Random plant event: Neoregelia ampullacea 'Dark Star' offset

I got this plant as part of a plant trade with someone from Garden Web, in October 2008. It hasn't done a lot since then, but I did notice the other day that it had a runner. I was not aware when I received it that it would do this; I was envisioning Neoregelias like 'Gazpacho,' that bloom and then produce offsets while dying, like most other genera in the bromeliad family. Instead, it's more like Neoregelia 'Fireball,' it would seem. I wish it were a little faster-growing, but I feel that way about 'Fireball,' too. Hooray for the Neoregelia genus, all the same.