After years of competing as a runner I f*cking love jogging on a trail these days.
After years of competing as a runner I f*cking love jogging on a trail these days.
seattle prattle wrote:
So the author claims of LetsRun,.com:
"The venom toward joggers gets crueler and more lethal in the most competitive communities. Consider Letsrun.com, which historically has spoken to competitive runners. It has untold numbers of threads that discuss and insult so-called hobby joggers, a term that has since spread to broader corners of running culture. Sometimes the expression is tossed around playfully, as an impish put-down to anyone who might be a little slower than you, but typically the condescension remains quite obvious. If one were to interview “serious” runners to define the accepted collective understanding of a hobby jogger, you’d wind up with a courtroom sketch of slow, likely overweight people who wear expensive gear and eschew speedwork or other serious training, folks who run for social experience or health reasons more than a passion for performance. In other words, hobby joggers are pretenders who don’t deserve to call themselves runners—these are the losers who put 13.1 stickers on their car and wear earbuds at races and don hydration belts in situations the gatekeepers seem unworthy."
So, are there "...untold numbers of threads that discuss and insult so-called hobby joggers"?
"the gatekeepers seem unworthy" should be "deem unworthy".
Does a professional writer not read over their piece?
They criticize runners who take their craft seriously, while neglecting their own...
If you aren't an Olympian or earning your living through competitive racing, you are a hobby jogger. The term implies a caste system for what is a hobby for ALL but a tiny handful of runners in the world. You, fellow poster, YOU ARE A HOBBY JOGGER.
Givetallugot wrote:
LRCisTerrible wrote:
The RW writer is right.
Serious question. Can you elaborate? What specifically were they right about? Can you provide example? Under what circumstances do “hobby joggers” feel insulted? Do they specifically feel insulted when they hop on Letsrun and the community doesn’t take them seriously? If that is the case, I don’t know why they should feel insulted. There are so many threads on here where “serious runners” are giving “hobby joggers” advice on how to get better. I feel like hobby joggers are just mad that they aren’t getting as many likes or kudos on their social media. The hobby joggers want to me recognized and applauded more. Is that it?
Do you post about your runs on social media?
Did you own vibrams at one time?
Have you completed a color run?
Have you completed a virtual 5k?
Have you done any race for the T-shirt/medal?
Have you worn a race medal anywhere except to your car after the race? (excluding Olympic medals)
If you answered yes to one or more of the above questions you are in fact a hobby jogger.
Didn't Runner's World used to have boards where everybody had to play nice and not insult each other?
Didn't those boards suck and get shut down?
Unless your interested in women's diet/fashion don't pay attention to a women's diet/fashion magazine.
Friggin' hobbyjoggers
The origin of the hobby jogger vs actual runner distinction can be directly traced back to High School.
Every other sports team has cuts. Therefore, someone claiming they are on the basketball team/soccer/whatever team has at least shown a level of skill high enough to get them to ride the bench on said team. However, those wearing XC team shirts around may compete on the varsity team that will win the state meet or may duff around with a 27 min 5k which 90% of the student body could beat them with no training at the turkey trot that fall.
So here you have 7 guys working their ass off at the highest level of the sport but getting laid absolutely never. And they are going "we are elite athletes in our field...why are we getting no credit, hell the football team is 2-10, they cant even make district playoffs"..."it must be all these gosh darn hobby joggers are diluting the team down to average losers"
Rhodium Nights wrote:
johnny5 wrote:
Was just coming here to post this.
LOL.
Bernard Lagat is also not a hobby jogger.
He’s a Kenyan runner but an American yogger.
Ace_of_Base wrote:
The origin of the hobby jogger vs actual runner distinction can be directly traced back to High School.
Every other sports team has cuts. Therefore, someone claiming they are on the basketball team/soccer/whatever team has at least shown a level of skill high enough to get them to ride the bench on said team. However, those wearing XC team shirts around may compete on the varsity team that will win the state meet or may duff around with a 27 min 5k which 90% of the student body could beat them with no training at the turkey trot that fall.
So here you have 7 guys working their ass off at the highest level of the sport but getting laid absolutely never. And they are going "we are elite athletes in our field...why are we getting no credit, hell the football team is 2-10, they cant even make district playoffs"..."it must be all these gosh darn hobby joggers are diluting the team down to average losers"
So the origin story about ridiculing slower runners as hobby joggers goes back to you not getting laid in high school?
There are two kinds of people, insecure and not insecure. Insecure people, because they feel inferior, care about differentiating themselves as being superior. They attempt to elevate themselves by bringing others down through name calling etc. Confident well adjusted people don't name call. Confident people don't need validation from others; they don't need people to distinguish "what they do" from "what others do". Only the insecure care about being differentiated as a "runner" and will try to diminish others by calling them "joggers". People of all types of running abilities (including pro athletes) can be insecure.
There is no such thing as a runner vs. a jogger; there are just insecure people who need to attempt to insult others to try and feel better about how small they feel inside. Pity them.
Givetallugot wrote:
zzzz wrote:
I've run pretty much straight unstructured mileage (a lot of it, 80+ mpw at age 51 currently) and haven't tried to PR in over a quarter century, since I had a two year bout with chronic fatigue syndrome. That hasn't stopped me from winning a lot of races in that time. I ran 15 and 32 5K and 10Ks while completely hobby jogging my training by your standards. What does that make people that are slower than me? I agree with the article that it's silly to try to avoid saying jog/jogger/jogging.
