when is it not hobby jogging?

Yo Momma wrote:

When they charge you an entry fee, give you a race bib and record your finish time. Then it isn't hobby-jogging. The rest of the time it is. Unless you are on a track and are using a stop watch, then it is 'training"

So Galen Rupp is hobby jogging when he goes on a long run?

You pay entry fee for race, you are a hobby jogger.

Someone else pays the entry fee (coach, race organizers, etc.), you are not a hobby jogger.

cbenson4 wrote:

In my opinion...

A hobby jogger is a person who only treats running like a hobby and doesn't care too much about how fast they are. They're happy with improvements but their lives don't revolve around their PRs or their next step in achieving a PR. They just run for fun. They don't stress about missing a day or two of training. Essentially, they primarily run for the health benefits and because it's a little something they enjoy, but aren't in love with.

You can be a slow runner, but this doesn't make you a hobby jogger. If you love running and you put your heart and soul into it, and train hard, and compete seriously hard in races, you're not a hobby jogger.

There's nothing truly wrong with being a hobby jogger, but it's insulting to give a dedicated, competitive runner that kind of title.

This

Dannettes wrote:

Doing it for an education or for a living? If Yes then not a hobby jogger

All others = hobby. Regardless of pace

Is Fam racing for cash?

He can run a sub 4 mile on the treadmill.

He must be the fastest hobby jogger in the U.S.

genuine random a hole wrote:

Dannettes wrote:

Doing it for an education or for a living? If Yes then not a hobby jogger

All others = hobby. Regardless of pace

Only correct answer.

(OK we can discuss the jogger v. runner part, but no dispute about the hobby portion)

A lot of people doing it as a hobby are much better than college runners and some beat the 'pro's'. Having jogging in the phrase implies it is about pace

No matter how "seriously" you take it, if you dont get an education out of it, or get paid to do it, then you are a hobby jogger. It doesn't matter if you take training very seriously and it controls your life, you are still a hobby jogger. It isn't a bad thing.

I used to not be a hobby jogger, now I am and I quite enjoy it.

Think about it in non-running terms, if someone plays pick up basketball at the ymca, they are the basketball equivalent of paying to enter your local 5k or a marathon. Both are "hobby joggers"

It's only called "hobby jogging" by certain individuals with an inflated sense of self worth based on some meager accomplishments in running. I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that none of the US distance runners who have an Olympic or World Championship medal of any color ever use the term to describe another runner.

No.

It is actually an embarrassingly accurate and self-assuring description of the feelings a hobby jogger experiences when he/she has bought into the whole "I'm a serious racer and runner, look at my running books and bibs hanging on the fridge" thing. They eat the GU and use all the terminology, excitedly feeling like they are part of a secret club of serious athletes that need to be taken very seriously. Most people go through it, myself included. It generally starts upon winning that first 3rd place AG medal at a local 5k with 112 entrants, closely followed by thinking "I'm an athlete! A real athlete!"

cbenson4's post is hilarious. He describes hobby joggers in derogatory terms (they treat running like a hobby, don't care how fast they are, aren't in love with it). He says hobby joggers don't love running, put no heart and soul into it, don't train hard, and don't compete seriously hard in races.

But at the end, he says there's nothing wrong with being a hobby jogger! Nice.

Being a hobby jogger is a genetic disposition. You're either one or you're not. It has nothing to do with how hard you try and everything to do with talent and talent alone.

Sorry to hurt your feelings, just stating the facts.

premium wrote:Being a hobby jogger is a genetic disposition. You're either one or you're not. It has nothing to do with how hard you try and everything to do with talent and talent alone.

Sorry to hurt your feelings, just stating the facts.

Not sure why you are replying to me with this statement. I obviously agree with you.

Recommended reading for people who have the urge to look down on "hobby joggers."

"An Elite State of Mind - Learning Humility from the Fastest Runners in the World"

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/elite-state-mind?page=single

Dannettes wrote:

Doing it for an education or for a living? If Yes then not a hobby jogger

All others = hobby. Regardless of pace

^ this

easy weeks wrote:

"I'm a serious racer and runner, look at my running books and bibs hanging on the fridge" thing. They eat the GU and use all the terminology, excitedly feeling like they are part of a secret club of serious athletes that need to be taken very seriously. Most people go through it, myself included. It generally starts upon winning that first 3rd place AG medal at a local 5k with 112 entrants, closely followed by thinking "I'm an athlete! A real athlete!"

