Solo or group running - which are you?

I enjoy my club runs on a Tuesday & Thursday evenings, plus parkrun on a Saturday morning. I enjoy the company, the chat and the motivation that running as part of a group gives me. There are times that I do have to to go out for a solo run, maybe because I need to put in some extra miles and the weekly club 10k isn't enough and a Tuesday is my only available day to get in a longer run, as it was this Tuesday or, I need to run an extra distance on top of the club runs. There are many reasons why I do sometimes have to go out on my own.

Whenever I am out running, either alone or with a group, I always see plenty of other runners out there running alone, headphones plugged in to their ears listening to some, "banging tunes", or maybe a podcast or audio book. Are they running alone by choice because they prefer to run solo? Do they not want to run with others as part of a club? I do know that clubs aren't everyone's cup of tea, some people don't feel that they are competitive enough or feel that they may not be fast enough for club running, or that they don't want to feel pressured into having to represent their club at races. There are probably as many reasons for not joining a club as there are for joining a club. I know people who do prefer to run solo, it gives them a chance to think, or they just prefer the solitude.

If I have to run solo then I like to take my mp3 player with me which has a built in radio, I like the mixture of music and chat which can be very entertaining and seems to help make the running time go by quicker. I will often stop to take in a view or watch some wildlife, and yes, I do use this time to think about life, the universe and everything but, given the choice of running solo or with a group, I would choose the group every time, whether that be with the club or just a group of friends.

So check out my video below on this same subject where I ran an 11 mile route, along a canal, country lanes and along the River Usk. Please like 👍 my video, share it with your friends and subscribe to my channel so that you don't miss any future videos.