Dedication to running, even if not

Running With a Police Escort
by Jill Gunenwald

This book left me very conflicted. First, I loved it. It was funny, inspiring, sweet, emotional, and very, very honest. I'd like to have the author for my best friend, or at least my running partner. I wish her all the best in her future running career.

Second, I disliked it in an embarrassingly judgmental way. Take this passage:

The thing is, the back of the pack deserves medals, too. We are out there for longer, putting in just as much work and energy. We run alone for miles at a time. We love the sport as much as the faster runners ahead of us. Yes, we sometimes come in last place and yes, this is a race. But our miles count just as much even if we don't run them as fast.
[...]
Those miles were still completed, the race still finished. ... Yes, I've come in last place before and probably will again. But I'm still a runner, no matter what.
I run and run and run, and I have the bling to prove it.

I totally agree on giving finishers medals. I agree that running slower for longer can take as much work and energy as running faster--after you adjust for conditioning. Yes, an out-of-condition person running two hours would likely expend more energy than an in-condition person running the same distance in one hour. But I'm not arguing that they're doing the work and deserve the reward.

My issue is, she didn't run!  She walked that race, every step of it. So why call it running, if you didn't run one single step?  If she'd concluded, "I race and race and race...." I would not have had a single problem applauding her hard work and atta-boying the reward earned. But she didn't say race, she said run.

That's why I'm conflicted--would I say a person who did a 50-mile run but walked some of the uphills didn't "run" the race? Would I arguing that it's not running if you have to stop at the portapotty half way? Of course not. And would I argue that people shouldn't be allowed a medal if they finished a 5K, jogging at a 17-minute mile pace?  (which happens to be my own jogging pace, by the way.)

Of course I would not. And I applaud everyone who puts their body out in front of a crowd and hamsters around a fixed distance in pursuit of a shiny tin medal. It's hard work--I get that. But it's not running, and I'm not simply quibbling semantics. Walking is good exercise--race walking is harder than heck-- but running is a whole other movement.

And now that I'm over my little snit, I'll repeat that I loved this author. She's a blast and an inspiration. Race on, my hero, race on!