Read more:

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=6094945&page=1#ixzz3IK1TFV1X

A lot of truth here.

Not sure this mindset is all bad.

When a person realizes he has more interest in trying to win that Age Group award than he does watching a "real" athlete on

TV...It's all good.

premium wrote:

Being a hobby jogger is a genetic disposition. You're either one or you're not. It has nothing to do with how hard you try and everything to do with talent and talent alone.

Sorry to hurt your feelings, just stating the facts.

Genetic disposition my arse. Even Bill Rodgers is a hobby jogger right now.

A "Hobby Jogger" is a runner who is not offended by being referred to as a "Hobby Jogger".

The rest of us are free to go.

class dismissed

E. Bonix wrote:

Dannettes wrote:

Doing it for an education or for a living? If Yes then not a hobby jogger

All others = hobby. Regardless of pace

^ this

I can't really get behind this. So the talented walk-on or D3 guy who ends up a more accomplished runner than the mediocre college athlete who happened to be on some form of athletic scholarship (be it full or partial) are hobby joggers?

Hobby jogger is generally a pejorative term for a slow (or maybe just slower than you) runner that is overly enthusiastic about their "sport", may have a 13.1 sticker on their car, and has been known to run races to complete them rather than as a competition. It can also apply to obsessive runners that think running a "BQ" is the holy grail of distance running, but actually know very little about distance running outside of the recreational marathon scene, let alone T&F.

The "hobby" part of hobby jogger is defined not mainly by speed, but more their attidute and their perspective on running.

I have an alternate hypothesis that you can own a GPS watch and still be a real runner, but if it is set to beep at every mile, they you are a hobby jogger!

Most of the field of the 2012 Olympic Trials for the marathon are hobby joggers then. I heard a lot of beeping GPSs.

Bring Back the 880 wrote:

I have an alternate hypothesis that you can own a GPS watch and still be a real runner, but if it is set to beep at every mile, they you are a hobby jogger!

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

Recommended reading for people who have the urge to look down on "hobby joggers."

"An Elite State of Mind - Learning Humility from the Fastest Runners in the World"

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/elite-state-mind?page=single

OUTSTANDING article, thanks!

Just Another Hobby Jogger wrote:

Recommended reading for people who have the urge to look down on "hobby joggers."

"An Elite State of Mind - Learning Humility from the Fastest Runners in the World"

http://www.runnersworld.com/race-training/elite-state-mind?page=single

This actually is an awesome article.

I spent a year chasing fast times and hung out with some "elite" runners as well as those trying to get there. I remember talking to Steve Slattery after a meet once. He's a few years older than me and I really only knew him from Running With The Buffaloes. He was kind of awkward, but real easy to talk to. I sort of nerded out and asked a ton of questions about stupid things, but he didn't seem bothered or anything. I spoke with Craig Mottram the same year, and his coach Nic Bideau. Same thing, super easy to talk to.

I'm not sure that they knew how I had run that day or if they even cared if I'd run 4:04 or 4:40. It was really cool.

transmission wrote:

I always assumed that unless you are running on a team (high school or college) or are a professional/aspiring professional you are a hobby jogger/runner.

^This. This is it. No time milestones. Unless you are running for a high school or college team (I could even be persuaded to say you have to be varsity or knocking on the door of varsity, but a good argument to the contrary could change my mind as I'm not adamant about that), or unless you are making a living (or a good portion of your living wage comes from running) or you are making a serious reasonable attempt to do so, then you are a hobby jogger/runner.

"So, a guy who runs 2:23 marathon is a hobby runner?!"

Umm...yes. 2:23, 2:21, 2:17...doesn't matter how good it might be, unless it's his vocation, or he's on a serious reasonable path to making it be, then he's a hobbyist.

"What if a hobbyist beats a professional runner in a race?" Well, unless that hobbyist starts to get income from that result, then he's still a hobbyist.

The term is NOT a measure of how good you are, only of how payable you are.