Letsrun.com doesn't seem to know the meaning of "blue-collar running". Let me explain:

I am a blue collar runner. My New Balance Long Sleeve Technical Shirt has a blue collar with a white lining.

I think that does make you a "blue-collar runner".

....and to respond to the first responder to the thread, I do train at a fairly high level. At least I'd like to think I do. I've qualified for some national meets, so I'm at least a decent runner...just not national champion material. Besides, my point was that I don't think it matters how hard you're training. A lot of people train hard, including the Nike-funded runners, so to say it means simply working hard doesn't make sense.

Randy Oldman wrote:

blue-collar definition

A descriptive term widely used for manual laborers, as opposed to white-collar for office workers

Exactly

I once did a factory job for 2 years so qualified, now I work in an office and don't

Don't pretend to be something you are not

yeah, that's "blue-collar"...."blue-collar running" is a completely different thing.

However, don't think there aren't people out there busting their asses in hot factories, then going out to train after work before getting home to their families (and later crashing from exhaustion, only to get up and go through the same noble routine again).

'yeah, that's "blue-collar"...."blue-collar running" is a completely different thing.'

You are right "blue-collar running" is pure bs

Correct answer wrote:

I'm a blue-collar runner.

Wake up, run, eat, run, eat, sleep. Repeat 7 days a week.

Minus the sleeping part, this accounts for about 3 hours of the day. What exactly are you doing in your downtime that could qualify as a blue-collar runner by any of these definitions?

A blue collar runner is never going to start a debate about what is or isn't blue collar.

He/she will not take pride in being blue collar, because they are proud of things that matter.

A blue collar runner will never say "I am a blue collar runner."

ian edwards wrote:

Chinese Chicken wrote:

Why do you shower right before running?

To get the itchy insulation off of me. To remove the dirt from all over my body.

If you've rolled around under a house before you'd understand.

Good answer.

How do you tell the difference between a man who works for a living and a man who doesn't?

The man who works for a living washes his hands before taking a piss.

I've been troubled by this term for the past few years. "Blue collar" - as some have pointed out - is a term reserved for workers, particularly in a capitalist system. Running is inherently unproductive (in a strict economic sense). Much like writing poetry, painting or playing any other sport, running does not contribute to society in any material way. This doesn't mean that we shouldn't run. Each of us could give dozens of reasons why running is personally gratifying and why it enhances our lives. But as an activity it is not "blue collar."

If we choose to adapt the definition and say that Galen Rupp (to cite a popular example) is white collar while Peter Gilmore was decidedly blue collar, that's fine but somewhat reductive. This definition ignores similarities between the two. Not knowing either I can only speculate that they both work(or worked) really hard. One had some material/economic advantages that the other did not, but that is not really a necessary factor for success.

Conversely, the blue collar-white collar divide in the labor force most often connotes some major material/educational/economic disparities that (more often than not in this day and age) actually limit economic opportunities for "blue collar" workers. The distinction between blue collar and white collar has become not only one based on the type of work you do, but also based on the opportunities you have. The same cannot be said for running. Rupp and Gilmore do the same type of work. And poor kids from Ethiopia and Kenya have far fewer advantages than hard-working Pete Gilmore, but they often burst onto the international scene running so much faster than Mr. Gilmore (and this is not meant to be a slam on Pete at all).

So how do we account for Kenyans who run 12:52 for 5000m without access to common U.S. amenities such as all-weather tracks? Should we separate "blue collar" and "white collar" with a more useful and substantive division: genetic talent?

Or, here's another problem: If you have a full-time job that pays well and allows you to sit in an air-conditioned office all day before hammering out a tempo run, how does that make you substantively less-privileged than elite runners with fat Nike contracts? Sure, you can't spend all day thinking about running and you have stress from work. But if you can't handle those things and still run at a high level then you certainly have no right to say you are a blue collar runner simply because you hold down a job.

