Running together

When I first started running I ran by myself. I never thought about running with other people. As an introvert I really enjoy my time alone out on the trails.

However my husband and I recently moved and I have joined a running club in the town we live in now. I was nervous before my first session as I wasn’t sure what to expect. I needn’t have worried. Runners are such a friendly bunch of people. I usually dread interval training and other fast paced work outs. But I discovered that running with others makes the harder sessions so much more enjoyable.  And I push myself so much harder if there is someone else running next to me at a faster pace. And I love chatting to the other runners afterwards, talking about how hard the session was, sharing a cup of tea. I have realised what a friendly community runners are.

I have also noticed that running somehow makes you feel closer to the people you run with. Every Sunday morning I run around 10-14 miles with two others from my running club. Even though I hardly know them and we don’t talk much while running I have grown really fond of them. I love getting up early on Sunday with hardly anyone around, just hearing the birds chirping and our foot fall. Running down the street together. A perfect Sunday morning.

My dad is also a runner and is probably the reason I chose running as the sport of choice to get fit two years ago. I love my dad but there have been times when our relationship wasn’t great. My dad is a man of very few words and I often interpreted that as him not being interested in me and my life. As I now live abroad I don’t see my parents that often. About a year ago when I went home to visit them I joined my dad for a run which turned into a 2 hour run through fields and forests. We didn’t talk much at first. After some time he slowly started opening up telling me about the time he lived abroad in his twenties. Stories of his life he has never told me before. I absolutely loved it. I never knew that my dad actually ran an Ultramarathon in Rhodesia!! I felt like I discovered a whole new side to my dad. Since then, every time I visit my parents, I will try and make time to go running with my dad. I love spending time with my dad running and have probably never been as close to my dad as I am now.

I love running.