"A decade ago I was an editor at Runner’s World and I learned quickly that the brand had a rarely mentioned rule not to publish the words jog, jogger, and jogging. "
I would say you are a runner. Not many hobby joggers run that kind of mileage or those times. Since you have a competitive mindset and enjoy the competition aspect of the sport, that makes you a runner. Hobby joggers are mostly into running for fitness and the social aspect, not so much competition.
Like some others here, I call myself a hobby jogger as well as a runner. It's a true description. Also, it's doing my part in making jog/jogger/jogging more acceptable, and not letting the snobs (like the old Runnersworld editors) dictate language.
C jessup wrote:
Givetallugot wrote:
What are the circumstances when a hobby jogger feels insulted? I feel like serious runners may tease amongst themselves about hobby joggers but not directly to their face. Serious runners seem to be nice people in general and more than willing to show a a new runner the ropes to help them succeed.
You really got worked up on this. Are you that insecure about your running? Most serious runners are kinda jerks.
One could just as easily make the broad claim that hobby joggers are insecure pansies. If we are just going to judge people in real life by how they troll message boards.
hhd7dhdhwjdbdh wrote:
Rhodium Nights wrote:
You are confusing the internet for real life.
Go to any road race and you will see OVERWHELMING positive energy towards everyone. Nobody cares how fast you run and everyone is proud of everyone for finishing.
Runners do support each other in real life.
I've seen "hobby jogger" thrown around as an insult here many times. I've even seen it thrown at people that qualified for the Olympic trials.
Just like non athletic shock jocks make a career out of talking about how much the QB on their NFL team sucks. In the real world you may get one or two over the top try hards at the front of a local 5k and one or two insecure joggers who have the need to bring down anyone who is better than them. For the most people just roll their eyes and move on. But in the game of click throughs there is a need to take those small minorities and write about it like it's a massive social issue.
;ldfj98 wrote:
Rhodium Nights wrote:
Exactly what I just said. You've seen hobby jogger thrown around as an insult "here", meaning, on LRC, the internet.
The internet is not real life. Runners don't insult slower runners to their face and at any road race, there is nothing but support for ALL the runners, including and especially the back of the pack crowd.
You are still confusing what happens on the internet to what happens in the real world.
Unless everyone that posts here is a bot they are real people, in the real world, that are having these thoughts in the real world. They may post them here, on the Internet, but they are still thought in the real world. The people are just too chickensh** to say what they really feel to anyone's face but that doesn't make it any less real. People don't post things on the Internet they don't think in real life.
Found another insecure hobby jogger. People troll on the internet to pass time at boring jobs. Some times saying stuff they don't actually feel or believe for real. Just to get a rise out of people like you.
two kinds of people wrote:
There are two kinds of people, insecure and not insecure. Insecure people, because they feel inferior, care about differentiating themselves as being superior. They attempt to elevate themselves by bringing others down through name calling etc. Confident well adjusted people don't name call. Confident people don't need validation from others; they don't need people to distinguish "what they do" from "what others do". Only the insecure care about being differentiated as a "runner" and will try to diminish others by calling them "joggers". People of all types of running abilities (including pro athletes) can be insecure.
There is no such thing as a runner vs. a jogger; there are just insecure people who need to attempt to insult others to try and feel better about how small they feel inside. Pity them.
You don’t understand business and the concept of target markets. There is a reason why a majority of the posters on this website have no interest in reading Runners World magazines. There is certain running gear/products that are targeted to different classes of runners. Differentiating between runners and hobby joggers matters.
Race directors also need to know their target market to help make decisions on how to conduct the race and what to spend money on. Do they want to pour money into big shiny medals for the hobby joggers or do they want to pay for course certification? This is just one example. I’m not a race director.
Runner10287 wrote:
People troll on the internet to pass time at boring jobs. Some times saying stuff they don't actually feel or believe for real. Just to get a rise out of people like you.
Maybe it's time for you to find a less boring job so that you will spend less time trolling on LRC.
What's up, my jogga?
sierra nevada pale ale wrote:
You also don’t hear professional runners crapping all over so called hobby joggers. It’s the never will be, and never were, so called serious runners that post here.
Correct. The people that use the term "hobby jogger" in a derogatory way are, in fact, slightly faster hobby joggers themselves.
JBP wrote:
Do you post about your runs on social media?
Did you own vibrams at one time?
Have you completed a color run?
Have you completed a virtual 5k?
Have you done any race for the T-shirt/medal?
Have you worn a race medal anywhere except to your car after the race? (excluding Olympic medals)
If you answered yes to one or more of the above questions you are in fact a hobby jogger.
This should clear up any confusion. Nice work JBP
Anchor Man wrote:
Rhodium Nights wrote:
LOL.
Bernard Lagat is also not a hobby jogger.
He’s a Kenyan runner but an American yogger.
He has run great times since becoming an American citizen over a decade ago.
By the letter of the law, he is an American runner.
If it's no big deal to call a runner a jogger, then perhaps RW should start referring to elite runners as elite joggers. Let's see how that goes for them.