You know the friendship is real if……

Part 3 of my post marathon reflections… training teaches you lots about yourself & your running buddies during training – and even more so during a stupidly hot race in drought conditions!

So, how do you know if your running buddies are just that, or if they are proper, hardcore friends? Ticking more than three off the list below will give you a pretty good indication that they’re a good ‘un!

1. You know who Percy is and why ‘he’ is important
2. You know her toilet habits better than her significant other does
3. She helped you pop your wild-wee cherry
4. You can run more than 16 miles with her and still enjoy her company
5. She removes your socks after 26.2 miles because you can’t
6. She gets up at stupid o’clock to drive you, and your family, 60+ miles to a race she’s not running because the logistics of getting yourself there pushed you dangerously closed to the edge!
7. You get seriously narky when you see her run with someone else cos you’re injured!
8. Snot, sweat, tears and still she hugs you
9. Having chauffeured you and your family, she walks over 12 miles on a baking hot day to support you
10. She (miraculously) manages to tame and entertain your off-spring during a long and arduous day
11. She recognises when your anxiety is out of control and steps in to stop it by any means necessary
12. She doesn’t let you ditch your training plan even when you REALLY want to
13. If she can’t train with you, she’s there in spirit with emotional support
14. You both cry when you realise training counts for nothing when the event goes to rat-shit
15. You both finish, hate it, vow ‘never again’ and change your mind less than 48 hours later
16. Chafing is a standard topic of conversation
17. You’ve done her bra up, in public and on the run
18. She’s done your bra up / adjusting the straps, in public and on the run
19. No about of effing and jeffing offends her as she knows one day it’ll be her turn
20. You barely recognise her when she’s not in lycra! 🙂

I’m delighted to say I have made some bloody brilliant running friends!