It occured to me that as a runner I may do some things that non-runners find, err, weird. So, I’ve compiled a list of my own runnerisms as well as sourcing the best of those I have found on the Internet.
1) Running up and down the street to make up the miles
You know those runs where you arrive home and look at your GPS watch and see a distance like 4.8 miles. You can’t leave it like that – you have to get that to 5.0 miles. So, you run up and down your street to make up that distance.
2) You have a drawer dedicated to running gear
Running gear is special and thus needs it’s own special drawer. Or like me, and entire set of drawers, section of wardrobe and another drawer!
3) There’s more running gear in the laundry than normal clothes
So you come to do the washing and your washing basket is made up of 91% running gear, 6% work clothes, 2% towels and 1% odd socks.
4) You can convert kilometres to miles without a calculator
Maybe this one is a generational thing. I grew up learning both metric and imperial, whereas in school my girls seem to only know the metric system. Anyway, I run with my watch set to kilometres so I am often multiplying by 1.6 to work out the miles.
5) You see distances on signs and think “I could run that”
Runners who drive will notice they do this. You’re driving up the M1 and see a sign such as “Leeds 15m” and you think yeah, I ould run that easily. Regular folk don’t do that.
6) Sundays are not a day of rest
No, when you are a runner a Sunday is the day for that all-important long run. You get up earlier than you would on a Monday and head out to run a distance some people assume is humanly impossible.
7) You pack running gear when going on holiday
You’re prepping for that fortnight away somewhere hot and in addition to the swimmer and bikinis you’re finding space to pack running gear and trainers. Yes, despite it being a holiday you plan to run.
8) You know how far a mile from home is in all directions
This is especially true for me. Bins, lamp posts, benches and gates – they all become that personal distance marker that only you know about.
9) You see a runner when you’re not running and your feel jealous
I know this very well indeed. It’s worse when you’re injured too and you see a runner somewhere you’d like to run and they look so happy.
10) You struggle to let your worn out running shoes go
Your running shoes and you go through so much together and when that time comes to replace them you really struggle to part company. I have this problem. I relegate them to knocking around trainers, gardening trainers, decorating trainers, or simply the trainers I ran my first marathon in.
11) You become slightly obsessed with checking the weather forecast
You check the forecast and immediately wonder if it will affect the run you have planned for the next day, or even the week ahead!
12) You would rather be running that doing pretty much anything else
Cleaning? Rather be running. Laundry? Rather be running. Working? Rather be running. Sleeping? Rather be running. Yes, running can be an addiction that takes over your life.
13) You make key decisions while out running
Running is so good for your mental health and helps to clear your mind. When this happens you find you can suddenly make the decisions you may have been struggling with and you can action them as soon as you return home.
14) Before you finish your run you are already planning your social media post
Yes, everyone must know you have been on a run. You share your Strava activity with that all important selfie to go along with it. The world must know about your running life.
15) Distances become measured in races
Only 3 miles to the park – that’s a ParkRun. 13 miles to the zoo – that a half marathon. Yes, we see distances to places and we know immediatly which race distance that would be – or multiples of.
16) Your colleague asks you on a Friday what your weekend plans are and you reply in miles
Yes, I am guilty of doing this. “What you got planned this weekend Dave?” “Oh, about 15 miles”.
17) You can measure a run in the food calories that your burn
You start to learn how many calories your different runs burn and in turn what food would be those calories. BigMac, fries and a milkshake – yeah, that’s an 8 mile Fartlek session with hill repeats.
18) You’re planning a weekend away but you have to check they have a ParkRun
A romantic weekend away somewhere is in the planning stages. But you, the runner, are checking the proximity of a ParkRun to the hotel and city of choice.
19) You hear a song on the radio and know immediately what pace you would run at with it
I don’t run with music much onw myself but i used to do this alot. My favorite has to be Footloose by Kenny Loggins for a fast 5km.
20) You take your running shoes in the shower with you
I’m starting to wonder if this might just be me, but I think I might have inspired others to do this too.
Do you have any other runnerisms that I haven’t covered here? Let me know in the comments.
Thanks for reading
D