time to get out of the gene pool!

[OakLeaf]

Oh for goodness sake. This is like the argument about "what is a REAL cyclist?"

Does Usain Bolt think Karl Melter is a jogger?

The verb has somewhat to do with subjective speed. Usain Bolt could jog alongside me while I'm in an all-out sprint (heck, he could probably walk beside me ). That wouldn't mean I would be jogging.

The noun is just plain derogatory. It implies the person doesn't belong on the road. Which was pretty much the point of the OP...

I mean, seriously, I am about as insulated from advertising as an American can be, yet I was saturated with that "We Are Not Joggers" ad campaign. It was everywhere. Did you all miss it????


Anyway, this is exactly why I prefaced my request with the reminder that I'd been called out for using the word "cager."

[Eden]

Regional thing?? I've never heard of jog/jogger being an insult either.....

[Owlie]

I certainly missed the memo that "jogger" was derogatory. But then, I don't run/jog/ambulate quickly unless I'm being chased.

[SadieKate]

Oakleaf, I wasn't calling you out at all. I just find the whole jogger/runner discussion as funny as the "real" cyclist discussion, and craft/art, and blogger/writer. And, yes, I jog/shuffle/run, but I don't do it with a giant sign telling people I also cycle so don't they dare call me [fill in the blank].

I think the OP made it very clear that she didn't know that anyone perambulating by any term was allowed to be in the road and did not use it in a derogatory manner, just as it seems the majority of us do not see it as a derogatory term.

I think this splitting of hairs is why so many women don't see themselves as athletes. It's all in the cultural verbiage and pressure to have 0% body fat, or pinch less than an inch, rather than just getting your butt off the sofa and DOING.

[Bike Writer]

[QUOTE=OakLeaf;592100]

I mean, seriously, I am about as insulated from advertising as an American can be, yet I was saturated with that "We Are Not Joggers" ad campaign. It was everywhere. Did you all miss it????
QUOTE]

She raises her hand and admits - I missed it! But I have also been accused of living under a rock now and again for years at a time, what can I say, I just get out of touch?

[zoom-zoom]

The verb has somewhat to do with subjective speed. Usain Bolt could jog alongside me while I'm in an all-out sprint (heck, he could probably walk beside me ). That wouldn't mean I would be jogging.

The noun is just plain derogatory. It implies the person doesn't belong on the road. Which was pretty much the point of the OP...

"Jogger" reminds me of the venomous way non-cyclists refer to "bikers" who they believe don't belong on the road. It's interesting the way pure cyclists and pure runners can (perhaps unknowingly) hold such a double-standard when it comes to the other. As someone who engages in both activities I see it from both "sides" and it makes me rather uncomfortable.

[PamNY]

The noun is just plain derogatory. It implies the person doesn't belong on the road. Which was pretty much the point of the OP...

I mean, seriously, I am about as insulated from advertising as an American can be, yet I was saturated with that "We Are Not Joggers" ad campaign. It was everywhere. Did you all miss it????

I don't think the OP would have been any happier about hard-to-see "runners" in the road.

"Jogger" is just a word. It doesn't imply anything about where the activity should take place, whether you call it running, jogging or ambulating (which I am now eager to work into a sentence).

I totally missed that ad campaign. What was it for and what media?

[SadieKate]

Back from asking The Google to tell me about "We are not joggers." Apparently it was a Pearl Izumi ad campaign from 2007 or 8, and it looks like it failed pretty miserably because it was divisive and intimidating. It did absolutely nothing to motivate those who needed the most motivation to get off the sofa.

[channlluv]

Hello. My name is Roxy, and I'm a jogger. At least, on a good day, I can work a jogging interval into my walking 5k. And okay, I'm on my treadmill, never on the street.

Something Katie said hit me. I don't really consider myself an athlete. I can swim a mile, ride twenty, and walk 3.1, but I'm not an athlete. I'm 80 lbs overweight and I don't eat like an athlete. I don't look like an athlete. I don't sound like an athlete. I don't dress like an athlete. I don't think like an athlete. I introduced my athletic friends to triathlon, but I don't consider myself an athlete. The closest thing I do to being an athlete is hanging out here and talking with you all. Here, I'm a try-athlete. But I promise never to jog in the middle of the street at predawn wearing all black. That's just not smart by anyone's standards.

