Are Runners Obsessed with Talking About Running?

Sat scrolling through Twitter the other evening I stumbled across this video tweeted by Runners World. Created by College Humour the video entitled ‘If People Talked About Other Hobbies Like They Talked About Running’ makes fun of how much we runners like to talk about running! It’s very funny, scarily accurate, and definitely worth a watch.

But do runners really talk about running more than other people talk about their hobbies? Living with my friend and fellow runner means naturally our morning conversations tend to steer towards running…what the weather is going to be like for running…the aches and pains we have from running…how far we intend to run that day…Then by the evening we tend to review our running or daily exercise... how it felt…split times…how niggles or injuries are bearing up…. I am certain our other housemates think we are obsessed!

At work I tend not to talk too much about running for fear of boring people with it. However, I do tend to get asked about it a lot. This week I was greeted by a colleague who had been away for a week on leave. The first thing she asked me was ‘how many miles have you ran since I last saw you then?’ Another colleague later asked if had put myself through any form of ‘crazy running challenge’ at the weekend. So running does get brought up…but not by me I hastened to add!

If someone were to scroll back through the group text conversation I have on my phone with my running friends it would not take long for them to work out why we are friends. 

The conversation is filled with funny running images, quotes, running related advice, support and encouragement, and updates on our running progress. We also share images of those moments we feel as runners we have truly worked for in the form of wine, chocolate and other food!   

Before getting fully into running I was a footballer and I know that at that stage of my life my conversations were heavily football orientated. I talked tactics, reviewed my match day performances, analysed the opposition, fantasised over football boots and debated how the weather was going to affect a match. However I feel now I am no longer fully immersed in the world of football I would find it hard to engage fully in these conversations with someone who is still very much football mad. So I guess that goes the same for us runners. We are passionate about our hobby, but to non runners it is an unknown world which they feel they can’t fully enter. 

So do runners really talk about running more than other people talk about their hobbies? I don’t think so. I think anyone who has a passion for something will naturally want to talk about it, and we should just allow someone to share this, whether we fully understand it or not! So the next time I start talking about running to someone and I fear I may be starting to bore them I am just going to carry on…!