Jogger vs. Runner: This Surprised Me

“Not today m*****f*****!” That’s what Seattle resident Kelly Herron yelled out as she aggressively fought back against an attacker during a stop at a public restroom just 4 miles into her 10-mile run. Using self-defense moves she learned just 3 weeks prior, she was able to get away. Thank goodness!

After this story came out, my sister pointed out something else to me that I found fascinating; something she had read somewhere, quite possibly Runner’s World, but I couldn’t find the article.

Now I’m not going to dive into the psychology, or do any in-depth analysis as to why this is, as I’m sure there are other people who can do a much better job contriving the reasons. Besides, I simply don’t have an answer as to why.

But did you know? When it comes to news, “runners” tend to be associated more with greater positive achievements i.e. setting records, reaching goals, winning, and “joggers” tend to be murdered, or assaulted.

Yes, “joggers” get attacked and “runners” break records.

There is a meme floating around that says something like “I don’t trust joggers because they’re the ones that find the dead bodies” which if you go based on news reports, joggers don’t find the dead bodies, they are the dead bodies.

I never realized!

When my sister told me about this, I was baffled. So I decided to do my own 5 minute research. Seriously, 5 minutes.

There was nothing scientific about it. No LexisNexus. No PubMed. No JSTOR. Just handy dandy Google and a few reputable news sites.

These are the first articles that popped up based on relevance.

First up was Reuters. There was no rhyme or reason as to why I put “runners” in the search box first, but these were the first headlines that surfaced. Kind of old stories if you ask me.

Next up was “jogger.” Huh, interesting.

Reuters even had news that singer David Crosby hit a jogger with his car! I didn’t even know that!

And this football player was charged with murdering a jogger. Not a runner. A jogger.

Oh look! Some happy news about a runner who won seven marathons in a week! Guess “joggers” don’t really achieve much.

Let’s see what CNN had for us.

We have a runner breaking records. Yes!

And then, the jogger. Well, at least they got away from the wild bear.

The New York Times, you’re up! Another record reached and it’s helpful to know how to feed a runner because I guess joggers don’t eat.

No bueno joggers. No bueno.

And then I found this article in the Newton Crime Watch:

Runners don’t become irate. Only joggers do apparently.

Like I said, this was a 5 minute research project, but what I found honestly surprised me. Now I’m going to pay slightly more attention to the headlines, because if “runner” is used, I have a feeling something good just happened to someone.

But on a serious note, we can never be too careful out there so always be aware of your surroundings!

Thanks for reading!

P.S. If anyone has a link to the original article pointing this phenomenon out, please share. I’d be interested in reading. Thanks!