15 Things You Should Never Say To A Runner

It has now been 4 years since I have started defining myself as a runner. It is one of the best definitions someone can credit me with. I love that! Runners are awesome, positive and fun.

But then again, not everyone is a runner, and that’s okay. Not everyone is an engineer, or a bus driver, or a teacher, or anything else. And that’s what makes the world interesting, isn’t it? So, most people don’t go around pointing fingers at all different kinds of life roles and saying unnecessary stuff.

However, runners aren’t of such luck – we hear all sorts of questions and comments that don’t make any sense whatsoever. People literally question the purpose of becoming or being a runner… And many related stuff. So I thought of all the ridiculous things I hear from non-runners, and asked my runner friends about their own experiences – and came up with this list.

Enjoy!

Is someone paying you?

Can I ask you a counter question? Do you do all of your hobbies to get paid?

So, you actually pay to run?

Sometimes quite a lot. We pay to run at places where we could run for free on any other day. And we also need to pay our transport, accommodation, running shoes and equipment…

But do you see us runners going around questioning other people’s expenses? Probably not.

Shouldn’t you be skinny?

I hear this often because I’m not of the tinyest figure. The reason I’m not skinny is the straightforward fact that I eat a lot. Not everyone is that skinny runner you see on TV, and not everyone wants to be that or runs for that reason.

So asking “But why aren’t you skinny then?” is just straightforward mean.

But running is so boring.

It’s boring to you. You haven’t found a way to amuse yourself during a run, but I have. I have solved many of my life’s problems during my runs. I have come up with some really cool ideas and planned out weeks of work.

For runners, their running time is when their minds do things that are usually hard to achieve in a regular busy day. Running is me-time. So if it’s boring to you, don’t just assume it’s boring to everyone!

Running that much is so bad for your knees. And your heart.

The most unimpressed person that ever heard my 100k story literally just commented “That’s so bad for your body”. And that was it.

So I’ll make this one short: sitting on a couch and eating junk food all day is what’s bad for your heart. And other organs, too.

Did you win?

There is this incredible amount of people that believe that the purpose of running a race, and particularly a long one, is winning. They are even shocked when we all get medals.

Why are there so many people finishing before you?

Do I really need to address this? Just refer to the previous question.

I could never run that much.

Let me tell you a secret: most of us weren’t just born with the capability to run that much (hint: we work our asses off to get to this point). Most of us didn’t just get off the couch and ran out the doors to run 40 kilometers.

And those who did, probably didn’t have the greatest experience.

You are running in the mountains? Like, uphill?

Not really. We all just roll in a ball and hope that gravity will work upside down.

I also love running, but I’m lazy to do it.

If you loved running, you would run. Period.

Why do you even run? It’s not like you have to lose any weight.

I don’t get this one. Does this mean you go around and tell overweight people they should run?

I know someone else who ran a 5K marathon.

No, you don’t. I always want to believe this is general knowledge, but it’s not, so here you go: marathon is 42,195 meters and nothing else.

You are going to run in this weather?

Yes.

This is a tough one to explain if you never ran in rain or snow, but there is a spectacular feeling that comes with running in impossible conditions. Sure, the wind might blow me far away, but when I’m back, I’ll be happier than before I left.

It’s difficult to even drive a car that far.

It’s none of my business, but if that’s your definition of difficult, you should probably have a deeper evaluation of yourself and care less about why do we run that far.

You actually train to run? Everyone knows how to run.

Oh, do they?

Cool, so you want to go for a 3-hour run with me tomorrow?