Roxy

eta: And I never saw that ad, either.

[OakLeaf]

I'm not an athlete.

Yes, you are.

You train.

It's an important part of your life.

You hang out on this board, partly for the companionship of course, but also partly to learn more about your chosen sports (which is what initially brought most if not all of us here).

You are an athlete.

Don't let other people's perceptions of your body type tell you you're not.




PS [said in my deepest most masculine bearded-lady voice]: What does an athlete sound like? Those Xtranormal videos about Ironman and bike racing?



PPS @ tangentgirl: LMAO

[zoom-zoom]

Yes, you are.

You train.

It's an important part of your life.

You hang out on this board, partly for the companionship of course, but also partly to learn more about your chosen sports (which is what initially brought most if not all of us here).

You are an athlete.

Don't let other people's perceptions of your body type tell you you're not.

I had a realization a couple of years ago while training for a marathon. I was putting in ~10.5 hours of running/week and covering about 55 miles in a week. A fast guy I know was putting in the same amount of training time and covering 90.

Even though he was fast and covering more ground we were still putting in the same training, time-wise (I actually think it was a bit of a lightbulb moment when he realized our weekly workout time was actually the same).

[badger]

Hello. My name is Roxy, and I'm a jogger. At least, on a good day, I can work a jogging interval into my walking 5k. And okay, I'm on my treadmill, never on the street.

Something Katie said hit me. I don't really consider myself an athlete. I can swim a mile, ride twenty, and walk 3.1, but I'm not an athlete. I'm 80 lbs overweight and I don't eat like an athlete. I don't look like an athlete. I don't sound like an athlete. I don't dress like an athlete. I don't think like an athlete. I introduced my athletic friends to triathlon, but I don't consider myself an athlete. The closest thing I do to being an athlete is hanging out here and talking with you all. Here, I'm a try-athlete. But I promise never to jog in the middle of the street at predawn wearing all black. That's just not smart by anyone's standards.

Roxy

eta: And I never saw that ad, either.

this is one of the most eloquent posts I've seen. And I agree with you, I don't see myself as an athlete, either (and I love the "try-athlete").

It's a shame there seems to be castes of within the world of athleticism. I'd imagine that *gasp* jogging is still much better than lazing about on the couch doing nothing.

Can't we all just celebrate the fact, regardless what you call it, that as long as you're moving your body and enjoying the activity it doesn't matter how "pure" you are as an "athlete"?

[nscrbug]

Add me to the camp of those not realizing that "jogger" was a derogatory term. Heck, I refer to myself as a jogger all the time...mainly because at my snail's pace of nearly 11 min/mile, I certainly can't call what I do "running". I work up a good sweat and I'm usually pretty exhausted after my 3-4 mile "jogs", so I guess it beats sitting on the couch with a 1/2 gallon of Edy's in my lap.

[OakLeaf]

Well maybe I should just start saying cager again. It certainly has fewer syllables than "automobile driver." If mutual respect doesn't matter here.



FTR, I've never heard runners differentiate THEMSELVES from "joggers." IME it's exclusively a term used by people who ARE sitting on the couch with their tub of Edy's sneering at sweaty people in Lycra and posting vicious comments about cyclists AND "joggers" in the newspapers. Hence their perception that running is completely unimportant to those who are doing it.

[PamNY]

Here's an example of responses to the Pearl Izumi ad campaign. No idea how representative it is:

http://www.codegeekstail.com/2007/05...-responds.html

But my favorite is from an interview with Alex Bogusky of the ad agency that did the campaign:

"Which gives a better read on the culture you're trying to reach, The New York Times or the Onion?

The Onion is just stunning sometimes. You can think something is perfectly normal and they can point out just how absurd it is. We did a running campaign for a company called Pearl Izumi. It was all about how runners are wilder, and "we're not joggers." One of the headlines from an ad was, "Have you ever noticed that it's always runners who find dead bodies?" A week later, someone sent me this Onion headline about runners being upset that they're always the ones finding dead bodies."

http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/...tml?page=0%2C1