Tandem

Bi polar opposites.  United, a team.  Individually, hard work.

Running partnerships are forged over time.  Few niceties, no room for falsehoods.  Built on the hope that in times of hardship your partner will hit a high as you hit the wall and that there will be room on their horse for two.

Our partnership is now totally equal, but we've both been forced to earn our stripes over time. 

One is tall and slender,  Amazonian, exuding pace and determination.  She was scientific about running and googled running academia in the pursuit of her goal.  The other is shorter and dumpier, and trades running trivia and marathon urban myths.  It is difficult for the latter to fall into the stride of the former - and vica versa – in more ways than one.

Alpha runner still finds Beta runner exhausting.  Although a formidable  career woman by day, when running, Beta is lapsidaisical about training dates and times.  She has knitted herself a warming tea-cosy of a training schedule with scant thought for fartlek and transition, and a large cup of focus is given to the calorific conversion of a longer run.  In her book, two hours of steady running translates to the daily calorie intake of most women,  or put another way, earns you 10 Kit Kats and two bags of yoghurt coated raisins to be enjoyed whilst lying prone on the sofa, toying with a copy of ‘Runners World’.

Alpha runner can be equally as taxing.  When agitated she is able to both talk faster and pick up her running pace without breaking sweat.  Any hill is there to be attacked, but she will, out of deference, wait at the top for Beta to catch up.  Any runner ahead of them is there to be overtaken, and particularly if they have a large backside – Alpha has made it a personal training target never to be beaten by a runner with more adipose than herself.  Beta has a sneaky suspicion that she could herself be that lard arse that other runners might be picking off. Alpha’s pedometer is more aggressive than Beta’s; calories burnt never sound quite so appetising after Alpha’s post-run conversion.

They had been brought together through marriage, but aside from the occasional comparison of wedding outfit, children or respective in-laws, they had never really crossed each other’s radar – geographically or emotionally.

Running has now become their shared interest, however.  They came to it via different paths, and with different training partners, but now they run together, and their shared family tree gives new grist to their treadmill.

Shared relatives necessitate firm ground rules before serious running can commence.  The Sisterhood demands that what went on tour stays on tour – or in other words, anything discussed whilst running is not for public consumption. Please note.

Thus, marathon training allowed Alpha and Beta to negotiate a divorce, navigate school changes, assassinate career rivals, discuss the available options for a over-active bladder, play parent poker and discuss the pros and cons of speed dating.  Running sessions become therapy.  Even Beta starts to warm to the long distance run, now there is a human element to enjoy.  If a weekend run is cancelled, respective families feel the strain. A weekly dose of catharsis is based on more than endomorphins alone.

They share their journeying to official races.  Beta begins to enjoy the streamlined pre-race organisation of Alpha – the synchronised eating of bananas, the carefully fashioned bin-liners and the home made gel pouches.  Alpha secretly enjoys the pre-race nerves of her partner, the verbal diarrhoea, multiple trips to the porta loos and acidic sarcasm that deflects long waits for the off.

And over time, they realise that true character comes from long-distance running.  They tune to each other’s mood to the point that a strident, ‘No, you go on, I’ll be fine,’ translates as, ‘I’m struggling, don’t leave me!’  PB’s became less important than ensuring that both team members cross the finishing line – if not together, with at least one waiting to cheer the other one through.

On cross country runs, Beta takes the lead in terms of organisation.  She navigates and splashes happily along muddy tracks.  For road training, Alpha is in charge; pacesetting, water monitoring and demanding negative splits.

Most importantly, spectators now realise that these ill-matched runners, tortoise and hare, are now a formidable team.  They are consulted for physio and podiatrist contact numbers, best running reads, and recommended footwear.  They are sought out for their irreverent dialogue and forgiving approach to coaching.  They have blurred at the seams.  Alpha has softened and Beta has flexed. 

The need to run together is no longer essential, but they save their secrets anyway, ready to fuel a weekend run. Comfortable in each other’s differing strides now, and smug in the satisfaction that they have indeed completed that marathon.  They held hands and smiled beautifully - a photo finish perfect for their shared family album.