Question:I just received my photos from the Paris Marathon (7th April), and in one of
them I'm right next to a man and a woman wearing bright yellow tops with the
word "Jogger" in large blue letters on the front. Is this a set-up to make
me feel bad about my performance?
Answer:
if you cover a mile in
9-11 minutes, you are a 'jogger', so I guess despite the sweat and
hard work, I will always be a jogger. So joggers are allowed in a
marathon, then?
If both feet are off the ground at the same time, you're running.
You may choose to call your own pace/effort jogging if you like,
but that's a personal standard, not a universal one. Khalid Khannouchi's
'jog' is faster than most people could hope to race a marathon.
LOL! If they were french, they were probably from the "Jogger" running
shop team. The team has sub 1h08 1/2 marathoners and so forth. So...
Also the mainstream running magazine over here is called "Jogging
International"; jogging doesn't have quite such a negative connotation
as in english.
Or indeed a 10k. He's probably pure aerobic at more than 10 mph (18
km/h)...
I didn't know Jogging was also the name of a running store--I guess you're
right that they were from this team.
By the way, jogging/running as a hobby seems to be in very good shape in
France. The Paris marathon had over 1,300 people finish in under 3 hours,
more than any of the other big city marathon I believe. I heard them
announce that it was a record.
Reminds me of one of my favorite Joe Henderson quotes: "Never use the "J" word to
describe your activity. Always think of yourself as a serious runner, no matter
HOW much fun you are having".
I saw the UK edition of Runner's World once and it is very similar,
yes. We have two other magazines for road/trail racing, "VO2 marathon"
and the more recent "Running Attitude", both of which cater for a more
"specialized" audience.
Yes, Paris is still progressing; in 2001 there were "only" 22343
finishers and 1089 under 3h. There were 67 marathons in France last
year (some only had 50 participants though :-)
Overall nationwide participation was also up on year 2000, with 1.56
million finishers in over 4400 race days (average 350 participants) in
2001. This is despite the fact that you now need a medical certificate
or a license to enter (law introduced in 1999).
