Romantic runners have a choice this year, and both options include Valentine's Day and chocolate.

The inaugural Run for the Chocoloate will start downtown and end at Crown Candy Kitchen, and the second annual Truffle Shuffle offers prizes for a sweetheart division — the fastest combined time by a couple. And to tie it all together: A study at the University of California-San Diego has found that small amounts of dark chocolate helped boost endurance in mice and shows promising results in people.

So grab a bit of dark chocolate before voting in today's bird line poll. The quip with the most votes at 8 p.m. will appear on the front page of Thursday's paper.

Speaking of chocolate and Thursday, my 111th "birdday" party starts at 6 p.m. at 4 Hands Brewery! Guerrilla Street Food and Sarah's Cake Stop will be there, too. Join us!