The most debatable topic in the last year or so has been what defines a person as a runner? The topic has sparked a debate amongst those who claim they’re true runner’s which then means everyone else is just pretending so I decided to chime in the debate.
How did we get to this point where we started challenging who is a real runner and who’s not? I like the think this has all been brought on in the last three to four years. I started running in 2004 and since then, there seems to be a much higher interest in running. Last year, there were so many running events that I couldn’t keep track (no pun intended) which, only means one thing. More and more people have decided to go out and purchase a pair of shoes and started running but to those who call themselves true runners this is a bad thing. They do no like the larger crowds of people out at the running events and on the roads. According to statistics, running times in marathon’s across the nation have been considerably slower than those of running times in the 70’s, 80’s, or even the 90’s. The complaint is that there’s a mindset that is just to finish the race and what does time matter. Who are these complainers and what is their real beef? Who is to say they’re the authority on what classifies a person as a true runner.
I have finished eight marathons but none of them have been under four hours. Does that mean I cannot be categorized as a runner? Let me tell you what a runner is. Do you have to run in an organized running event to be a runner? No. All you need to be a runner is a passion and a desire for something that more than fifty percent of the country would say they’d rather jump off the bridge than to do. A runner gets up in the rain to run. They run when it’s 90 degrees, they run when it is 20 degrees. A runner runs without a watch or a mapped out route. A runner can go weeks without running but thinks about their next run each of those days they did not run. A runner runs when they are sick and they run through injury when they should be resting. A runner always wonders how much more they can do and how much faster they could have run. If you are a runner, you read just about anything with running in the title. Runners study other runner’s in hopes of gaining some new running points. A runner will talk to you forever about running in hopes to get you to join the world of running even if you have said you hated running hundreds of times.
We can go on an on but the message is no one person whether they are an elite runner, to the ten mile a week runner can set a rulebook on what a runner is. Runners come in all shapes and sizes and range in ages from 5 to 90 and some of us are fast and some of us are slow but as long as you are out there running, you can give yourself the title of runner….
Lace em up!
