Author Archives: Cait

Is it your personality that makes you the perfect candidate for a runner, or was it running that shaped your personality? I’ve often wondered that if little runner babies are born with a hidden chromosome: the runner gene. Even before they take that very first step they are destined to be miles obsessed, self-motivated machines, sickly addicted to torturing themelves. (In the good kinda way.)

This thought came up today as I was filling out a personality questionnaire. Don’t worry, it’s not Facebook App linked and your timeline won’t be flooded with all of my annoying answers. I’ll just flood you here with the answers I didn’t give but probably should have.

1) Do you consider yourself a goal-driven person?
Yes, and I’m not just saying that because you probably think that’s the ‘right’ answer. I always feel like I have to be doing something, or working towards something. I’m the runnerchick with the sketchpad during the movie…oh, and I’m rolling my plantar across a tennis ball too.

2) Would others describe you as self-sufficient?
Well, no one has ever bothered to ask me if I did my long run, if that answers your question? #given

3) Do you work well in a team?
Here’s what’s funny, I’m a bit on the fence. I work really well if everyone else on the team is willing to pull their weight, but I can’t stand team projects that turn into a one-runnerchick show. To some runners of teams from years’ past, I know you didn’t run a step during the summer and yes, I’m enjoying watching you pay the price. Bwahahaha!

4) Are you motivated by the promise of rewards or returns?
Did someone say a PR?

5) Do you find routines a bore?
Left, right, left? I don’t think there is a B or an O to saddle up with the R and E. (But there is sure the potential for BO, remember to shower sweaty runners!)

6) Do your feeling get hurt if a good deed you do goes unnoticed?
Pretty sure that 90% of all the running we do goes unnoticed. Get a thick skin if you’re going to get your feelings hurt.

All that yammering on in the brain makes you feel a little crazy sometimes, no? 😉

8) Are you excited to see others succeed?
Most definitely! Well, I wouldn’t be 100% genuine in saying I’d be stoked for the runnerchick that beat me. Friends of course, but the gun goes off and we’re all competitors. Sorry, gotta look out for numero uno in that regard.

9) If you’re solving a problem do you like to break it down into segments and analyze each part?
Am I the only one who was stuck looking at their tempo splits for longer than I’d care to admit? Doesn’t staring at them once written down somehow change the meaning or send you a secret message and eventually make you faster? The whole squeezing coal into diamonds sort of thinking??

10) Do you find setting goals at the onset of a project to be beneficial?
A goal-less, aimless runner probably really isn’t going anywhere far. 😛

Questions for you!

1) How much of your personality has been shaped by running? How much of your running, do you think, is shaped by your personality?

2) The question of the chicken and the egg here: do you think you are a Type-A person who naturally thrives under the self-motivated, tough as nails determination that running takes and were drawn to the sport? OR do you think that when you took up running that is when your personality started to change more in line with that?

3) Personality tests, do you hold much merit in them? What have some of them revealed about your own, supposed, personality?

4) Answer any of the first 10 questions above for yourself!

We run for many reasons, are gifted with ample perks of our sport, but admit it, some of the those rewarding feelings aren’t necessarily ones you feel comfortable shouting from the rooftops for fear of sounding like a runner snob.

1) Schooling the joggers and walkers. That awesome feeling you get as you approach a jogger and blowing past them, the one where you watch their face from the corner of your eye as you breeze by (you don’t turn your head of course, you can’t let them know how much you are relishing this!) in the hopes of catching their facial expression.

2) Laughing at idiocies. “I broke 4 minutes in the mile and so did three of my high school teammates,” just this past Sunday a man was telling this to my friend. My friend tried to nicely nudge him to correct the stats, but the guy was adamant. It gets irksome dealing with people who are obviously in the wrong, but after they leave how funny is it to make fun of their mistakes. My reaction, “Yea, was he running on a 350m track?” 😉

3) Social Media Elitism. Today you can see pretty much everyone’s workout, it’s like Twitter and Facebook are the new Gold’s Gym braggart saying how much they worked their butts of that day. But admit it, some peoples’ ideas of crazy-hard-long sweat sessions are what you’d consider a warm-up. It’s okay to feel a little like a runner snob in these times. #runnersworkharder

4) Gluttony. There really isn’t much more to be said for this one. Eating like a sumo wrestler and later holding bragging contests over your food feats of strength (ie: accomplishments) is almost as much fun as telling people on Weight Watchers you downed a baker’s dozen worth of donuts.

5) Kanye Syndrome. You know that feeling when you’ve smashed out an awesome workout or gotten a PR? The one where you walk a little taller, your legs are getting the early-onset soreness but you sickly love it. You may even feel like you’re strutting down the street, you catch eyes with strangers and think, “Yea, what did you do today? I’m pretty sure it’s nowhere near what I did.” I guess the old Army motto has this one right, when you’re up and doing more than most could father there is a well-deserved sense of pride. Mayyyyybe even some inflated egotism for a bit?? 😉

There, I said it. But really I know you’ve all thought it at some point. Maybe you’re sitting there on the other side of the computer fresh off some Twitter trolling and sheepishly smiling for being caught in the act. It’s okay, we’ve all been there. We’re runners, we’re just kick@$$ like that.

1) What’s a thought of awesome feeling you have because you’re a runner but maybe you wouldn’t say for fear of making it sound like you’re a jerk?

2) What’s the most idiotic thing you’ve heard a person say in regards to times they’ve run, distances they’ve covered, or anything of the like? Do you ever try to correct them or just let it go?

3) Last time you had Kanye syndrome?