Running Buddies - How Committed Are You?

by Kristen Seymour (Subscribe to Kristen Seymour's posts)
May 7th 2009 3:00PM

Categories: Fitness

Glamour model Katie 'Jordan' Price and her husband, Peter Andre, ran the London Marathon this year. Well, run is a bit of an exaggeration -- Katie went down with a knee injury at mile 18, and her husband helped her the rest of the way, almost having to carry her for the last mile. They finished with a time of over seven hours -- not the speediest finish on record, but hey, they finished. And they did it together.

Lots of us have running buddies, and often, we run races together. But the question is, how committed are you to your buddy? If he or she went down at the halfway mark, or was just having a slow day, would you stay back with them? Or do you make a point to let your buddy know that, come race day, anything goes?

It might depend on who your buddy is and what your goals are. I've run races for which I had a goal time, in which case, any running buddy who was also racing knew we'd both be going at our own pace. However, I've also run longer races that, truthfully, I just wanted to cross the finish line, and my partner had the same goal, so it was no problem to stick together.

Let us know in the comments how committed you are to your running buddy. Then, get inspired by checking out all of the celebrities who've completed a 26.2 mile race (and find out how fast they did it!). Will you be next?

Stars Who've Run a Marathon

Sean Combs

P. Diddy, Puff Daddy, or whatever it is you want to call him these days crossed the NYC Marathon finish line in 2003 with a time of 4 hours, 14 minutes, 54 seconds. More impressively, he raised two million dollars for NYC schools in the process.

Getty Images

Katie Holmes

Katie completed the NYC marathon in 2007 with a time of 5 hours, 29 minutes, 58 seconds (we're betting that the next time she does one, she finds a slightly more supportive sports bra). And she was in heels for a party that night.

Getty Images

George W. Bush

President Bush did the Houston Marathon in 1993, finishing with a very respectable time: 3 hours, 44 minutes, 52 seconds. No wonder he was successful in running for office. Get it?

Getty Images

Oprah Winfrey

Oprah completed the Marine Corps Marathon in 4 hours, 29 minutes, 20 seconds as a special gift to herself for her 40th birthday. The race suddenly went from a small, somewhat unknown race to the marathon that everybody wanted to do.

Getty Images

Freddie Prinze, Jr.

Here's a little something to chew on: Had Freddie and Oprah run the same race, she would have won by almost an hour and a half. Freddie completed the 2006 Los Angeles Marathon in 5 hours, 50 minutes, and 49 seconds. Would he go faster for a Scooby Snack, you think?

Getty Images

Will Ferrell

While other "real" runners have certainly finished faster, Will Ferrell comes in near the top in this group with a time of 3 hours, 56 minutes, 12 seconds in the 2003 Boston Marathon. Who would've guessed? Frank the Tank didn't look all that speedy in "Old School."

Getty Images

Lance Armstrong

The cyclist traded his wheels for running shoes and has completed two NYC Marathons and a Boston. His time for the 2007 NYC Marathon was an impressive 2 hours, 46 minutes, 43 seconds. But then again, nobody exactly expected him to be slow, right?

Getty Images

Mario Lopez

As fit as this macho man is, you'd expect a seriously competitive time, right? But his Boston Marathon, 2003, finish was 5 hours, 41 minutes, 41 seconds. He says he was staying behind to run with the girl he was dating. Sure, we believe that.

Getty Images

Ryan Reynolds

The wickedly hot funny man risked bloody nipples (his words, not ours) to compete in the 2008 NYC Marathon. He wanted to raise money for Parkinson's disease, which his father suffers from. He succeeded -- he raised plenty of funds and awareness, plus crossed the finish in 3 hours, 50 minutes, 22 seconds.

Getty Images

Gordon Ramsey

He's better known for his skills in the kitchen, as well as for his foul temper (and language), but it turns out that Gordon Ramsey is quite the runner, too. He's competed in the London Marathon for many years, and holds an impressive pace -- it took him just 3 hourse, 46 minutes, 10 seconds to finish in 2006.

Getty Images

Source

Comments (0)