The term “Penguin” came from a man named John Bingham who used to write a column about slow runners for Runners World. More realistically, a “penguin” is someone who just runs for pleasure or exercise rather than accomplishment or awards.
Then there are runners who are just SLOW! Don’t get me wrong. We want to be fast and win AG awards but we are SLOW.
I love reading running blogs. I love reading race reports. I am happy for those who PR and win awards.
But I will never run at a pace in the 7s, maybe not even in the 8s. Finishing a Half Marathon under 2 hours…a dream! BQing…never!
I am competitive but I am NOT FAST!
But I will continue to run and race.
I will blog about my training runs at 12 min/mi, my half marathon finishes at 2 1/2 hours and my 5Ks at 30 min +.
Hopefully, I will inspire other slow/penguins to run and keep running!!
Happy (slow) running!
My First 5K and More... 
I’m a penguin too
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🙂
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Me too! In fact my avatar is a penguin for just that reason.
So glad to see I’m not the only enthusiastic runner who isn’t speedy. Keep on running.
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You too. Wish you lived in the US. GL in your races.
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Love love love having blogs to read where people aren’t running 7 min miles. That will never be realistic for me and that’s totally okay. Our accomplishments are equally awesome!! 🙂
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I agree. That’s why I continue to run.
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Penguin over here!
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I am a very “slow” penguin. In fact, I make many other penguins look fast!
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Present!
Everybody is different and I’m happy for everyone who runs her own PR weather that’s 25 minutes or 40 minutes for a 5K.
But …. I’ve noticed that there’s a difference between running races in the US and in Europe. People in the US even walk a half marathon the entire distance as I’ve been told by a US blogger, that’s not done in Europe: you run it or you don’t participate.
The run-walk-run method by Galloway (which I personally like very much) isn’t used by many people here. People do walk in races but usually a bit towards the end. You never see someone walk 5 minutes into a race.
That’s the reason I decided not to do a half marathon now. I don’t want to come in last all the time at every distance, I don’t have to be first but somewhere in the middle would be nice. That’s why I’m working on speed on shorter distances now.
If you finish a half marathon in 2:30 here in Holland: 95% of the other runners have already finished.
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Come to the US!!!!!!!!!!! Yes, there are always walkers at races. I did my last half untrained so walked half & I wasn’t close to last.
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I am a huge fan and advocate of No Need for Speed, Running for Mortals, and Marathoning for Mortals. I reread them frequently fo ongoing inspiration and reality check.
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Thanks for the advice. I’ll have to check them out.
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I’m pretty much there too. I ran in the 12+/mi for over a decade and it was awesome!
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and now you are a marathoner!
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