Learning to be a running buddy

Today marks my 50^th blog post – party time!

Yes, unfortunately that is a glow-stick in my mouth.

I have to admit, I've never really been a ‘running partner’ kind of person. Honestly I can think of a handful of times I have gone on longer runs with other people. It may be that I’m semi self-conscious of my noisy clicking ankles… along with the fact that I have kind of evolved to see running as my own time.

Riding solo in Boston - via MarathonFoto

However, a conversation that I had last weekend with Andrew has me thinking I should probably become more open to the idea of a running buddy.

As we stood at the edge of the ocean at Rehoboth, here’s what went down:

Me: "Generic complaint about the freezing cold water."

Andrew: "You know, the Navy Seals would do this every morning before the sun was even up.” – proceeds to jump into the ocean.

Me: Continues to stand on the shore with arms crossed.

Andrew: "Come in, it really isn't that bad!"

Me: “I'll come in eventually, I just don't want to right now.”

Andrew: With a smirk… "O.K., yeah... and I'll sign up for a Half Marathon eventually too."

Me: Jumps in ocean. Resurfaces, and gasps, "I'm signing us up this week."

Source

And so I did just that. Word on the street is that the Philadelphia Rock ‘n Roll is flat… and it will be a beautiful city for 13.1. Particularly for Andrew’s first. My hopes are that temps won't be too warm by mid-September when the race rolls around.

 13.1 is one of my favorite distances to run. And I would love for Andrew to fall in love with the sport as well. This is how I arrived to my above realization that if I’m going to sign him up for a distance that he’s never run before, that I should probably be more open to the idea of training with him.

However, I will note that I still have every intention of beating him in the actual race. (Nothing like some good healthy competition)

Anyone else have issues with running with others/groups? Just me?

Here’s to some miles next to my best friend. And here's to the weekend! 

Cheers!