Running with Jon
That's me on the right with my good friend Jon in the white shirt. This was taken a few weeks back on a Saturday morning run. First of all, please let that be some reassurance that I am still running.
Jon, well he's a great pal but it has to be said he is not into cycling. In fact, he's made a point of that in his own blog. While we were out running we spotted a handful of cyclists and Jon plucked up courage to ask me about cycling.... why I like it, what's the buzz and so on. Naturally I wasted no time in telling him all the many reasons why cycling is such a great thing to do and why it fits alongside running so well. It makes you wonder whether he might be secretly wanting to take up cycling, or at least to taste some of the many benefits but cannot bring himself to take the plunge. He doesn't know it but there's a good chance of this happening as they say the best predictor of future behaviour is to look at what has already happened. Years before he took up running, he was far from that. Nowadays he's far (outwardly) from being a cyclist, so who knows....?
Anyway. We went for a really nice run over one of his courses - about 8 miles and out into the countryside around Breachwood Green. I already know this area, the network of country roads and lanes, through my commuting to Stevenage. It was a great run, we kept up with each other in pace and conversation.
When we got back to Jon's house that's where things started to get interesting. Locked out. Yes, the front door was locked, so too was the back door. Locked out. Being a Saturday morning we shouldn't be reading anything into the fact the family cars were there in the drive way, and as Jon explained, they would be taking the dog for a walk. We waited, got cold and waited a little more with a little shiver thrown in.
To keep warm and be distracted from Jon's embarrassment we jogged around the neighbourhood hoping to spot his family. Not successful at all. We asked some dog walkers, looked in the usual places where Jon reckoned they might be, all to no avail. We got back to his house, gravel, stones, bigger stones all hurled at the upstairs windows. "Anyone in?" desperatley went through the letter box.
Yes, someone was in and so we got into his house. Just as well really as I wasn't going far without getting my car keys back. Nevertheless a humbled Jon took all the flack on his chin very well and certainly not putting us off having another run some other time.
The thing about running with other people
I'm sure I've blogged about this before, the pros and cons of running on your own or with other people. Like many other runners I probably lean more to running on my own but when you get to run with someone else, who is like-minded and runs at a similar pace, why not?
I had been thinking I ran slower on my own, perhaps I do sometimes but I also like to run in short blasts to get myself totally out of breath when any kind of conversation is impossible. When running with Jon it feels like we start off quicker than I would normally on my own. It always seems to take me 20 minutes or so to get warmed up and running well, Jon, on the other hand springs into life a bit quicker than me.
Overall I think it's great to run alone but then with the right person, why not run with someone else? All adds depth and variety!
