Define please...

Can someone explain what is the widely accepted definition of a Runner, a Jogegr and a Plodder.

How do you get promoted from one to the other :)
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Comments

  • fat facefat face ✭✭✭
    All the same as far as I'm concerned.
  • annajoannajo ✭✭✭
    I am all three depending on what mood I am in.
    Feeling fast, just done a speed session=runner

    feeling knackered, just come in from a work, get asked if I am going to go for my little jog =jogger

    end of long run or the day after a hard run= definite plodder!
  • All the same as far as I'm concerned too !
  • Like Annajo, I can be any of the three, depending what time of day I run, what I've eaten, how tired I am, what's on telly, whether there's an R in the month ......

  • 3TL3TL ✭✭✭
    mmm, i think all runners can be joggers at times, but not all joggers can call themselves runners.

    plodders are runners with heart, soul, sweat and tears who do the distance, but perhaps not in a paula radcliffe time

    I don't think many of us are pure joggers here, imho joggers are people who have the kit, look great, but _never_ push themselves. (and only go out when the weather is fine, if at all, once a month...)
  • When I'm talking to my friends I'm a runner.

    When I'm talking to other runners I'm a jogger.

    When I'm honest with myself, I'm a plodder.

    Oohhhh...how profound!
  • Runner: I am a runner. I look down on him for he is a plodder.

    Plodder: I am a plodder. I look up to him , for he is a runner. I look down on him for he is a jogger.

    Jogger: do you think the Nike shell suit looks good on me?

    Does that help?
    :-)
  • I want to know what's slower than a plodder because I thinks that what I am (though I am faster than a walker, just).

    Runners are those super-human people who are incredibly skinny and run too fast for their own good.

    I don't think joggers exist any more - they were the kitted up eighties people who looked the part but never actually did anything.

    Plodders are the stars. They toil at their sport, give their all and enjoy themselves (mostly). They achieve unrecognised greatness - you won't find any gold medals here but you'll get lots of support, fun and commitment.
  • LindyLindy ✭✭✭
    I've wondered about this too, and have my own theories...

    If you never think of a run as a training run, you're probably a jogger.- You run sometimes but have no real running based goals.

    If you carefully plan for races and train for them, but then wonder how you can possibly think being in a "race" with the same people who come in first ( or even in the top half ), then you're probably a plodder.


    I was definitely a jogger until I started to enter races this year.- Maybe one day I'll know how a runner thinks :-)
  • What difference does it make.. as long as you enjoy/get a benefit from what you do?
  • I think It depends on my mood. A good day, weather nice and I'm in the mood to get outside then I'm a runner.

    On a day when been at work and not quite up to going out for a long run, then i'm a jogger.

    Not wanting to go out and legs feel like lead and cannot be bothered to run far, then I'm a plodder.


    Who really cares? Not me, its all down to how you see yourself!

    FC
  • Floosie - I tend to think of all runners as runners. I am a runner, though I wouldn't describe myself as super human and incredibly skinny, nor do I run too fast for my own good.

    I also think that most runners would say "they toil at their sport, give their all and enjoy themselves (mostly). They achieve unrecognised greatness - you won't find any gold medals here but you'll get lots of support, fun and commitment."


  • I think looking at these posts I must be a plodder.
    What flipper said was very good and pobble that's funny I'll tell my country boy that.
    CG
  • sometimes I have
    1. good runs
    2. tractor runs
    3. hippo runs
    4. slug runs
    5. slug hippo runs
    6. slug hippo tractor runs which are just the worst !
  • popsiderpopsider ✭✭✭
    Jogger - someone that isn't into running competitively and is not all that serious about it.

    Can be used by more serious runners to feign how easily it comes to them, as in "I just jogged the London this year, came home in 2.54".
  • hippo runs????
    They have GOT to be bad:))
  • Bazza - it was a joke! I know everyone who runs is member of an elite group. I guess my point was that plodders don't take it as seriously as those who want to qualify for things and win prizes (like the glorious Paula Radcliffe's of this world)
  • Floosie
    i am a plodder in every sense of the word
    and i take it very seriously indeed
    But ill never win any prizes
  • Oh God. What have I said? I'll keep my trap shut in future.
  • Floosie - apologies if I sounded a little terse.

    But ust to clarigy, in my view if you feel like a runner then you are. Running isn't just something that I do - being a runner is something that I am. It is part me. A few years ago I hurt my back and couldn't run a step for about four months, but during that time I would describe myself as a runner. When I started again, I plodded, I jogged, I ran - and all the time I was a runner.
  • Funnily enough, I describe myself as a runner but (see earlier comment) am probably even too slow to be a plodder. I guess it's just easier to explain "runner" to non-runners/plodders/joggers.

