Today we’re so used to runners that we practically ignore them. But as the above video shows, it wasn’t always that way.
Running was for weirdos. Here’s how it became normal.
Phil Edwards was a senior producer for the Vox video team.
Back in the 1960s, jogging was typically reserved for athletes. Normal people mostly didn’t do it — and when they did, it was cause for concern. The New York Times ran an amused trend piece in 1968 about the handful of unusual freaks who chose to run in their free time. (You can see more classic jogging articles in this piece I wrote last year).
Running wasn’t just socially awkward, either — for a while, it was a form of punishment for prisoners, via the treadmill. Throughout the 19th century, treadmills were occasionally used as a form of hard labor, including for prisoners like Oscar Wilde.
But in the mid-20th century, running crept into respectability, thanks to a confluence of trends in the late ‘60s. Jogging, once unusual, surged to “fad” status before becoming the fixture of life it is today. The interesting part is that, as the above video shows, all those runners pushing past us on today’s sidewalks would have been strange just 50 years ago.
