Episode 6: Can you even call it running?

I'm going to kick off with the first question, which is the title of this episode.

Can you even call it running?

Yes.

We are adults.

We will actually have a conversation, but, you know, we could just leave it there.

So have you been asked that question? Or is this one that your brain comes up with?

Yeah, I have been asked that question.

Is it even really running? I think...

Part of it is the sport that we do, so I think something that has been really helpful for me and something that isn't necessarily widely understood by the not running demographic people is that road running and trail running are pretty much different sports.

I think that is important to recognize.

So when you see people who are like, oh, you walk on an ultra, Is it even really going out for a run? That is one question in that context that I've been asked.

However, there are also people that will look at a pace of 10 minute Ks and be like, that's a walk.

And no, it's not.

I in a previous life was very fortunate to work on some international athletics events doing video replay for officiating basically and from that we learned that the difference at that international level between a walk and a run is how many feet you have off the ground at any point so for a walk technically you should always have or you will always have one foot on the ground at least at any given point um a run is defined as a run if you have both feet off the ground um I've seen people say like, oh, it was just a bit of a bouncy walk rather than a run.

Like, well, you've got both feet off the ground.

It's a run.

There is also a movement of people who have wanted to put a definition on the threshold between running and jogging, which makes my blood boil because that I really hate the phrase jogging because it is, in some contexts, used as quite a derogatory term.

Yeah.

Or look at that runner.

Actually, it's more of a jogger, isn't it?

Yeah, and it's fair play.

Some people would rather label themselves as a jogger than a runner.

For me, just because I can't, quote-unquote, run fast doesn't mean I'm not running.

And...

I think, yeah, I think, oh, I don't run, I just kind of jog a bit.