The Phenomenon of Pack Running
It's rare, but when it happens it's incredible.
There are times in life when people, time, circumstance, condition and training properly align and create a phenomenon during a run that can only be experienced. Sometimes it takes years for the elements to fall into place and they must align naturally, this phenomenon can’t be forced or created artificially. I’ve been lucky to have experienced the Phenomenon of Pack Running on a handful of occasions, August 7th, 2024 was the latest instance of this amazing experience.
My wife and family know that every Wednesday I make my way to Run Club to get in some miles with friends. This has been happening now for the better part of a decade, so when Wednesday evening comes around everyone in the house expects me to go running. It’s become habit, an expectation of action, an act of excellence. In the words of Aristotle:
Excellence is an art won by training and habituation. We do not act rightly because we have virtue or excellence, but we rather have those because we have acted rightly. We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.
Not only does my family know this, but so do my friends. So when I got a text from Dave at 9:54am asking if I was running rain or shine I wasn’t surprised. The Run Club runs in all weather conditions, except for lightning and the occasional winter snowstorm, but those are very rare here in The South. What’s not rare for North Carolina are Hurricanes, we typically get hit multiple times per year and yes, we’re still running.
Hurricane Debby has been slowly making her way through The South and we are expecting 3 days of unrelenting rain. The rains started off Wednesday morning and will continue through Friday evening causing flash floods and area flooding from our local rivers. So when Dave’s text came through at 9:54am asking if I was still running at 6:30pm, of course the answer was “Yes”.
The training calendar prescribed 6 easy miles for today. I’ve known this fact last Sunday, the same time I knew Hurricane Debby would be crawling her way across the state.
“Are you seriously going to run in this rain?” asked my wife Elizabeth.
“Of course. The Marathon owes me nothing and requires everything! To include these 6-miles in the rain.”
I’ll admit, it had crossed my mind to get these 6-miles in on the treadmill at the YMCA around 2:30pm, but that idea was blown up with one text from Dave. Now I’m committed to the road!
It was 4:00pm and the torrential downpour from the outer bands of Debby were filling the trenches outside. I was laying on the couch with Jinx nudged up next to me purring away in his own little domain of comfort from the elements of nature, and I understood. Outside was wet, raining and looked miserable. The couch was soft, comfortable, warm and dry. It doesn’t take much to understand the appeal of staying on the couch.
Yet, I know in the back of my mind: “COMFORT IS A LIE”.
A quick glance at Facebook and now Mike is asking if we’re still running in the rain. So I filled him in on my plan to run with Dave and get in 3-miles early and then link up with the club at 6:30pm and get in another 3-miles and yes, all of it in the rain. Mike was in.
The pack continues to grow.
I decided not to text Rob because the man just finished a 48hr driving expedition and I figured he’d be relaxing at the house and didn’t want to bother.
It’s now Dave, Mike and I for this rain filled run. It hits me that I’ve found men, who like me are comfortable being uncomfortable. The pack is growing.
After a rainy drive to the start, I met up with Dave and Mike for our 3-mile run. The rain wasn’t torrential and was a simple, steady downpour that could almost be classified as a “drizzle”. We discussed our make-shift route, set our watches and stepped off on a mud-puddle filled road.
We didn’t even make it 100meters!
Just as we were leaving, Rob’s truck rounds the corner, window down and he’s letting us know his displeasure. Not with running in the rain, but rather not getting an invite to our early run!
“Let’s Roll! We’ll wait for you. Let’s go!” - we respond.
Rob parks the truck and without stretching or a warmup, makes his way to us and now the 4 of us are making our way to completing a 3-mile run.
The pack continues to grow with men who are finding comfort in discomfort. It’s not said aloud, but we all know it. Any one of us could have easily just stayed inside and relaxed.
Rob let’s us know that he’s not going to stick with us long because he’s going to double back and link up with Jon, who decided to show up early and get in a short pre-run as well.
It hits me that we are now up to 5 men who have decided not to just run in the rain, but to run during a Tropical Storm and to get in extra miles in addition to our standard 5K.
The pack continues to grow. The rain continues to pour.
Rob breaks away and we part ways with an understanding that we’ll all link back up at 6:30pm for another 3 miles or so. Dave, Mike and I continue along the wet streets at a conversational pace, making up the route as we go.
Around the 2.25 mile point, we see Rob, Jon and now Keane running down the street towards us!
The pack continues to grow.
They link up with us and agree to stick with us for the last mile. We’re now a pack of 6 men, running through a tropical storm to get in some extra miles. I asked Keane how he was doing and he says that he was driving to get to the run early and saw Jon and Rob running, so he hopped out of the vehicle, into the storm and joined in.
For about a mile we were a pack of 6-runners.
Six men who made the choice, the decision to run in the rain, despite the Tropical Storm. There was not one complaint. There was an unspoken agreement amongst us that we’d stick together to close out this run and that agreement meant that a few of the runners were holding back from their true potential.
In that last mile of the run, The Phenomenon of Pack Running was becoming tangible. We moved as a pack, crossing streets, making turns, keeping the pace and communicating without prompting if roads were clear and puddles were ahead. We were moving as a team, watching out for each others safety and pushing each other to go just a little bit faster the closer we got to the finish line.
Every man in that group volunteered to be there. They made a decision to take time out of their day and spend it running in a tropical storm with other like-minded men. Nobody complained about the rain, wet shoes, socks and puddles. Every man there was putting in extra work, extra miles, beyond our regular club run. It didn’t need to be said aloud, we all knew. “Running with friends is better”.
We eventually linked up with the rest of the club at 6:30pm and welcomed a new runner, Ethan, to the club. We really try not to let new runners go out solo on their first time with the club, so I decided to log a few miles with him. He informed me that he just started running 6 weeks ago and has worked up to 1.3 miles at a 12’15” pace. No worries, I thought. I can do that.
So for 1.3 miles I told him about the club while we maintained a pace of 12’02”. At the 1.2 mile mark I asked again, “What’s the farthest you’ve ever ran?” and his response was again, 1.3 miles. So I said, “Hell, might as well go to 1.55 today, to the turn around! Let’s roll”.
With a shrug, he said “Sure, let’s do it”
As we neared the 1.55 mile turn around, about 0.15 miles left, we pass Rob, Jon, Keane, Mike, Dave, Carlos and Heather going the opposite direction. I yelled out that Ethan was in PR Territory for distance, so they did something unexpected.
The pack turned around to complete this PR with Ethan.
Ethan molded into the pack and we pushed him with encouragement to the turn around. He set a distance PR in the midst of a tropical storm.
The pack continues to grow.
Being part of a high-performing team made up of like minded people who are comfortable being uncomfortable and continually seek self improvement while helping the team is a special thing. It’s certainly not common. It doesn’t happen often but when it does, it’s pretty damn good.