It’s what all mother runners strive to maintain every day…and maybe someday one of our fave runner terms will show up here, too. ‘Hangry’ anyone?
When AMR tribe member Kelly introduced us to her description of a midday run—“runch,” as in a run at lunchtime—we applauded her cleverness on our Facebook page and requested anyone else with her own runner slang chime in, too.
The result: lots of witty and hilarious words and sayings we couldn’t wait to compile and share here. We think these are great complements to our glossary of real running terms and only-runners-get-it slang in the back of Train Like a Mother: How to Get Across Any Finish Line – and Not Lose Your Family, Job, or Sanity
. For now these words live here, but who knows, maybe one day they’ll end up in the dictionary…
ASAHP: As Slow As Humanly Possible. As in, “running at a very slow speed so you can keep running when you really want to walk,” says mother runner Christine.
Barbie Legs: When the hip flexors are so stiff, it feels like your legs might just pop right off—a condition mother runner Shannon shared. “While training for our marathon, my friends and I would get bouts of Barbie Legs.”
Bike Kills: Passing someone on a bike while trail running.
Chabia: How we, well, may refer to a certain area of our bodies when it’s (ouch!) chafed from a run. (We like how mother runner Susan posted about this: “TMI: chabia. Should I explain?” 28 of you “liked” her comment, too, including us.)
Dirt humpin’: Falling on a trail while running.
‘Gingerbreadman catching me!’: When you’ve got to go #2 in the middle of a run. (“My son asks me all the time when I get home from a run if Ginger caught me,” says mother runner Tricia)
Hangry: The not-fun emotion a mother runner experiences when she’s not properly fueled pre-run.
Jalks: A combination of walking and jogging that a mother runner partakes in while pregnant.
Pee Jitters: “It’s seconds before the starting gun goes off and despite the fact that you’ve peed 20 times in the past hour, your bladder thinks it still needs to be emptied.” (37 of you agreed with this term offered by mother runner Jennifer)
Runiversary: The day a mother runner laced up her running shoes and hit the roads or trails for the very first time. Oh, yeah!
Runnerd: A committed—and smart—runner. (Yes, we’re all runnerds!)
Rungry: Hungry for a run. As in, “I’m always rungry!”
STD Run: Quick run, or as BAMR Melissa describes it, “You have Shit To Do, so it means short distance and fast.”
Swass: Sweaty ass. Also known as Swamp Butt after a humid Texas run.
Swoobs: Sweaty boobs.
Wogger, Slogger, Rocker: A mother runner who walks/jogs/runs. As in: “I rocked [run/walked] that 5K!”
Wog: A super-fast 12-minute-mile walk or mix of walking and running.
WWSJD: What Would [ultra marathoner] Scott Jurek Do?
Zumrunning: Busting out Zumba-like dance moves while waiting at stop lights during a run. Usually due to exceptional tunes on the iPod.
Have you coined any runner slang lately? What did we miss? Please share in the comments below.
A term my darling husband uses often is “Run the crazies out” – apparently, certain people in our home (ok – it’s me) are prone to irratibility, particularly when feeling anxious (again – that’s me) and the one sure fire cure is to RUN! So he politely will say “I think you need to go run the crazies out”. Translation – Go run so you will quit acting like a B****! Works every time…..well, almost every time….
Love it. I need to introduce that term to my husband; I think he’d agree that most mornings I need to do the same!
mregnant/mregnancy – the training weeks prior to a marathon. “My third mregnancy was the most intense but it landed me an awesome PR,” or “Don’t expect me to have time to organize a yard sale while I am mregnant.”
Emerald Palace: the name that the honey badgers use for the Porta-potty as they are usually green.
ASSCNE!!! Took me forever to google for fear of the deviant sites I’d find, but a loofah works wonders!
Wog: Definition #2-> The waddle jog that comes at about 25-30 weeks pregnant.
Boob Shower: The moisture overload that accompanies a 10 mile run in 100+ humidity
Gravy: See above. Applicable to the lower anatomical regions. Aka: Sauce.
Free-Breezing: Terms used when loose fitting run shorts are worn with the omission (purposeful or accidental) of underwear.
