The Definition of "Hobby Jogger"

BRO YOU TRYIN TO FIGHT?!?

You can't "define me". I AM WHAT I AM

The term originated or was popularized by the insecure second tier pros on this site who wanted to differentiate themselves from the rest of us. That is to say, if you look at your paycheck and it's not from your sponsor or prize money you won in a race, you are a hobby jogger in their eyes. It's extremely ironic that you use it separate yourself from runners you disdain when you are the real hobby jogger they are referring to.

Why are people here so insecure that they need to put others down?

Anybody who decides to take on running, regardless of how slow or how much gear he uses, becomes a runner.

Period.

Today, some "triathlete" tried to troll my cycling on Reddit saying how slow I was....then I cited his last 5k which was fuuuckin cooldown status and he shut right up....hobby jogger.

Big difference between a hobby jogger and a sub elite.

Heck anyone under 20 5k and a hobby jogger there’s a huge difference

Thank you! Finally, someone's who gets it. There IS a difference between those who train and race and those who "run" for the vanity aspect of it.

Yea, I think it hitsbthe nail on the head. Main difference between hobby jogger and a non hobby jogger is that the former is those who train and race, while the latter is those who run for the vanity aspect of it.

There is nothing wrong with being a hobbyjogger. It doesn’t necessarily have to be a pejorative.

consider this wrote:

The term originated or was popularized by the insecure second tier pros on this site who wanted to differentiate themselves from the rest of us. quote]

That is a baseless assumption, and is false.

[quote]Mizuno fanboy wrote:

Why are people here so insecure that they need to put others down?

Many slang terms are derogatory. The reason people use it is not the subject of this thread. We are simply trying to educate.

What separates someone from hobby joggers is whether you embrace the lifestyle as a personal commitment. There's nothing wrong with somebody running for the social or health reasons, but that isn't competitive, nor does it require the same sort of commitment. Again, there's nothing wrong with that.

Letsrun PSA wrote:

consider this wrote:

The term originated or was popularized by the insecure second tier pros on this site who wanted to differentiate themselves from the rest of us.

That is a baseless assumption, and is false.

I was here when this happened, and sometimes you can see early uses of the term in threads that get bumped.

I've always felt it wasn't so much about athletic ability, but instead experience with running (or those in the beginning stages of learning about running). Typically those runners buy into all the gimmicks they see because they don't know any better. Once they become more seasoned (understanding the gimmicks, understanding their body, understanding running), then they exit the realm of the hobby jogger. I take it to be similar to when you call someone a "noob" -- it's not that they're inadequate, just that they're new.

Hdjdjddjdn wrote:

Big difference between a hobby jogger and a sub elite.

Heck anyone under 20 5k and a hobby jogger there’s a huge difference

"under 20 5k" wtf?!! You've got to be kidding...

consider this wrote:

Letsrun PSA wrote:

That is a baseless assumption, and is false.

I was here when this happened, and sometimes you can see early uses of the term in threads that get bumped.

From what I remember recreational runners were and always have been the target. Competitive/college/subelite runners have never been under the HJ umbrella. The definition hasn't really changed since then.

Letsrun PSA wrote:

What IS the meaning? Well, as mentioned some variations are accepted. A broad definition might be,

"A recreational runner who exhibits one or more of the following: is slow, does not train hard, has little knowledge of running, uses excessive gear, and is not concerned with performance."

Everyone except the world record holder is slow in comparison.

So I think every single person who posts here is a hobby jogger.

Stolen from an old thread:

A runner wants to get faster. They do this by optimizing their training to get faster.

A hobbyjogger also wants to get faster, but they do this by trying harder on each successive jog or doing the occasional tempo fartlek they read about that month in runnersworld.

I like that. You get my vote Hardloper.

consider this wrote:

The term originated or was popularized by the insecure second tier pros on this site who wanted to differentiate themselves from the rest of us. That is to say, if you look at your paycheck and it's not from your sponsor or prize money you won in a race, you are a hobby jogger in their eyes. It's extremely ironic that you use it separate yourself from runners you disdain when you are the real hobby jogger they are referring to.

The term Hobby Jogger was around in the early 80's or before. I thought it was to originally make fun of the middle aged people that started doing marathons around then. In other words we were making fun of our parents and their generation. There were people that raced XC, track and road racers. These people were being coached or following coaching from Lydiard or Bowerman in books. Then there were the Jim Fixx disciples the "Hobby Joggers" training for their 4-5 hour marathon. You could see them every Sunday out "jogging for Jesus". "Jogging for Jesus" was because the Hobby Joggers would go out for their 3+ hour jogs on Sunday. Similar to the old farmers on their Sunday drives at less than half the posted speed limit.

1 2 3 green wrote:

consider this wrote:

I was here when this happened, and sometimes you can see early uses of the term in threads that get bumped.

From what I remember recreational runners were and always have been the target. Competitive/college/subelite runners have never been under the HJ umbrella. The definition hasn't really changed since then.

Competitive/college/subelite runners ARE recreational runners. But my point is that there are specific former second tier pros who have referred to the non-pros on this site as hobby joggers (as pathetic as it is for someone at that level to insult this audience).

Relax, you’re not pro. You’re a faster hobby jogger.