I tend to run alone, reasoning that if I’m going to be wearing Lycra and sweating like a trucker, I’d rather not have an audience. But today, after talking about it for weeks, I finally joined my two colleagues on one of their lunchtime runs.
It was a totally different experience: I covered a new, more picturesque, route, ran slightly faster than usual and managed to keep my hands away from my iPod long enough to actually listen to the feedback my body was giving me.
Going at 8.5 - 9 minute miles, as opposed to my normal easy 10, I had less muscular soreness and hit that strange, happy place they call the ‘runner’s high’ a little earlier than usual. And I had to concentrate on my surroundings, so couldn’t compulsively clock-watch – a triple win.
If you can sweet-talk (or gang-press) someone into joining you, I’d def recommend that my fellow marathon newbies find themselves a running buddy – or two.
