What Are Friends For....

I've written before how racing with my friend Tina upped the ante on our performance. During the Lehigh Valley Half Marathon, we spent the first mile or so catching up on jobs, school, etc., and the rest of the race pushing each other to an awesome 2:07:17 finish. 

I love racing with people. It pushes me out of my comfort zone while simultaneously distracting me from the pain of racing. Thing thing is...I haven't trained with people all that often. When I prepared for my first marathon, I didn't do a single run with another person. Sounds kind of stupid considering I was about to participate in a race with 12,000 other people. Over the summer I had the opportunity to run with my wife, which I loved. However, winter running in New England isn't really her thing. So I tried something new....

A friend of mine in the PhD program, Mary, qualified for the Boston Marathon this past fall after running a blazing sub 3:30 marathon. We were taking a class together at the time and I enjoyed talking about training or gels whenever we could. However, I have to admit, I never expected to actually run with her. I mean...c'mon, her marathon time was over 1:15 faster than mine. She's got a bit of a kick on me. We had been talking a few times this semester about trainining for our respective marathons and somehow, (I don't know what I was thinking) I suggested we go for a run together and I would show her a route in semi-rural South Hadley. I tried to give her an out, reminding her that I really am a lot slower than her - but she took me up on it. And I don't think I could accurately articulate how helpful and fun it was. I didn't know what I was missing by training alone all of the time...

We had some great conversations, everything from running plans, to classes, to her future wedding plans. She got a nice relaxed workout in and I was able to push myself to my best 10-mile time ever. It was so good to get pushed out of my comfort zone a little. And we could not have gotten any luckier with the weather - sunny and in the 50's. I look forward to being able to run with her again. Because really - what else are friends for? 

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