The Running Buddy

For me, the greatest tool you can have as a runner is the running buddy. When I first started running, I lived in Cincinnati and met a woman who was training for her 7th marathon. She had a running buddy who had run just as many marathons. I started off thinking I would run a half marathon, but running with these two women made the miles fly by and before I knew it, I was training for a marathon. Over the five months we ran together, they became my best friends. Running in freezing sleet, I told them things I hadn't told my husband. Pushing up hill, they sympathized with feelings I thought no one else experienced. It may be that marathoners have similar personality traits. If only .001 percent of the population runs them, what is the motivator? One of my training buddies likened it to army "brothers". Not to insult anyone who has military experience, because I know it is not on the same scale, but there is something about being physicaly taxed that brings you extremely close to those going through it with you. Now I have moved to a different city and have lost my training buddies. I am desperately trying to get my husband to run with me, but he puts up such a good fight! My best friend here started running with me, but then I got pregnant and now she is pregnant and no longer running. I asked my brother in law's girlfriend (this is a strech) if she would run with me, and she is excited to run, but is young and kidless and on a different time schedule. Running solo stinks for two reasons. One, I find it easy to skip runs. If I am not meeting anyone, I tell myself I can push it off until tomorrow and then the next day and before I know it a week has gone by. But the biggest problem is boredom. When I have someone to chat with, seven miles can pass quickly. But alone, three miles feels like 100. I did run yesterday (after pushing off Tuesday and Wednsday). I felt great, and am pleased with my improvement. In just a week, I am running 30 minutes straight at 11:30 average. I usually run short runs in 9:30 min/mile, but am so happy that I can run 30 minutes. My hip flexor was a little sore last night. There are some great streches for it, like the yoga pose "pigeon". I stretched it yesterday and feel fine today. I now debating on how old my son should be before putting him in the gym daycare. They allow him at 6 weeks, but I don't know how he'll do and since it's flu season, I worry about him catching something. I really would like to take some group excercise classes as a cross training. I am interested in weight lifting to build muscle.