One of my weekly group runs is 4 miles followed by beers with the runners on an early week day evening. Monday nights another group offers options of 3 and 5 miles and we always wait for everyone at the half way point and finish point. Another one is Friday mornings at 6 am a 6 mile loop around the lake followed by coffee. Saturday mornings at 7 am one of my groups does long runs - those are especially cool because they provide many distance options (I usually go 13-18 miles) and people then group up based on pace. For the long runs I always run much slower than I would do otherwise - this is where it is really nice to have people to chat with.

I would never get up so early if it weren't for these groups.

Other than these running groups I actually don't have a friend group where I live. It's nice to consistently see a mix of regular and new people and do something healthy (except for your knees perhaps) together.

By the way I really like wearing Hoka One One shoes for their extra cushioning. Definitely helps with pavement.

If you are bored of pavement, at least where I live there are many trail running groups too. I just don't like having to drive far to start running.