Worst Traits of Your Running Partners?

they are all faster than me

wait, maybe i'm the problem.

Half-steppers. Jogging 8 minute pace cool downs? They're a half-step ahead. 6:30 paced training runs? They're a half-step ahead. Running low or mid-5 tempos? A half-step. It's irritating.

A few with OCD running related issues.

"oh, I'm just running easy tonight"
Son, do not leave me to hammer this by myself.

well these days i pretty much only run solo, so....that dude's got a lot of problems. don't even know where to start LOL.

when i do run with people, my main complaints are the marathon obsession (or even worse, trail ultras :puke:) and racing easy days like a bunch of high schoolers. you are an accountant in your 40s trying to BQQQQQQQQQ, slow the f*ck down and give your legs a rest for god's sake.

I used to hate when our run was over, he would always run two more minutes on his own. But little did he know after he left, I would go run three more minutes on my own.

I love my teammates and their enthusiasm to run hard but it seems the mid pack guys always feel like they have something to prove by going 6:30s on recovery runs and blasting intervals way faster than their actual PR paces, going all out on the last rep to the point that they're lying on the track after, etc. maybe this is just typical HS / college male runner behavior though

A couple of runners I ran with were great on the track, ok on flat 'grass track' XC courses, and slow on hard ones. If they weren't at the front of the pack, you'd probably get clipped once every 5 minutes if they were behind you.

Most of the people I run with nowadays are good running partners. It was a different story in high school and college because at that age people were more insecure and the general team environment was more competitive. The absolute worst trait was girls who would talk sh*t about others. You know they're talking about you when you aren't there too. This was definitely exclusive to college age and under though. I wouldn't put up with being around that now.

They want to run 4 miles on the same course on the same day every week where the road is narrow and there's too much traffic. Every time it's a tempo run that they start too fast and then slow down. Nobody ever wants to try a different course, run intervals/fartlek, or run 2 miles easy and then fly the last 2 miles. I'm done with them.

The half stepper - no matter what pace you're going at, he's always just in front.

The guy with no spatial awareness - constantly brushing arms or even running you into a curb because he can't keep track of where he is on the road.

The novelty seeker - he'll take you through an industrial park to avoid doing a run he's done before.

The guy with no sense of pace - 400s at 5k pace? When it's his turn to lead, he'll run the first 200 in 32. (We were 15-flat guys)

The OCD - Ran a 70 instead of 68 for one of my 400s? My season is ruined. The hotel doesn't have a waffle maker? Might as well not race today.

The sandbagger/workout racer - He's 10 seconds back on every 1k interval then kicks like it's an olympic final on the last one.

The guy who always DNFs - You're doing your 2nd lap on an xc course and see him sitting on the side of the course--for the 3rd time this season--when you only have 5 runners in the race.

I've run with all of these guys and been at least 1 of them at some point. Great teammates overall, but really annoying at times.

Worse than the half stepper is the half stepper that will accuse you of pushing the pace if you so much as try to run next to them.

workout hero- running every interval all out

1/2 stepper- aint no 1/2 steppin

how I wrecked my HS running