<\/p>\n
She documented how a running friendship had changed the shape of her life and I was touched that that aspect of the book had been recognised. In fact, she was so honest and lovely I cried a bit. <\/p>\n
I\u2019ve been vocal via the book, the blog, and on all my social media how important my running buddies became. In fact, the one is now my little girl\u2019s godparent, but I\u2019m jumping ahead here.
\nThe thing with running, like anything else I suppose, you need support, both metaphorically and literally at times. And support doesn\u2019t come in any better form than someone right alongside you, ploughing through those miles, through that rain and wind, through hills, fun and injury. <\/p>\n
My first official friend through running was Gavin. Because I live in Merthyr I knew Gavin before I knew him if that makes sense, like most of my friends from Merthyr I met him in my local pub and had no idea that he ran until he\u2019d agreed to run Cardiff half as part of the pub team.<\/p>\n
Fast forward three years and Gavin had to practically drag me around the Cardiff half course thirteen weeks after I\u2019d had the baby. He sacrificed his time and performance to get me around those thirteen point one miles and I will forever be grateful to him for that.<\/p>\n
I will always be even more grateful for how nice he was to me after when I had an accident in his car on the way home!
\n\u2018It\u2019s fine.\u2019 He said \u2018but would you mind sitting on your jacket?\u2019 <\/p>\n
There\u2019s that quote that reads \u2018friends don\u2019t let you do stupid things\u2026alone.\u2019 And that will always remind me of Gavin. We both knew there was no way I should have entered that race let alone run it but we did it and he saw me through it and to me that is a the personification of a proper friend. <\/p>\n
Everyone needs a Gavin! <\/p>\n
The other significant friendship I made through running was the one with Courtney. How I didn\u2019t have a Courtney in my life before I started running I will never know.<\/p>\n
Again, like Gavin, I met Courtney via the pub. She sent me a random text asking whether she could come for a run with me and I thought, why the hell not, what\u2019s the worst that can happen?
\nLittle did I know that it was one of the best things that could have ever happened to me. Not only did I get a running companion but I got a blinking good friend, one of the best in fact and to use another quote, this time from an Instagram meme doing the rounds; \u2018There’s a closeness about people who run together. We become better Friends, Athletes & better Women\u2026\u2019 and I couldn\u2019t sum it up any better if I tried.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I recently had an email off a lady who thanked me for writing about friendship in No run Intended.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":3252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_bbp_topic_count":0,"_bbp_reply_count":0,"_bbp_total_topic_count":0,"_bbp_total_reply_count":0,"_bbp_voice_count":0,"_bbp_anonymous_reply_count":0,"_bbp_topic_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_reply_count_hidden":0,"_bbp_forum_subforum_count":0},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n