Funny, it works the opposite way for me. My friend runs faster than me, and I ended up exhausted and usually stop pretty quickly. But if I run on my own, when I get tired I can just slow down a bit for a min, and end up running much longer.
Guess I'm not used to running yet.

I disagree as well. I find it extremely discouraging when I'm winded and need to take a break before the other person. I also feel guilty that I'm not helping them to challenge themselves.

I suggest find a running buddy who runs at your pace and then you can progress together.

I'm with you Fit- my fav running buddy does Iron man races and a 5:30 mile on a regular basis (haha not with me though!). He has helped me run faster, he's really good at pacing so I've learned my "speed zones" and we do a lot of intervals and such to help out my running, it's been working great. I do also have a running partner that's same pace as me and one that is slower, they all have benefits for different aspects of running.

My husband and I run together and if he lags behind it makes him work harder and vice versa - we are also pretty competitive with other couples who pass us up.

I've also found this to be great during races. Plus running with a faster partner helps you keep a steady pace - particularly good is running next to a military team who are all running at the same pace

i run with someone faster and it has made me faster.
he slows down if im dying, but otherwise i make an effort to keep up with him. over time, it has made me gain speed.

I think it depends on what the goal of a specific run is. If I'm going on a 20 miler, then I'm going to go a slow, comfortable pace. If it's a tempo run, then a faster running buddy would be great motivation!

My biggest concern is a newer runner (like myself) that might pick someone too fast and not realize it, then end up injured. My first 10K, I picked someone out who I knew from our group runs and thought them to be about my same pace - turns out they were almost a whole minute faster, and I burned myself out in the first mile!

I want to be as lean as that boy in that picture =|