I am sympathetic to those who work physically demanding jobs and still run competitively. I grew up on a farm and spent summers baling hay while maintaining 75-80 mile weeks and I've done dirty factory work, and scraped by on meager incomes. I also always had the opportunity to devote quite a bit of energy to running. Sure, I don't have an Alter G treadmill and I've been injured many times, but I also didn't grow up wondering if the drought would prevent me from eating or fearing for my life because armed militia members wanted to recruit me or kill me because of my ethnicity. As far as I can tell "blue collar runner" is an oxymoron that is insulting to blue collar workers who actually struggle and to runners of every stripe who work hard with the talent they were given.

Kenard wrote:

http://www.runwashington.com/news/900/323/Darrell-General-More-Than-a-Marathoner.htm

Darrell was one of the very few high-level U.S. distance runners who might reasonably have been labeled a "blue-collar runner."

Letsrun now seems to have taken this concept of "blue-collar running" to a new level of absurdity by describing Paula Radcliffe as "100% blue collar." An exceptionally talented runner and university graduate with first-class honours who has commanded some of the highest appearance fees in the sport and has the power to alter the structure of the London marathon to accommodate her personal running goals would seem to bear little resemblance to a worker who has little control over his wages and work environment, doesn't have a personal support team, and doesn't get to sleep twelve hours a day in a nitrogen tent or take regular training trips to the Alps and the Rockies.

Running lots of miles doesn't make you "blue-collar" any more than playing thirty-six holes of golf every day.

soler wrote:

I've been troubled by this term for the past few years.[snip].

Well said. +10

row row rowbury your boat wrote:

A blue collar runner is never going to start a debate about what is or isn't blue collar.

He/she will not take pride in being blue collar, because they are proud of things that matter.

A blue collar runner will never say "I am a blue collar runner."

100% right on!

During the summer, I'm at uni in NZ, I worked on a farm during there peak harvesting season. I would wake at 4am, run my main run for the day 60-90min or maybe a threshold workout. Get to work by 6-6:30. My shortest day over a 3 month period, apart from Christmas day, was 12hours my longest day was 16 hours. When I got home I would try get a second run in if it wasn't to late (just 30min). Two PBs that season 3:49, 14:13. Probably never do it again though

mollinador wrote:

sometimes bluecollar runner is meant to mean not very talented but works his/her butt off to overcome lack of talent

This^

blue collar runner means the same thing as "role player" in a team sport. Its someone who lacks, or is perceived to lack, in talent, but makes up for it with hard work. it has nothing to do with anything other then running.

You can't be a blue collar runner if you run 19 min 5k's at your local road race then whine on message boards about how you could be faster but you have a job and wife and kids and those are more important....

I beg to differ. I am a protypical yuppie in the conventional sense, but when it comes to running, I am 100% blue collar.

I enjoy the sting of ice because I know it means I've pushed it. I know that stim doesn't really work.

I prefer to run solo rather than with a "team" of gerbils who never really competed.

I'd like to see the barefoot posse do that at the end of a 5K, let alone every day.

I prefer running in Central Park when it is rainy or cold vs. 70 (and crowded).

I understand that gear is something for Nike to make money on.

I long to push over the bikers, rather than view them as one of my own.

I often choose beer over gatorade after a run. But prefer a fancy IPA.

I run 60 miles per week, but also work 60 hours per week in loafers.

I know that running will never pay the bills or send my kids to fancy schools, but still go for it anyway.

Blue collar is just some silly made up term. Means nothing

Blue Collar= http://rubensanca.blogspot.com/

The argument is silly and insults everyone's intelligence. The goal is to run as fast as you can, not to appeal to some dumb aesthetic. If you run 130 mpw and get your butt whooped by someone running more intelligently and doing only 100 mpw, there's nothing more admirable about what you're doing. If you could be better training less mileage and using some resources readily available to you (say a better climate, altitude, equiment or personnel), you are hampering your own potential for an "image". There's nothing particularly great about that. The #1 priority is winning and running fast, and any person that can improve their abilities to do so and stubbornly refuses because they are "blue collar" should be laughed at and not celebrated. Does anyone tell Pujols that by voraciously watching video all the time unlike a blue collar baseball player he is any less of a player? Or that LeBron/numerous football player who are doing white collar things like yoga, pilates, the Alter G et al should be compared less favorably with any other pro athletes? No.

Blue collar runners don't talk about being blue collar