Group Running

I, like most runners I know, generally run on my own. There was a time a few years ago when I regularly ran with a training club, and over the years there have been a few people I would regularly go out for runs with. But for the most part, my day-to-day runs are done alone. Normally, I enjoy company on my runs, but my experience today reminded me just why I normally run solo.

I got into work a bit later than usual this morning, since my girlfriend was heading to San Francisco for a grad school interview and I wanted just a little extra time with her. The second I got to my workspace, my coworker poked his head over the divider and asked if I would like to go for a run at lunch.

Naturally, I said yes.

As I said, I often relish company on a run, but there are times when I do not enjoy it as much.

We stepped out of the door into a beautiful, crisp, sunny spring day and my first warning. The two guys (and the fact that they're guys is important) started talking about where we should run today, and we settled on the Sanitas Valley Trail. I was not planning on doing any sort of elevation that day, and the run itself would be longer than I had planned for the day, but I decided to hang with them any way.

Both set out at a surprising clip on the Creek path. Not to sound cocky, but I rarely feel at all slow in comparison to other runners. When out on the trails, I am almost never passed by anybody else, and I run in Boulder. So when I say they took off at a good clip, they were booking it. I was still feeling the week before, which was my longest in over a year, and the pace felt uncomfortably fast. And for my second mistake, I opted to stay with them.

When we cut off up through Red Rocks on our way to Sanitas, I quickly fell behind the lead runner, though I stayed ahead of the third guy. Over the ridge and down to the start of the Valley Trail, we ran together, but as soon as we headed up Dakota ridge, my two coworkers pushed the pace.

My legs just weren't having it, and I was getting annoyed with the pace pushing. As I mentioned in my last post, last week was my longest in a very long time (ended up being 27 miles, still not impressive, but much better than I've been doing), and my legs were definitely feeling it yesterday and today. So, in my first good move of the day, I let them take off, and proceeded up the trail at my own pace.

As it turns out, my running partners faded a bit towards the top, and while I did not end up catching up, I closed the gap a bit at the top. And I did it without pushing my own pace.

On the downhill back to work, I easily caught up with them at an easy pace.

I should have realized this might be an issue when I agreed to the run. First, the guys I ran with today are sporadic runners, but they are in very good shape nonetheless. So while they are not as steady runners as I am, they can hit a good tempo, and their legs are generally fresher than mine will be unless I am tapering. Second, they are guys. I have generally found myself happier running with girls (for some reason I can never call people my own age men or women, it's always guys or girls). Guys have a tendency to make things into a competition. Girls, as a general rule, seem to more easily relax and hit an easy pace when necessary. That is why, in the past several years, I have run far more with girls. The only guy I have run with is a trail running friend of mine who is, like me, comfortable taking it easy.

Will I run with these guys again? Probably. Will I take the lessons I learned today with me? Hopefully, although I cannot make any promises on that count.