Are you a runner or a jogger?

I read an article the other day talking about runners v. joggers and in it the author admitted that he was a jogger.  I won’t regurgitate the whole article (though here’s a link because it is amusing:  http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/may/25/jogger-not-runner-stuart-heritage1 ) but I will say it got me thinking about some of the differences between me and Matt when it comes to running.  

Matt is squarely in the runner category.  If you go by the author’s definition, I’m a runner, too, but probably a little closer to the center on the jogger-runner spectrum.  Don’t get me wrong, I have run 20 miles in the pouring rain just to get in one more long run before one of my five marathons, but I draw the line when there is a foot of snow or ice.  Matt doesn’t draw the line at any weather condition when it comes to running.  Sometimes my alarm goes off and I roll over, but not Matt.  He would have put his clothes out the night before to prevent any sort of excuses.  I carry water and food for anything over 10 miles, but Matt only carries water if I force him to.  

I could go on and on, but instead I’ll just focus on one big difference—food consumption.  It is impressive the amounts of food that he can consume without thought or care that his pants might not fit.  When he is in hardcore training mode he probably runs 60-80 miles a week.  He’ll sometimes wake up in the middle of the night hungry and go make himself a sandwich.  It is probably fair to say that his daily intake when he is at a training highpoint for something is twice what mine is.  Have you seen Matt?  He’s 5’11” and weighs 150 lbs (about 145 when training).  The last time he got his body fat percentage checked he says it was about 4 percent.  That crazy metabolism follows him around in the “off season,” too.  Sometimes it really annoys me.  When we first started dating one of his dinner staples was a meal of chicken nuggets and smiley fries.  Most of his meals required heating rather than cooking so not exactly the healthiest.  I will say that he has always been big on salads (though his ranch dressing and croutons do make up most of the salad’s composition).  The quality of his food consumption has improved since we got married, but the quantity is unchanged and he still eats at least two cookies a day and eats doughnuts at least once a week.  

He has passed on this love for treats to our girls who are always willing to help him eat a cookie as soon as he gets home from work or make a stop at Dunkin Donuts just because.  My guess is that as soon as Zachary learns that there is more than pureed food and puffs, he’ll want cookies and doughnuts, too.  I hope they grow up to be runners with awesome metabolisms, just like their daddy!