"Training for my first five or six marathons (I'm about to run number eight), I thought if someone was going to join me on a training run, they had to be up for the entire distance because I was running an out-and-back course," says Sarah Bowen Shea, co-author of
Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity.
"Silly me: Now I realize I can run several loops and have friends join me for part of the distance. It's a lot easier to find a friend who will join you for, say, 6 or 8 miles than 15 or 18. Recently I ran 5 miles, then met up with a friend who needed to run 10, which we then did together. It makes long runs less daunting to know you'll have a gal-pal along for part of it."
