can do together, and his wife loves the motivation Ramon provides!
Overall, running together as a couple is a great way to spend extra time together and it can be motivating to have someone cheering you on or helping you get out of bed on the mornings when you feel a little less inclined to get your run done!

How often do our couples run together and is it just for fun, or do they train for races together?

Stephanie Ramirez and her husband love getting active together, and they each have different strengths they bring to the table during their runs. According to Stephanie, “We love racing together and are both very competitive, so we keep each other on our toes from training through the finish line—whether it’s a studio competition or a 10K!” Stephanie mentioned she is usually the one that signs them up to race and gets them “pumped up for an event”, whereas her husband keeps them motivated during the race.
AMPT Founders, Angela and Phil also run together often, about 2-3 times per week. Angela mentioned that they love racing together and even if they don’t race together, the other is always there to cheer them on! She also mentioned that her and Phil started running together so that they could spend more time together. According to Angela, “It’s a nice way to end a busy day. We often use our evening runs as a time to talk and catch up on our day.”

Heather and her significant other also run together as much as possible, and they even pace races together – what a team! Heather mentioned, “We fall into a natural pace with each other so we can talk and chat with other runners. We tend to feed off each other and keep those we are pacing going the whole way!” Heather mentioned they get pretty competitive and have some BIG plans in their future. “The number one benefit is that he is always up for any crazy race or place I want to run, and he comes up with some wild ideas that I am all about trying! We have run 50ks with one week of training, we have done races that went through the night in the dead heat of Texas summer, and jumped right in to training and running a 200 mi and a 2000km race!” We personally can’t wait to see what they will do next!

What have our couples learned from running together, and what advice can you share with others who might be looking to run together as a couple in the future?

Angela has learned that “communication is key. It’s what makes our business relationship work, and it’s what makes training together work. Coordinating schedules is not always easy and we do not always have the same goals, so communicating prior to a run is important to set expectations. We always discuss what distance and pace we will be running.” She continued on with the following advice for fellow running couples out there, “Running together should be fun. It’s okay to engage in a healthy rivalry, but don’t take it too seriously. Embrace competitiveness but keep it fun and motivating!”

Ramon and his wife also shared their takeaways on running together, as well as advice they have for other couples out there who are looking to do the same. Ramon’s advice is similar to Angela’s that communication is key. Ramon said, “Not every training run, or race is going to be rosy, but that is ok. Just make sure to talk it out.” Ramon’s wife has learned a lot too, including embracing her competitive edge. She mentioned “Ramon is a really strong runner (mentally and physically) and inspires me. At the end of the day, everyone always says, ‘be better than yesterday’ and I just want to be better than Ramon.” In general Ramon gave this excellent piece of advice, “You will not always talk during every race/training run, but that is ok. Sometimes just to be next to them is enough. Just make sure to let your partner know ahead of time if you aren’t ‘feeling it’.”

Stephanie and her husband sum it up well, “Our advice would be to have fun throughout the entire process, the best feeling though is crossing the finish line together!”

Biggest takeaways from these couples?

My biggest takeaway in hearing from our AMPT couples, as well as my own personal running journey with my husband, is that you can learn a lot from running together that translates not only into running, but into the relationship overall. As many of our ambassadors, along with founders Angela and Phil Casavant, mentioned, “communication is key”, and that can go for running and for life in general. Many of the practices such as setting goals together, communicating, and having fun, are not only priorities when running together, but in all other endeavors as a couple as well!

In general, if you’re looking to run together, just go for it! Not every run has to be competitive, especially if you’re at different paces. Sometimes it is nice just to run for fun! And, as Heather mentioned in our interview, “Enjoy the time together. Don’t ever take guidance from the other as criticism because they only want you to be your best. They have a stake in the game of life with you!”

Happy Running and Happy Valentine’s Day from our featured AMPT Couples (pictured below) to Yours!