With a sinus infection raging right now, I was out for the entire weekend of running, leaving Walt to do 9 miles by herself.  She went for it with gusto but ran out of steam at mile 5 and ended up doing 8.  Her watch even died on her at mile 4, leaving her (as she put it) “truly alone.” 

We’ve all heard that a workout partner makes us more accountable to our schedules and helps motivate us in our workouts.  Most of us also like the company to help pass the mileage.  It doesn’t matter if we talk about running, aches & pains, or what happened at work that day, it helps pass the time. 

Running with Walt has become my Girls’ Night Out.

I personally like that my running has become a shared experience.  We celebrate our achievements together and set goals for ourselves.  We cheer each other up after a bad run and congratulate each other after a good run.  We plan trips to our events and drink our traditional Snakebite after each race.  Sometimes we coordinate our outfits (yeah, we’re totally girls) and on our runs, we give ourselves a little “woo hoo” with every mile completed.  People stare…that’s fine.

If you’re looking for a running partner, start with the people around you.  You might be the encouragement and inspiration they need to get started.

Check out your local running stores to see what groups/trainings they offer or visit www.meetup.com for a Running Meet Up group.

Post a note in our forums and see if another RunFor reader is in your area – at least, you’ll have no problem coordinating outfits with your RunFor gear!

And for those of you who prefer running alone, I’m going to talk about running as a form of meditation on Thursday.