I'm faced with a dilemma pulled from time immemorial; as always I will turn to the indefatigable wisdom of the Letsrun boards.
I've been running with this girl, X, for ~4 months now. We meet up 1-3 times a week, run together or both do track workouts at the same time. X is awesome, we clicked almost instantly, and are pretty good friends at this point. I don't resonate with many people, so this makes me confident that this is a real feeling. As any mid-20s single guy I can't help but think there's something more to this: I'm crushing on her. We have just enough similar, somewhat niche interests, and have a similar method of approaching life. After runs it's hard to not talk for > 30 minutes with X.
It gets a bit more complicated. She used to run with another guy, Y, until he decided he wanted to stop running. Well he decides to start again, and wants people to run with, so he joins us. Y is cool, a guy I would hang out with on my own accord. Y is in a relationship. Y has a car, X does not, and my car broke just before he started running with us , so if we want to get out to a cool trail he is necessary. This is great, but now instead of guy and girl running together it's 3 friends running together. Long post-run talks only happen when it's just me and X. She still pays attention to what I say, responds quickly to texts, etc.
So my questions to the beautiful minds of Letsrun:
1) X is a great as a friend, I want to keep her as a friend. I also can't let someone like this walk by me. I've never been attracted to a close friend - if I tell her how I am feeling, what's the risk of losing or weakening the friendship? I also really enjoy Y's company, might this change the dynamic?
2) We've never talked about relationships with one another, and only Y's ventures have been a topic of conversation when the 3 of us have met. Is this a sign at all? Would she have mentioned she is single if she was? Would she have mentioned she had a bf if she did? Is she wondering these same things about me?
3) Should I just tell her how I am feeling, and see how she responds? Should I show instead of tell, while still making my intentions clear?
4) How likely is it that she knows I am crushing on her? I feel that girls are much more tuned into these things than guys. I can convince myself that both ways that she either does or doesn't have similar feelings.