Finding the right running partner is not easy… Things like pace, scheduling, whether or not they’re training for a race and overall likeability (who wants to run with a jerk?) are constantly in play. By sheer luck, I happened upon Natalie a few months ago via a mutual friend. As soon as Natalie came into the picture, I also started training with my little brother and my night-pacer for the up-coming ultra relay (when it rains it pours). So finally, after over a year and a half of running without any running partner whatsoever (but desperately wanting one) I am currently training with 1, 2, 3!
I’ve only been on a Natalie / brother / night-pacer schedule for a little over a month now and already I have seen some serious benefits to running with multiple partners. After having trained for most of my races the past six months – year completely alone I had forgotten how much fun running could be. Even with changing up my routes, playlists, and outfits at times, running would still have the tendency to get drab. The weeks have lately shaped up as such:
Tuesday – Running the arduous Griffith Park trail runs with Natalie gave me something to look forward (and be accountable) to.
Wednesday or Thursday – Two-mile tempo runs with my brother are a little bit different than the Griffith trail runs. The tempo runs push me a ton, even if I don’t really want to push pace. Sibling rivalry has seriously helped my speed-work and improving over-all pace.
End of the Week – The training runs with the pacer are the hardest. The routes are the longest distance (we’re supposed to run 14 miles together for the relay) and our tempos/pace have a huge differential. However the fact remains that a) I need a night pacer and b) I might as well try to keep up with his tempo as much as I can before he needs to slow down. Trying to sync up with 16 weeks to go before the relay has been quite a learning experience (also making me feel like I’m in the worst shape of my life).
If you can, I would highly suggest trying a similar potpourri of training partners, you’ll be surprised at how much your running has improved, in addition to realizing how grossly out of shape you are in the beginning. Despite the out of shape feeling that may come into play, I am grateful for the opportunity to put myself on the line in front of other people (for a change) when I’m training and demanding a certain level of performance from myself while helping them do the same.
If you need more reasons here’s a nice terse list by Active.com on running with a partner.
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