The difference between a runner and a jogger is a race entry form.

Have you heard that one before?  Maybe, maybe not (Tip:  It was in a prior blog entry).  This week’s Take It and Run Thursday theme on Runner’s Lounge was to share some running wisdom in 13 words or less.  Not that I am knocking the occasional jogger - everyone who gets out there or does any kind of exercise is doing themselves some good.  The truth is, though, that when you start running races, you evolve.

I still remember my first race.  It was the Perseverance 5K in Homewood, Alabama in the spring of 1994.  My best friend, Kim, talked me into doing it and the Peachtree Road Race 10K in Atlanta on July 4.  I have no idea what my time was - somewhere around 31 minutes, I think - but I do know that a runner was born that day.  I had begun running in 1986 - an effort to keep my body in shape so I could survive summers at varsity cheerleading camp.  I generally avoided running when the weather was cold or rainy, and I never got up before daylight to do it.  I was still a jogger.

Something changed when I finished my first 5K - slightly ahead of my friend, as I remember it.  I started looking for other races to run.  I developed a training plan.  I subscribed to Runner’s World.  I accumulated a drawerful of age-group awards (the 20-24 women was not a competitive category - most of my peers were still sleeping late on weekend mornings).  I ate carbs.  Throughout the winter of 1995, I got up and ran before the sun came up (and I am most definitely NOT a morning person).

Fourteen years later, I have countless 10K and 5K races under my belt, as well as one 13K and three half marathons.  If all goes well, I will run a 15K, two marathons, and two additional half marathons in the next twelve months.

No, I’m not fast, but I’m still a runner.