If you’d like to read some runner’s rants on the internet, search for “jogger”.
Being called a jogger when you identify as a runner can sting. It implies a lack of effort, which is infuriating when you’ve been running so hard that your lungs and calves are on fire. It implies you’re slow, which is infuriating when you’ve worked hard for that PR.
I get it. I even wrote a post in the early years of my running titled Why You’re a Real Runner.
However, I recently saw an article on Active.com by Caitlin Chock titled “8 Ways to Piss Off a Runner” that defined jogger in a way I didn’t like. Note: Caitlin Chock is an extremely accomplished runner who has earned her title; her words are reflective of a culture surrounding jogging that I’d like to see shift, a culture Caitlin isn’t responsible for creating. I hope I can reflect on this culture without implying that Caitlin is responsible, because it’s a funny article by a great runner.
Do I think passion and a need to run are part of what defines a runner? Sure.
But a jogger can feel that same desire. Some people need to go for a walk to feel themselves. And some people need to jog. A jogger is not someone defined by their resistance to the activity, but by their lack of desire to worry about speed.
The real difference between running and jogging? No one asks how fast you jog.
I would argue that for most of my long runs, I’m jogging instead of running. AND I LIKE IT.
This villainization of the word jogging has gone a little far. Runners considering the word an insult make it sound as though there’s something wrong with jogging. There isn’t; it’s wonderful to go out at an easy pace and not worry about doing intervals or hill repeats.
Sometimes when I’m in a conversation with someone and a friend introduces me as a “serious runner” because I run half marathons, I want to correct them and say I’m a jogger. Why? Because it feels like a false claim.
I’d feel more comfortable saying “enthusiastic jogger” because I haven’t done a track repeat since May, and I’m slower than I was two years ago… I just like to be outside pushing the stroller or listening to podcasts at a comfortable pace.
I think there should be a different term for what I do than for what Greg does.
But the word for what I do has become taboo.
Do I consider myself a runner?
I absolutely do. I consider myself a runner who sometimes jogs. Sometimes I get into a training cycle of track repeats and improve my pace, sometimes I just go out and enjoy myself.
It’s ok to jog
Being a runner and being proud to be a runner doesn’t mean we have to denigrate jogging.
A positive definition of runner doesn’t need to build itself on a negative contrast to jogger.
It’s great to be proud of the fact that you run hard and not easy, that you care about improving your pace, that you RUN. All out. Run.
Identify as a runner. Be proud. Own the title, you’ve earned it!
But maybe we could be careful about how we clarify what it means to be a runner, and not imply that there’s something wrong with jogging.
There isn’t.
I can see what Caitlin was trying to say, but maybe her terms could have been different, like exchanging the word “jogger” for “casual runner”. I am not a fast runner, but I don’t consider myself a jogger – I prefer the term “slow runner”.