    Also, while running helps me get through my days, it's not the be all and end all, if it was I would have thrown myself off Beachy Head a long time ago for being rubbish at it. Hence my comment about not taking it too seriously!
  • 3TL3TL ✭✭✭
    You're never too slow to be a plodder! And I think all plodders are runners, really...
  • I think this is very difficult to define but surely, speed is the key factor here. I do not class myself in the same league as Paula Radcliffe. No way can I do a marathon in 2.15 but that's not to say that I am not a runner as a result.

    Like so many other people, you could not have found a more determined person to complete the marathon than I. Am sure comparable to Paula's determination to win. However, this again should not determine if you are a plodder, jogger, runner or sprinter.

    We all have different goals and who is to say that someone's goal of completing a half marathon in comparison to someone elses in completing a full marathon is any less of an achievement and categorises them differently. I may run 8.5min miles for half where someone else may run 11min miles for full. Who's the runner there????

    God only knows how you define the diffierent classes/categories but it must be on speed and not on determination, enthusiasm etc.

    Amen.......
  • MinksMinks ✭✭✭
    Don't agree, Popsider - I don't think you necessarily have to want to run competitively to call yourself a runner. Although I have only run competitively once in the year and a bit I've been running, I certainly wouldn't classify myself as a jogger.

    I am very focused on my running, I regularly log my time and distance, vary my runs - in effect I train as though I aim to race regularly. Recently I entered a 10K, which unfortunately I ended up having to miss, but the thought of racing and perhaps not living up to my own high expectations of myself made me feel stressed out and took away the enjoyment I get from running. You don't necessarily have to race to be competitive.
  • I have to agree with RRR here, surely it all comes down to speed. I really don't understand theproblem with the word "jogging". So many people seem to think that it is a derogatory term, but it just means to run slowly. I have no problem being called a jogger, or describing myself as a jogger. I use the definition I read years ago, that if you run slower than 10 min/mile you are jogging. But that's just a personal view.

    The word "running" means to go at a pace faster than walk, never having both feet on the ground at the same time. Therefore jogging is just a sub-division of running. None of us (I presume) want to call our running sprinting (apart from maximum intervals), which is just another sub-division of running, so why worry about the word jogging? Incidentally what do you do between your intervals? Most literature still suggest jogging (!) between your efforts.

    FB
  • Plodder and proud of it. Just glad that I have two working legs and can move at a speed faster than walking, whatever that is. Some days, 12 min miles, some days 16 minute miles.
  • What difference does it make? No-one plods more slowly or heavily than I do, but I'm a runner just the same.

    Why? Because I run - that makes me a runner.

    I try to avoid people with elitist attitudes who will try to say that you're only a "serious runner" if you enter races, or run a mile in less than a certain time, or in other words meet some conditions that they have invented to make themselves feel superior to others. Those kind of people will frequently refer to other runners as "joggers" or "plodders" in a condescending way.

    I'm only competing against myself.

    Run and enjoy, and forget about labels.
  • MinksMinks ✭✭✭
    Hear, hear, Plodzilla. I wouldn't consider myself a plodder really (8-8:30 minute miles) but I really can't stand the thought that running should be some kind of elitist activity where the fitter and faster are somehow superior to the fatter and/or slower.

    Like so-called running clubs who automatically assign those slower than a certain pace to the Beginners category, even when they may be experienced runners - just slow experienced runners.

    Surely we should be encouraging a 'can do' attitude towards running? There is enough elitism in our society as it is: the fact that someone can be bothered to get up off their backside, change into running shoes and head out the door makes them a runner in my book - and in today's world of junk food and obesity surely that's what we should be encouraging?

    Rant over!
  • I hear you Minkin, which is why I'm working on Big Gals Can, currently 12 members, but no 'official' details yet. If you can complete a marathon, even at a slow speed, that should qualify you as a runner. Besides, I know many skinny gals who can't run for five minutes, yet some people choose to look down on anyone who runs/jogs/plods slowly. Very logical.
  • I totally agree with above comments. We are all runners and should all be proud of it. I feel no less successful at running at the pace I run at in comparison to people like our Paula etc.

    This topic is very similar to the one on marathon time! We all know how bl###dy hard the FLM was/is to complete and this in itself is an achievement. However, what is the first question the "non-runner" asks you! It's not, well done for finishing, it's what was your time? For people who know nothing about running, I find that sort of question very tedious...

    Rant Over!!!

    Runners Rule OK
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