when is it not hobby jogging?

Sub-4:10 mile

Sub-15:00 5k

Sub-2:20 marathon

Anything else you're a filthy casual and should leave immediately.

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.

There comes a point when it is a hobby, like gardening.

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

All others = hobby. Regardless of pace

as far as i know "hobby jogging" generally means slow running, so not in the top 25%, maybe.

When it's more than 20% slower than the person posting.

For some reason a sole exception is made for Ed Whitlock.

My definition is a hobby jogger is anyone who doesn't train to race.

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.

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)

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)

Ah yes, I can see this. And yeah, the jogger vs. runner side of the equation would be the controversial part.

I guess you'd have to decide what pace a "jog" is, but that's relative to a person's fitness.

You have to ask yourself, am I a hobby runner or a hobby jogger?!

My new standard is that it's not hobby jogging when you're about as fast as Ryan Vail.

Why is this my new standard? Because this past Friday afternoon I was doing what I thought of as "running" in Riverside Park at about 7 minute pace when this skinny redhead came flying by me like I was standing still. I'm pretty sure it was Ryan Vail getting in some kind of short workout before the marathon. Anyway, whoever it was, this person was really, you know, RUNNING in a way that a slow old hobby jogger like me simply can't. [and never could]

ayy lmao wrote:

Sub-4:10 mile

Sub-15:00 5k

Sub-2:20 marathon

Anything else you're a filthy casual and should leave immediately.

I've broken two of those times and just missed the third (those times really aren't equivalent, btw), and was never anything but a hobby jogger.

Only real runners are allowed to call anyone a hobbyjogger.

Unfortunately less than 1% of letsrun posters are real runners. Letsrunners are all self-classified as semi-elite after 100 posts or by using 4 or more different screen names in the same thread.

The universal Letsrun rule is the following:

* Anyone slower than you is a hobby jogger

* Anyone faster is on PEDs

There is no line, it is a continuum. Somewhere around the Olympic standard of 2:18 you can probably say you are 0% hobbyjogger. If you're running 12:00 pace (5:15) you are probably 100% hobbyjogger as anything beyond that is pushing the "walking" range. From there you can interpolate and estimate that a 2:35 is about 10% hobbyjogging, a 3:00 is about 25% hobbyjogging, etc.

When do you consider that hobby jogging has taken place?

I would say when the fanny pack makes its first appearance.

HardLoper wrote:

There is no line, it is a continuum. Somewhere around the Olympic standard of 2:18 you can probably say you are 0% hobbyjogger. If you're running 12:00 pace (5:15) you are probably 100% hobbyjogger as anything beyond that is pushing the "walking" range. From there you can interpolate and estimate that a 2:35 is about 10% hobbyjogging, a 3:00 is about 25% hobbyjogging, etc.

Interesting approach but on this scale I think you have to be under 2:07 to be 0% hobby jogger from the POV of, say, Wilson Kipsang. For Kipsang, marathon pace on a good day is about 2:55 / km, so anything much slower than 3:00 / km = approx 2:06:40 for a marathon is going to seem hobby joggerish.

p.s. It was hilarious seeing how bored Kipsang looked running with the pack at the NYC marathon.

When there's a rainstorm, a really hot day, a really cold day, or you just don't "feel it" enough to go run today, you may be a hobby jogger.

If you stop running during the winter because it's dark and cold, you may be a hobby jogger.

If you choose your running shoes based mostly on color and how they color coordinate with your outfit, you may be a hobby jogger.

If you always look like you must have just starting running today, you may be a hobby jogger.

If the last thing in the world you'd want to watch on TV is a track meet and you never yell every time they break away for commercials during distance races, you may be a hobby jogger.

If you can't function as a runner without taking your iPod and tunes along, you may be a hobby jogger.

Say all this in your best Jeff Foxworthy imitation.

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 is very well stated. The last line is particularly insightful.

+100000000000000000

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"