Ass-Clapping: Jiggly running bum that in your mind (or perhaps just mine) sounds like clapping. It’s like your own portable cheering squad….until gravy happens…
Love Ass Clapping!
Second the ass clapping!
Hungry Butt: The appearance and feeling when your undies ride up your crack while running.
Thanks for the giggle. As I was driving to work this morning, I found myself looking at the runners that I passed wondering if they had a “Gingerbread man catching them” or were experiencing “Barbie legs”, etc. I passed one elderly lady (probably about 70ish – I can only hope to be hitting the pavement at her age!) and saw she was “slogging” along rather nicely. Anyhow, it made the ride to work interesting today. The only term I have is when I run at lunch in the heat of the desert sun. And that is: Swamp Ass – which is clearly when the sweat is running down btwn the cheeks.
Runcation: taking time off to run, and get in more mileage
Purple People-eater Parade–The members of “Team In Training” who walk or Galloway while occupying the middle of the course field, bottlenecking runners and causing racing angst and discontent.
Spider Cramps–For the (like me) vain runners who wear mascara and eyeliner, waterproof or not? Every chick who does this looks like Charlotte’s Web by Mile 20.
Milemarker Mirage–When you see mile 17 on the sign, and feel misled because you already thought you’d passed it. The mirage usually causes the runner to blame the course and the race director. It’s THEIR mistake, damn it.
Confetti Gum–the pieces of gum you have stored in your racing shorts that have become remnants of gum after ten miles of sweating, and you can’t peel the wrapper off to save your life.
A mile is a mile is a mile, t in t, or Galloway or just running
Of course it is! Just please STAY out of the middle of the running field, so I don’t hurt you when I run on past. It
s runners’ courtesy, and it is usually announced at the beginning of most races.
I agree that it a mile is a mile, but I’ve almost crashed into the back of run/walkers who go several abreast and come to an abrupt slow when it’s time to walk. It can be crazymaking on a crowded course!
Exactly, Erin. Especially when most major race directors make an announcement at the beginning of the race to allow the runners access. I certainly wasn’t disputing the value of a mile, I am only asking common courtesy; especially when they walk abreast in packs of three or more. The Disney Marathon is a perfect example of a race where this phenomenon occurs, no matter how many times walkers and slower walkers are informed? I inevitably get bottlenecked. And AGAIN, anyone who is out there? You have a right to be out there, no matter the speed….just be respectful of the faster runners.
Yes, yes I do, I look over my shoulder before I walk, and I start in the correct corral appropriate to my finish time. Considering rundisney’s run consultant is Jeff Galloway, you should expect it too, and the rundisney’s staff at the rock n roll expo said people do Disney races for the experience not for time. To stop and take pictures etc. please be more accepting, it’s intimidating enough to get your slow self out to this races without being called purple people eater parades. It’s all runners not running to that pace not just team in training or Galloway run walkers so please don’t mock us.
So serious? Thou doth protest too much. I have run the Disney twice; once for the full, once for the Goofy Challenge (the half and the full). My husband’s PR was at Disney. No one is mocking you, but if you are going to walk, Galloway, or have a slower pace? It is considerate to move to the sides to let runners pass. If “Purple People Eater Parade” upset you? That’s because you choose to let it upset you. It is a shame a fun thread like this goes sour because you took it personally. Blessings to you, and no offense intended.
I just referred to myself as a ‘rewbie’ a ‘running-newbie’, oddly enough it makes me feel stronger than a ‘newbie’, and I imagine if you add running to anything it will make it stronger ;)
excuse our language, but to rev ourselves up for cross training, my girlfriends and I have named ourselves the BAMFW (bad ass mother f***ing warriors). nothing like a bad ass warrior princess!
That’s a different definition of rungry than I use! I always say it as hungry FROM a run. As in “That long run made me so rungry!”
Slunner = A slacker runner. I think of myself as a slunner when, despite the fact that I take on double digit runs with pleasure, I still look for the parking space closest to the mall entrance, or pull the car up next to the mailbox on the wrong side of the road so I don’t have to walk down the driveway to get the mail.
Puffeet = swollen feet from long runs, marathons, ultras, pregnancy,…
So glad I’m not the only one who has experienced “chabia”. Never again, thanks to some private time I spend with my body glide before each long run.