There was a time when I wondered why I found myself running more and climbing less, so I ticked off all the reasons why running can be awfully more convenient than climbing. One of them was that you don’t need a partner to run. Still, a partner can be fun.

Friday night my stepbrother Graham said that a bunch of people were meeting Saturday morning to run before his wedding. I’d brought my running stuff out to California with me but expected to be going solo for my planned medium-long run. A gang of wedding-party runners sounded like a fun time. Graham mentioned he had a friend prepping for an Ironman-length triathlon who was going to be doing a really long run and I considered how many miles I was willing to do with him. But first, the all-important question: what’s your pace?

Jim told me later that Graham doesn’t really train. He goes out and runs, but he doesn’t train. He has no idea what his training pace is, so he misled me a little. Still, assuming there’d be many folks of various levels in this group–and although I’m not fast, I’m hardly slow–I showed up at the appointed time and found that Graham, his triathlon-bound friend Jim, and our uncle Martin were the only other dedicated souls who’d made it out of bed and into running shoes the morning after a night of open bar and karaoke.

Early into the run, Jim and I found a mutually comfortable pace and took off. The thing was, we were chatting. There’s nothing like running with a new, evenly-matched partner to make the conversation easy and the pace fast. The day was perfect once the fog lifted shortly after we started and the view running along the beach in Monterrey was incredible. Jim and I did 10 or 11 miles together before I left him to battle through the rest of his long run.

I had a great weekend at Graham and Jane’s wedding, but I may always remember that run as the best moment. Best wishes, Graham and Jane, and best of luck in that triathlon, Jim.

Last night I explored another aspect of the many ways in which running is more convenient than climbing: I ran in the dark. Running trails by headlamp, the only human (you hope) around for miles, is an exhilarating, unnerving experience. But it is doable. And probably not half as crazy as it sounds. Running in the dark, you feel fast. Whether it’s the extra adrenalin or the blur of the unseen landscape around you or just the youthfulness of running into the unknown, I can’t say. The wolves howling in the distance added just the right touch (wolves howling nearby would have been a touch too far).

This weekend I’m hoping to split again–one day running, one day climbing. But the weekends where I run now significantly outweigh the weekends where I climb, even though I climb as much as I possibly can. Weather, partners, darkness, geography. Climbing can be inconvenient. I’m so glad I have running to balance the load. My life is a happier place for it.