RunPackGuides · 4 min read
Running with someone faster or slower than you
Different paces don’t have to end a running partnership. Ways to run together when one of you is quicker: loops, run-backs, split starts and personal targets.
Your partner, your best friend or your sibling runs at a different pace to you. That’s normal, and it doesn’t mean you can’t run together. You just need a format that works for both of you.
If you’re the faster one
- Make it your easy run. Most training plans include easy runs anyway, and running with a slower friend is a good one.
- Run back: run ahead for a few minutes, turn round, rejoin. You get extra distance; they never run alone for long.
- Do your hard session another day. Don’t try to fit it into the shared run.
If you’re the slower one
- Say your pace honestly at the start. Pushing to keep up usually ends with a walk.
- Pick the route: a loop lets your friend add laps while you do your distance.
- Don’t apologise. They chose to run with you.
Formats that work for both
- Split start: the slower runner starts first; aim to finish together.
- Same time, not same distance: run for 40 minutes each and meet at the end.
- Warm up and cool down together, run the middle at your own pace.
Share a target that’s fair
A shared target like “25 km this week” is easy for one of you and hard for the other. Use the same kind of challenge with your own numbers instead: if the faster runner’s long run is usually 12 km and the slower’s is 6, aim for 13 and 6.5. Read more in fair weekly challenges.
How RunPack does it
In RunPack, every run each of you does lands in a private crew feed, whatever the pace, with one-tap reactions. There are no leaderboards, so it never becomes a ranking. Free for up to 4 people on iPhone. See how a crew works.