RunPackGuides · 4 min read
Running in a group: the benefits, and how to get them
Why running with a group helps: company, routine, people who expect you, new routes and learning from others. And how to get them if you usually run alone.
Plenty of people love running alone. But running with others, even once a week, changes how running feels for a lot of people. Here’s what a group gives you, and how to get it even if you can’t make a fixed meetup.
It gets you out of the door
A group run is an appointment. When people are expecting you, you go, even on the mornings you’d otherwise have stayed in bed.
The time goes faster
Chatting at an easy pace makes a long run feel shorter. It also keeps you from running your easy days too hard, because you need breath to talk.
New routes and ideas
Other runners know routes you’ve never tried, races worth entering, and what worked for them when training got hard.
Someone to celebrate with
A first 10K, a comeback after time off, a new longest run: these are better when people who know what it took are there to celebrate.
Can’t make a group run?
You can get much of this without running side by side. Friends who run at different times or in different places can still share their runs, cheer each other on and aim for a shared weekly target. See running with friends in another city.
Finding a group
Look at local running shops, clubs and free weekly timed runs, or start your own with two or three friends. See how to find a running crew and how to start a running group.
How RunPack helps
RunPack keeps a running group together between meetups: everyone’s runs in one private feed, from iPhone, Apple Watch or Garmin, and one-tap reactions. Free for groups of up to 4. See RunPack as a group running app.