Monday, January 7, 2013

I am a social running creature

I've been pretty blah about running lately. I haven't had much motivation to get all dressed up to run in the cold at lunch and I really haven't had the time or motivation to log long miles over the Christmas break. Like many, I gained a bit of belly due to too much beer and holiday food. It has been really bumming me out because 2012 was a pretty good year for me. I racked up 1200 miles, did 2 trail marathons, became an ultrarunner with a Pineland 50K finish, and lost 40 lbs and 4 inches off my waist.

Many of my training miles were logged at lunch with my friend, Scott. Scott and I have known each other forever but lost touch and realized through Facebook that we worked in the same office park.

We are pretty typical running partners. You know the kind. You can talk about everything or nothing and it doesn't matter. We've had conversations about our kids, our jobs, and at one point I think I even gave him a tutorial on surgical steels. It's just good to be out there with company. We are pretty well matched in terms of fitness and running speed so on any given day, the one who feels good usually pushes the other without knowing it. I credit these unconscious tempo runs for much of my speed improvement this year.

Scott and I finally hooked up for a run today in what seems like forever which was probably more like a few weeks. It was great. 5 miles went by like nothing and I came back feeling great and looking forward to my next run.

That's when it hit me... I haven't been rudderless due to some overtraining or undermotivation. I've been missing the companionship. I'm a much better runner when I'm with someone else. I'm a social runner.

How about you? Do you like solitude or companionship on your runs?
- Cheers!