• A fool’s exercise •
[2 MIN READ]
”Running” and ”jogging” are words that have bothered me for a while. When I started running in 2012 (Mid-life Crisis), I didn’t start consider myself a runner until I sustained the habit of moving fast enough to keep both feet off the ground repetitively while maintaining a forward velocity. Actually running wasn’t enough for me to consider myself a runner until I’d sustained the habit. Until then, I was just someone who had started running. I never considered myself a jogger, though. I ran too fast for that, I thought.
Since then, my running research has brought me across the terms “jogger” and “jogging,” but not very often. They did figure prominently when I was at a professional meeting in which I posted my willingness to lead morning runs. One participant pointedly used the terms to suggest that they were not fast enough to use the terms “runner” and “running.” At the same time, I’ve run with SRC runners who ran the same pace as that jogger, and even slower, and never used anything other than “runner” and “running.”
Google’s search AI helpfully does what I like by applying some specific adjectives and numbers to its description: “less intense” and “between 4 and 6 mph.” Four to 6 mph translates to 10-15 min/mile pacing which means I definitely pace in that range a lot of the time. Oddly, the search AI includes the word “running” in its definition with the observation that one foot is always in contact with the ground. That feels distinctly contradictory. Frankly, I’m not at all sure I know how to do a 10-minute pace and keep both feet on the ground. That sounds like speed-walking.
Before I read the sources that Google’s search AI offered, I was converging on the idea “faster than the average person walks and slower than the average person runs.” That narrows the pace range to 5-6 mph (12-15 min/mile). When it comes down to it, the 2 sources Google’s search AI identifies from Nike and Global Triathlon Network both say the distinction varies depending upon ability and personal preference. Oddly, again, neither source mentions the idea that both feet continue to touch the ground at the same time. So, the AI either didn’t post the specific source or it was hallucinating. Either way, I’m happy to do to AI what I would never do to anyone who runs or jogs (however you define them); mock it.
-CtCloser (Calvinthe) “Negative Split or Positive Splat” #dothedue
FINE PRINT ¶Text by Calvin Wang (Wäng), CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. ¶Cross-published: Facebook Shawmont Running Club (ZY Weekly Newsletter 6/7/25), Shawmont Running Club website, Ruminations by CtCloser. ¶This website posting: Rumination with added caption and hyperlinks.
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