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Valentine's Day Special: The UIPM couples who love the sport they share

UIPM Family

It's Valentine's Day and we asked a couple who compete alongside one another in UIPM sports to tell us how they benefit from being in a relationship with a fellow athlete.

Logan and Erin Storie are a married couple who both won gold medals at the 2016 UIPM Biathle/Triathle World Championships. 

Here they tell their stories of love and commitment on one of the world's most gruelling sporting circuits.

How often do you think about your partner / spouse when you are training and competing?

E: Training, hardly ever. One, because we are grinding it out together. Or, two, it’s our chance to finally get some air and be away from one another.

L: Competitions, all the time. It’s hard to get out of the routine of constantly being with your yin to your yang, so it takes a couple days to adjust. We constantly text. When we come back from months of being away it takes a couple weeks to forget that you don’t have to be so independent. 

How much does it help you achieve your sporting goals to know that your partner has the same goals?  

L&E: I think the reason why we’ve been so successful as a couple is because we have the same goals. We have a common lifestyle that we practice: we go to be early, wake up early, recover in the middle of the day, have special eating habits, and workouts. It would be tough to date someone who doesn’t understand the commitment of a full time athlete. It also helps that we are doing different sports so we aren’t always together.

What's the sweetest thing your partner has ever done for you before or after a competition?

E: Logan came to one of my races outside of the country and surprised me. He rarely gets to see me compete, so it was a treat. 

L: The fact that Erin comes to watch the full Pentathlon is sweet. It’s a long day, and I love her support. 

How often do you compete/travel together?

L&E: It is very rare to compete together. The first time was in Sarasota for the Biathle/ Triathle World Championships. We can’t afford to travel together all the time, but I do take Logan’s Army shirt with me whenever I travel so I have a little something. 

When you have time off together, do you try to forget about sport and talk about other things?  

L&E: Always. We go out, laugh, dance, play pac-man, hike, adventure, talking about triathlons and pentathlons would just stress us out. We don’t want to be stressed out!

Do you think your common interest in elite sport makes you a stronger couple?

L&E: Of course. Every day is a chance for us to grow stronger together. We are constantly going through successes and failures of being an elite athlete and we have to take that home with us. Learning to cope with things now will help strengthen our marriage in the future, also, we will learn how to we want to raise our kids when we decided to start a family. I think we are really fortunate to find each other.

When you have been most grateful for having a partner who is also an athlete?

L&E: Every. Single. Day. The grind is real and the motivation isn’t always there, it is good to have the best training partner right next to you to hold you accountable. We know we can push each other together and when to back off. We have a mutual understanding that we aren’t always going to be on the same schedule, and sometimes we are peaking for different competitions throughout the year, but we have to support one another and we love helping one another out. It’s awesome to share this experience with each other.

What would be the perfect day for you as a sporting couple?

L: Competing and Representing Team USA in the 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games.

What do you like to eat? 

L&E: We love FOOD. It’s one thing we have in common. We love experiencing different cultures and having different dining experiences. It’s something we like to do on our down time. We will try anything.

Do you attend cultural or sporting events? 

L&E: Yes! We love to get out of the house and experience life. We like watching Football, going to movies and shows, concerts, etc. 

What are your favourite places to go on holiday?

L&E: Home, of course. We don’t visit our families nearly enough so any free time we get, we usually just go home. And/or any place tropical.

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