Love is in the air...

Happy almost-Valentine's Day! Seems like there's lots to love this week... I hear a list coming!

• Last Saturday, I learned that I LOVE the Washington and Old Dominion (or W&OD) trail. Remember those hills I complained about two or three posts ago? Nowhere to be found on the good ol' W&OD. Flat as a dream, so that even the patchy ice and snow (which resulted in a group *run* instead of the planned group bike ride) couldn't diminish my enthusiasm.
• Perhaps more relevant to those of you who, at minimum, are postponing any outdoor athletic endeavors until springtime shows up... I LOVE the Vienna Inn. Normally, "love" might be a strong term for a dive-y diner with a self-serve beverage counter, but just over $5 for a full breakfast AND a cup of joe equals love to this post-run hollow leg. If you like cheap breakfast and find yourself hungry near Vienna, VA, hit the Vienna Inn.
• I have new biking gloves that I LOVE! I did as I promised and bought the fleeciest, warmest, most windproof gloves that I could find. I will never be in any danger of overheated digits, but after a 45-min ride outside in sub-freezing weather, my fingers were within normal "cold" range: that is, cold enough to make certain men (cough cough Pat cough) squeal and run away when caught flesh-to-fingers, but nowhere near the fear-of-frostbite realm.
• And the last thing that I LOVE these days, the one that tops all the others, even the ultra-warm biking gloves? On Saturday night, after three and a half years of togetherness, Pat asked me to marry him! Of course, I said yes. (Well, I nodded a lot - very enthusiastically, I might add - until I regained the ability to speak.) The details are many and schmoopy, but suffice to say that I am absolutely thrilled to have such a great partner for all of life's races to come. Love in the air, indeed.