Ask the Penguin’s column on Runner’s World featured a great Q&A session this week. A reader named Mary wrote in and asked a question that cuts to the heart of my identity as an athlete:
“Dear John, I’d like your honest opinion about something, not the “politically correct” answer. How slowly do you think it is possible to actually “run” by the accepted definition of running? Although I know there are extreme possibilities, I am talking about the most likely scenario for an average person. To be more specific, do you think it is possible that a person can “run” a 20-minute mile? If so, have you ever actually witnessed someone running that slowly with both feet coming off the ground?”
I am a very slow runner. In the marathon last weekend I averaged thirteen minute miles. This didn’t surprise me at all, I train at that pace. I was able to tell Eliot (who made the wonderful video) where I would be hours in advance because my slowness is consistent. There were no surprises. Actually, I was surprised by the video. It looks like everyone around me is moving so slow. I guess I hadn’t planned on being surrounded by the elderly and relatively out of shape. They became my homies, my people, even though they didn’t talk to me. That seventy plus year old man never quit.
John (the Penguin) replied: “First, a little history. If you go back to the late 1970s or early ’80s, most of the training books talked about running as a 7-minute-per-mile pace or better. Anything slower was considered jogging. So, joggers were all of those who didn’t run at a 7-minute pace. Runners knew who they were by their pace.
Somewhere, as the first signs of the second running boom began to appear, running came to be defined as anything faster than a 9-minute pace. Again, joggers were defined as those who went slower than that. And, again, runners defined themselves by their pace and finish times.
About 10 years ago, however, runners stopped being defined by their times and were instead defined by their activity. So, runners ran. Walkers walked. Cyclists cycled. Triathletes triathaleted. You get the idea.
These days, I don’t think anyone can define anyone else by any objective criteria.”
Running is my struggle to keep moving forward. By taking up that cause, I am the runner.
You are definitely the runner. And besides, 20 minute miles are very respectable!
Very proud of the running action moving forward!