Running is a great sport. But it is also a terrible sport. And sometimes, it’s downright weird.
Below, 25 things you only really understand if you’re a fellow runner. Because chances are, if you have to explain a “running thing” to somebody else, they’re not a runner.
1. Running is something that you simultaneously love and hate.
But mostly you love it…usually.
2. Sweating is enjoyable.
That’s how you know you’re working, am I right?
3. Running people are the best people.
In no other arena are strangers so aggressively supportive of one another.
4. “Only five miles” is a phrase you have used more than once.
C’mon guys, it’s not actually all that far.
5. You secretly kind of enjoy it when you tell people you run and they reply with “you’re crazy.”
Yes, I am actually this badass.
6. Tan lines are real.
And last waaay longer than the race you spend four months training for.
7. Water is the only beverage you order when going out for dinner.
Hydration always comes first.
8. There is no such thing as “fashion” loungewear.
Free 5-K t-shirt and shorts, here I come.
9. Talking about poop with fellow runners is somewhat normal.
It happens to the best of us.
10. Running through injuries is a fact of life.
A painful fact, but nonetheless a fact.
11. And you’ve tried alternative forms of exercise while injured…it’s not the same.
Sorry, swimming.
12. Walking across campus is no problem.
In fact, you kind of enjoy it.
13. Long run day is the best day of the week…
14. …in other words, runner’s high is real.
I don’t think I could really explain this one, even if I tried.
15. Nothing fuels up an appetite for cheap breakfast food quite like running.
No, I’m not apologizing for my love of Denny’s.
16. Spitting while running is a skill.
A skill you most certainly have mastered by now
17. Ice baths are life.
18. Chafing is very real.
And very painful.
19. There is a food that you DEFINITELY shouldn’t eat before your run.
Sorry, Doritos. I can’t have you right now.
20. The “free t-shirt” somehow justifies a race entry fee of $50+
Yes, the economics make zero sense. Yes, I am still telling people that it was free.
21. Nothing stresses you out quite like race day.
Not even your Calc final.
22. Race day has made you immune to PortaPotties.
I wish it wasn’t true…
23.There is always that one horrible run you will always remember.
Nothing will ever be worse than that time you ran in Vegas, I promise.
24. However, going for your run is the best part of the day.
Unless it was a free-lunch-on-campus kind of day.
And of course…
25. Nothing compares to the excitement you feel when meeting another runner.
OMIGOD YOU TOO?!?