I'm not a real runner

By Denise Piercy

“I’m not a real runner”
Do you know how many times I have
heard that from customers in Running
Zone over 8 years? Too many to count!
What is funny is even people who have
run marathons still qualify themselves
as “not real runners”!

So what IS a real runner?

Someone who can win first place in their
age group? Or win a race overall? How
about someone who is a professional athlete? Or someone who has participated in a race? According to Pearl Izumi’s not so popular advertising, they would have us believe that the only “real” runners are the ones who can run a sub 7:00 minute per mile pace! Here is a portion of one of their advertisements:
“Joggers are prey.Runners are hunters."

If you belong to the latter group, revel in the fact that you sit firmly atop the bipedal locomotion foot chain. And run like an animal.” (Pearl Izumi. Running Times. July/August 2007) They always discount the other 99% of the population! They claim we are only “joggers”! I don’t think Pearl Izumi is an expert in qualifying any of us who like to run or walk! I don’t win any speed records or win age group awards. Does this mean I am not a “real” runner? I have run 12 marathons and qualified and ran Boston Marathon. Does this make me “real”? Just because I am not a super speedster, I don’t think I am not real. Is it ads like this that give us this mentality?

I think if you like to go out and run down the road in the early morning when all is quiet and there is still a coolness in the air (before June of course! LOL) then you must be real!
Who is to say that we are real or fake just because of the distance we cover or the speed we move? If we get out there instead of sitting on the couch then I think we are “real”!

That doesn’t mean that I can’t roll over some mornings and let my running partner know “txt- too tired, not running this am” and go back to sleep! I think we all like to do that sometimes! And yet, the "real” in us makes us feel guilty ALL day long that we didn’t get up and go when we had the chance!

Or how about a new pair of shoes or a new running outfit? The outfit part would have to be us girls! I doubt many guys would get excited about a new running outfit. But I think we all enjoy something new out there! I think that makes us “real”!

Isn’t it more about how it makes us feel rather than how fast we can move?

So, please! Don’t worry about how fast or how far you run or walk when you are out there! We are all REAL! And don’t let anyone ever make you feel otherwise! I think we are all real runners!!!