Out of the groove

I'm still trying to get back in the swing of things.  After not running much at all in January, I was knocked out with pneumonia for a week at the end of the month.  I finally got out and ran 8 miles at River Legacy Saturday morning, but am still feeling a bit tired and certainly haven't been getting up in the morning to run.  So I won't be running at Cross Timbers this weekend.  I have been thinking about some other races this spring, but I have to start logging some miles so I'll feel ready!  Maybe I need to commit to another 100 days of running so I'll get off my butt and get out there. . . .

Runner? or jogger?

The other day when I was running in River Legacy Park, a popular mountain biking trail, a mountain biker approaching me on the trail called back to his buddy, "Jogger!"  I appreciate the consideration; I certainly don't mind mountain bikers being aware of me an not running me down.

However, his calling me a jogger irked me a little. . . . I wanted to holler back at him, Hey, I'm a runner!  I may not be moving very fast, but I am a runner!  I read Runner's World and Trail Runner magazines!  I'm a member of North Texas Trail Runners.  I sometimes shop at Fort Worth Running Company.

So what is the difference between running and jogging?  Here's what I found:

Merriam-Webster has two relevant definitions of jog: "a : to run or ride at a slow trot;  b : to go at a slow, leisurely, or monotonous pace."

And it defines run thus: "to go faster than a walk; specifically : to go steadily by springing steps so that both feet leave the ground for an instant in each step."

I do go faster than a walk, and normally both feet leave the ground in each step, but there's no denying that my pace is often slow, leisurely, or monotonous.  So by definition, I jog and I run.  Jogging is running slowly.  Running is like jogging, only faster.  I guess I need to get over it and admit that I'm a jogger.  And sometimes a runner.