On Solitary and Group Running

The other night my friend Suzie and I were at a little get together, and another friend asked us if we had run together yet since S. had returned to town after being away for most of the summer. We said that we hadn't yet, and then Suzie joked that I had cheated on her this summer with other runners. I laughed and said that I had indeed been promiscuous.

Most of my teenage and adult life I've been active - either going to the gym or running. However, I've not always liked the more social aspect of getting my sweat on, though. I played volleyball and basketball in middle school, but in high school I abandoned team sports and spent several years doing martial arts. In college I went to the gym, but I always went either on my own or with maybe one or two other people. The same for grad school, and I didn't always enjoy running into friends at the gym. I was there to get Michelle Obama arms not to chit chat about seminars or dissertations or departmental politics. Even when I started running more seriously and joined TNT for my first marathon, I tended to avoid group training runs and preferred to go out solo or with just one friend.

This past year that has slowly begun to change. During the fall, winter, and spring, I did meet some other runners and went to group runs a couple of times, but still found myself training mostly on my own or running once a week with my friend Angi or my girl Suzie. This summer, though, I have suddenly craved the companionship of other runners. I was tired of running alone all the time, so I joined a running group. I also sought out other new running buddies with whom to hit the pavement. I've been, as I said, promiscuous. I've loved it. My group has been kind and welcoming to me. And more generally, the camaraderie is awesome. Shitty runs are much easier to endure when I feel like I'm part of a pack. The word relay has entered my thoughts for the first time ever.

However, 5:15 am group runs are only going to work for me a one or two days a week now that the academic year has started. Teaching an 8am class means that I need to be on campus by about 7:30 and most days I'll need more than hour to get ready. I also tend to work later into the evenings, which makes going to bed early enough to wake up at 4:30 and then function for the entire day tricky to say the least.  So while I will still run with my group when I can, and hopefully with other running buddies (maybe even together) one other day a week, and while I have come to prefer running in the pack, I am glad that I can still find joy in solitary running. There's still something very zen and rejuvenating to me about hearing nothing but the sound of my breathing and my own footfalls.

Are you a solitary or a group runner? Have you avoided running groups or do you try to avoid solo runs?