RUNNING WITH OTHERS

RUNNING WITH OTHERS

This is the time of year when a lot of us ramp up our training. It’s marathon training season here in Florida and at Fleet Feet Sports. These are some of the hardest months to train in, but we do it knowing it will make us better when race season, November through March is here.

The toughest part can be staying motivated. Who wants to run at 5 or 6 AM when it’s hot, humid or raining? That’s where your training buddies come in. If you’re not currently training with other people, it’s definitely something to consider. Running groups and running partners/friends are good on many levels. They expect you to show up when you say you’ll be there. And you’re going to show even if you don’t want to when the alarm goes off. You’re not going to leave your friend or running partner standing out in the dark waiting on you wondering where the heck you are. When you run with others, you push each other to perform better. Most runners in a group will run faster, take fewer breaks and build better endurance.

 Let’s face it, it’s easy to take the unplanned walk break when you’re alone. Running in a group keeps the mind more engaged. You tend to think less about the little things that make us want to take that break. You notice less of the discomforts and just run through it. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve stopped to walk just because. My breathing is fine, legs are good, energy is high and I just stop because my mind thought I needed a walk break.

Training groups are successful for a reason. You have an actual plan that everyone sticks with. You build on it every week and you see the progress. The training plan is a gradual building that’s designed to get you to the end goal. Every week as a group you go out and accomplish a new goal and you get better each week.

It’s great to see new people come into our training groups. Most start the same way, intimidated because they assume they are the slowest and it scares them to death! But we get them with a group that’s right for them and at their level. The next thing you know, they’re running farther, faster and getting stronger each week. Not to mention the friends many of them make along the way.

Over the years we have seen many of these people become best friends. They go to dinner, events, vacation together and even travel the country doing races. Carolyn and I lead a trail running program on Sunday mornings. It’s called Rock Runners. We meet at different trails each week and run together. We have the best time. The group is fantastic and we have so much fun. We take photos on the trail, share them on social media and spend the rest of Sunday chatting back and forth on Facebook about our experiences. So we’ve made some new friends and are even doing the Ragnar Alafia Trail relay together in December.  We are so excited. We will camp and run in the woods for a couple of day. I am confident we will have an amazing time and build some lasting friendships.

If you’re not running with a group, give it some thought, give it a try! You might feel a little uncomfortable when you first show up, but once you start running you’ll forget all about that. Check out one of the many training programs we offer (http://www.fleetfeetstuart.com/training). Best part is, you can just show up, give it a try and see if it’s right for you. I’m pretty confident you will love running and training with people that have the same interest and goals as you.

We’ll see you out there! Stay safe, healthy and happy.

Edgar