How fast do I need to run a 5K so that I would no longer be considered a hobbyjogger?

At 45 under 17 minutes, and at 25 under 16 minutes.

You are welcome.

If you do not make your primary living from running then you are a hobby jogger, exact pace is irrelevant.

If your goals are other people's standards then you will never be happy.

But my standards:

Sub 16 old guys

Sub 15 for high school

Sub 14 college

News flash bucko wrote:

If your goals are other people's standards then you will never be happy.

But my standards:

Anyone slower than me

There was a massive thread on essentially this a while back (something like 'if 25 minutes is not a serious runner then what is?')

If you take running seriously and compete, you are an amateur runner.

But to be taken seriously as an amateur runner, at least at a local level, I would say something like sub 18:00 for young guys and sub 20:00 for older guys.

sub 13 minutes for 5k, anything less is hobby jogging.

well,,,,this wrote:

At 45 under 17 minutes, and at 25 under 16 minutes.

You are welcome.

Amen.

100% sub 13*. Anything less and you have another job, thus you are a hobby jogger.

* you run close to 13 but transitioned to ultras and have had enough success where you don't have to work (note: this is like 5 or 6 guys on earth).

Fast enough that you are no longer asking this question.

This is ridiculous. I ran 17 low in high school and was 3rd on my varsity team. 18 minutes is a joke. I can run 19 without any kind of speed work at 40. 18 should be a walk in the park and is no where near any kind of status unless maybe you are 50+.

Be quiet hobby jogger.

well,,,,this wrote:

At 45 under 17 minutes, and at 25 under 16 minutes.

You are welcome.

Well even hobby joggers realize that the average time would decline by more than a minute between 25 and 45, so that pretty much discredits your bars right away.

A hobby jogger is somebody who likely doesn't even pay attention to times and goes out and runs purely for exercise. If they do ever take part in a 'race', or rather a 'mass run', then it's largely for fun or to say they have done it.

Surely you can distinguish between the above true hobby jogger and somebody who runs 80 miles per week, does tempos and workouts, and plans or trains for races up to a year in advance, even if as a 45 year old who runs 16:30, likely to win his age group by streets in anything but a regional decent standard 5K?

Why do people here, probably who can't run these times themselves or who only could when they were 115lb high school kids who devoted every spare minute to running, need to denigrate 99% of runners, including I would guess at least 90% of even regular LetsRunners?

It's not denigrating anyone. Not every agrees, but I take the view that if you don't run professionally or are trying to get there by "living the dream" (e.g. selling shoes 30 hrs a week while training for the OTs), or for an athletic scholarship, you're doing it as a hobby. Nothing is wrong with hobbies, hobbies are what people do for enjoyment/satisfaction in a non professional way. Most sub-14 dudes are also hobby joggers.

It's not the 'hobby' part that is offensive so much as the 'jogger' term.

By your definition, Snell and Bannister were both hobby joggers, but some Instagram fitness babe who poses in makeup in the middle of her 'tempo' runs and has 100K followers and an income stream is a 'professional runner'.

No other sport or even activity is so denigrating to 99% of its participants, even some of its legends.

(or all of its legends pre 1970's).

You wouldn't call a boxer or an MMA fighter who doesn't compete professionally as a 'hobby brawler'.

Even something like astronomy, you would distinguish between a guy who likes to occasionally looks at the stars in his back garden with his cheap binoculars and can name all the constellations (somebody whose hobby is astronomy), to somebody who spends every evening in his modified shed with an expensive telescope and who might have made some minor discovery (an 'amateur astronomer'). You wouldn't call the latter a 'hobby stargazer'.

Be Real wrote:

Why do people here...denigrate 99% of runners, including I would guess at least 90% of even regular LetsRunners?

Because we can.

When I first started, jogging was what the general public called running. "Oh, you jog?" Runners often took offense at the term, even though no offense was intended (RUNNING! Not jogging"). Guess what? They were talking about the same thing.

The Instagram fitness babe jogger with a lot of followers would not be a professional runner, she'd be a professional model/product pitchwoman.

Didn't Bannister care more about being a doctor than running? He did running at the highest level, but being a medical student/doctor was first. He retired from running same year as he ran sub-4. Athletics was amateur back then. My definition was for now, not past eras. Plus, I did add those trying to "live the dream" - trying to make national teams, so going back, that would include people like Snell and Bannister.

I don't follow boxing or MMA, but I think those who enter those fights locally wouldn't take offense at it being called a hobby.

Same for astronomy. Your 'amateur astronomer' with the fancy telescope in the modified shed is a hobbyist astronomer. A guy who looks at the stars occasionally in the garden with his cheap binoculars and can name constellations is just someone who is interested. In fact, that describes me, and Iwouldn't call myself a hobbyist astronomer. A hobbyist implies much more dedication, like the guy with the fancy telescope.

this is one of the best posts i have read here on letsrun.

i don't know how many people on earth play soccer and if there is a term for soccer players comparable to the hobby jogger in the running sports but i don't think it exists. unfortunately, the term is part of running sports. i think it's not too bad to be called a hobby jogger if one consciously limits the effort and logically no top times come out. i would rather be annoyed to make a huge effort (training, time, money) with mediocre results.

anyway, when does "jogging" end and the pace turns out to be "running"? 5k under 18.

You don't need to go sub 13 but you need to be close and for women it's right around 15 minutes.

Be Real wrote:

You wouldn't call a boxer or an MMA fighter who doesn't compete professionally as a 'hobby brawler'.

You most definitely would call them a hobby brawler. Anyway, the term "hobby jogger" is a reality check for runners at many levels who think they are great.

maybe this wrote:

Be Real wrote:

You wouldn't call a boxer or an MMA fighter who doesn't compete professionally as a 'hobby brawler'.

You most definitely would call them a hobby brawler. Anyway, the term "hobby jogger" is a reality check for runners at many levels who think they are great.

Nobody would call them a hobby brawler. Pro MMA fighters and boxers don't call amateur boxers or amateur mma fighters 'hobby brawlers'. What are you talking about? This 'hobby jogger' thing is unique to running.