From the lazy runner (me) to the marathon runner – you can be whatever you want to be, even especially if you’re ‘slow.’
Open your phone and search RunTok, and you’ll find two sides of completely different coins. On one side, you’ve got your record holders, your pb-after-pb runners who bang out two-and-a-half hour marathons all before 7 am. On the other side of a different coin, in a completely different purse, you’ve got me – a runner who still cringes a little, calling herself that.
Back when I was in school, I would spend most Tuesdays conjuring up some reason why I absolutely had to go to the library instead of running around the field in PE. I’d inevitably be told no and end up red-faced, crossing the line a full few minutes after everyone else.
Now, I run for fun. There’s an expectation that when I tell people I run, I must be really good at it. Define good. Do I go out regularly? No. Can I run a 25-minute 5K? No. Are those things an accurate way to measure a ‘good’ runner? Not even slightly.
Starting the Journey
There’s a huge spectrum of runners that get grouped under a single title. If you searched ‘Slow runner’ on TikTok, you’d potentially find me, but you’d also more likely see Maggie Klein. A marathon runner, content creator, and run-club owner who just so happens to run at a slower pace like me. When she first started running, before setting out on her first run, she told me she googled how to run, “everything said, ‘just run,’ and I was like, oh, it’s that simple?
“It’s funny looking back now because after that twenty-minute run, my legs were physically shaking. It’s crazy to me now that I could do a marathon, and my legs felt better during the marathon than that first run.”
RunTok
RunTok, if you’re not familiar with it, is a corner of TikTok dedicated to running, from tips and advice to ‘run with me’ videos. If you scroll through the tag, you’ll probably see gorgeous people with aesthetic lives barely breaking a sweat while running ‘an easy 32k’. Like most social media, “RunTok is a highlight reel,” Maggie added, which is completely true. It goes without saying that your average runner doesn’t run with a full face of makeup, doesn’t run regular super speedy 30ks, and most importantly, has a job, school, or university to balance around a fitness plan.
It is so important to remember that most of the fitness influencers creating their over-curated, aesthetic content have all day, every day, to do that. This is what spurred on a flurry of ‘real’ fitness creators. Maggie never saw herself as a ‘slow runner’, “I knew I wasn’t the best. But I didn’t think I needed to name it.” TikTok has a bit of a tendency to label everything. Therefore the qualifier of ‘slow runner’ was attached to anyone running at a non-professional pace.
‘Slow running’
During my first run, I think I cried three separate times. The run was about seven minutes long. I hated every second. But I wanted to try again. The only way to make sure I carried on running was to tell people about It so I couldn’t change my mind. I essentially used RunTok as an accountability coach.
To begin with, it was useful, people even started telling me I was helping them start running. But along with that, which both Maggie and I have experienced along with pretty much anyone posting about running online, came the Running Police; ‘why are you wearing a running vest for a walk?’, ‘this isn’t a run, you’re walking’, ‘it’s not a run if it’s less than 10k’. So close! None of that is actually true!
There is such a misunderstanding that running is, and has to be, speedy. There’s no rush to get anywhere, and if you look up running, the most common advice for beginners is to go slowly. “It’s actually just the correct way to run – you’re not out of breath and can keep a conversation,” Maggie said. That looks different for everyone. Some people can start running and their comfortable pace is someone else’s sprint pace.
As with anything on the internet, you’re always going to get those people who can’t stand anyone else enjoying themselves. RunTok as a whole has helped to normalize slow running – excellent. But it’s also made us call ourselves ‘slow runners’, like we have to let everyone else know that we are in fact aware that we aren’t The Flash. God Forbid, we’re proud to run. We have to be proud to run slow.
One-percent club
Make no mistake, there are no limits to what you can achieve as a runner with a slower pace. There are several creators online proving just that by joining the one-percent club – the one percent of the population that has run a marathon. Which, as of earlier this year, Maggie is a part of. As a result of the platform she built on TikTok, Adidas asked her to run the Berlin Marathon. “It’s the coolest thing Adidas – who only really ask elite athletes to run – asked a normal runner like me.”
Maggie expected to never want to run again after completing a marathon (and all the training), but after crossing the finish line, she said, “I know it’s gonna be one of the highlights of my life.” Marathon training pretty much took over her life, “it’s this whole other beast.” There are so many factors that go into running a marathon, on top of being able to run – nutrition and sleep are so important.
Challenging expectations about what runners look like, Maggie said, “You do not need to be thin to run. At a marathon, there are people of all body shapes and sizes.”
Another myth, this time about being a slower runner, is that we just aren’t trying very hard. We are out there sometimes double the time of some other runners.
Maggie added,
“People like us are more admirable in a way. We have to put in so much more effort, and it’s not a bad thing to not be sporty. You can be that kid that couldn’t catch a ball, and you can still do these things.”
Run Clubs
I am terrified of running clubs. The internet may have become fairly accepting of the slow girlies, but (most) run clubs are still entirely elitist. The most disheartening feeling for me so far as a runner has been reading club ads that say ‘all paces welcome’ followed by ‘we’ll run super slow, like a snail’s pace, so so slow we’re barely moving’ with the upper limit that is my sprint pace, on a good day.
Maggie started her own run club for this reason. “A lot of people say they’ve never been to a club before, or if they have, they got left behind, and they’re traumatized from that.” Along with inclusivity, she focuses on the social side of a club, “if you go to a run club, it’s nice to focus on making friends and having a nice experience.” Plodders is based in London and meets once a month, she pledged, “I will make anyone feel so welcome. I genuinely run at the back – no one’s ever left behind.”
In November, Maggie is working with run clubs in London as well as internationally to raise money for charity. “It’s called More Than a Run Club. Being part of things that are actually making a difference is really cool.”
The Runner Spectrum
Something running, and RunTok has taught me over the past year since I started running and posting my journey online is that you do not have to be good at something to enjoy doing it. I am a completely average runner and when I remember running exists or my annoyingly fit boyfriend drags me out on a run, I will plug in a podcast and just run.
“It’s all about you, your own journey, never compare yourself and just make running your thing.”
Maggie Klein
There is no one-size-fits-all. Whether you run a mile in five or fifteen minutes, you are a runner – no speed qualifier is needed. Whether you regularly run a 5k or a marathon, you are a runner. Whether you enter races or not, you are a runner. Whether you run every day or once a month, you are a runner. And even if you’ve never run before in your life, you can be a runner.
