Training Camaraderie

As I was about halfway through my run today, I stumbled upon yet another reason why I’m committing myself to this sport and enjoying every minute of it – athlete camaraderie.

I was running along a three-mile loop, a popular route with endurance athletes in DC because of its proximity to the monuments and minimal car traffic, when I hear another runner coming up behind me at a solid pace. Now I’d like to think that I rarely get passed while out on my training runs but given the route I was on, I know that some of the fittest cyclists and runners are out doing the same thing I am so I expect the occasional marathon runner to give me a run for my money. Instead, the runner catches me and paces off of me for a couple minutes.

For all those runners and cyclists out there, I’m not opposed to breaking etiquette every now and then. I’ll admit I’ve drafted and paced off of numerous people without asking them first and I think that as long as you give the friendly head nod or smile-and-wave, it’s OK in my book.

But after those couple minutes pacing, the runner strode alongside me and instead of passing me with a friendly nod, we started talking. Turns out he was out on this relatively-warm day as part of his marathon training when he noticed my pace and wanted to run with me to add some tempo training into the middle of his long run. So Jesús, a 52 year-old naval officer who qualified for Boston after shaving an hour off of his marathon time in only six months, and I set out on the final four miles of my run.

We spent the next 30 minutes pushing a 7:10 pace (way faster than I was planning since I just did a two hour ride) and chatting about everything from training tips to where we grew up. Two guys, decades apart in years, on very different life and training paths, but we had an unspoken bond – endurance training.

So Jesús, thanks for helping me finish off my 9-miler strong and best of luck in the Nations Marathon. I hope you hit your 3:30 goal once more. You showed me that the camaraderie amongst endurance athletes is something that will never get old. While I’ll always enjoy the challenge of training solo, I can’t wait to see who I meet on my next training run (…as long as they’re not some crazy person).