13.1 Ways You Know You Are A Runner

I stumbled upon this article today, and had to comment/create my own list (my thoughts are in italics):

13.1 Ways You Know You Are A Runner:

1. After a long, stressful day of work, school or being home with the kids, a run is the one thing you need. (Check.)
2. When you go on vacation, half of your suitcase is filled with running clothes, shoes and gear. (Check...even sadder? When you pack all the gear but are too lazy to actually use any of it.)
3. You immediately think of race distances when you see the numbers “31, 62, 131, 262”. (Umm...no. This is kinda nerdy.)
4. You consider it normal (and acceptable!) to spend Friday night carb-loading, drinking water and heading to bed before 9pm. (That's three yeses, but mostly the water part and getting to bed before 10pm).
5. You break down the year into racing seasons/cycles, not astronomical seasons. (Definitely a no over here...it's warm year round.)
6. Losing a toenail is a regular occurrence in your life. (I've lost a dozen over time, but now that my mileage is lower because of my Achilles, not so much anymore.)
7. Your idea of “me” time is running in peace and quiet by yourself. (No, this would be watching TV and shoveling chips down my throat. But I try to balance it out.)
8. When you sort through your laundry, more than half is running-related. (True! And it stinks to high hell no matter how much detergent you use. It's impossible to ever truly get all the stink out.)
9. You’ve been stuck in traffic and thought, “I could get there faster if I ran.” (Ha! Very true. Ah...the lies we tell ourselves!)
10. You know the exact crack in the road that is one mile from your front door (and two miles and three miles…). (I do know how to gauge a mile and the location of every mileage marker in town, that's for sure. Mostly because I don't like to run so much as a single step more than I have to.)
11. You have a drawer devoted to just running socks (as well as others for running shorts and running shirts). (Well, duh. Of course I do. Running sock are so expensive these days you have to keep track of them. To be honest, I have 3-4 dedicated clothes shelves for running-related apparel, like the caps, shoes, bras, shorts, tops by weather/season, fuel, etc.)
12. When you hear names like “Kara, Shalane or Deena” you think of Kara Goucher, Shalane Flanagan or Deena Kastor. (Of course. They're way too fast for me, but I'm a on-off again RW reader.)
13. The first thing that goes in your day planner each month are races and important runs. Everything else gets planned around those. (No. I have a child. So this is pretty funny.) 

13.1 You rock the sports bra, shorts, socks and GPS tan lines like a badge of honor during the warm months! (Well...not really. I abhor them and try to even them out as much as I can with different lengths of shorts. But at $75 a pop for good tri-run shorts...I'm admittedly low on variety.)

Here are a few more I'd add:

1. You've met someone at the start of a run, and by the end of it, you know their life story, and they know yours.
2. You think nothing of using the bathroom in the bushes.
3. You know the location of every single (unlocked) restroom and water fountain in town.
4. You have more running shoes than heels. 
5. Your running shoes all look like a rainbow vomited on them.
6. You have EXTREME loyalty to to a shoe brand and DO. NOT. VARY. FROM. IT...EVER.
7. You have a dedicated shelf in your kitchen filled with an assortment of blocks, gels (caffeinated and not) for every run occasion.
8. You think it's perfectly normal to get up at 4am to get a long run in before it starts to heat up.
9. You own a reflective vest, a head lamp and a flashlight, and you're not a coal miner...

I know I'm missing a few more, but that's all I can think of at the moment. After ten years of running, I am finally comfortable calling myself a runner. I may be slow, but running has given me a very different life than the one I lived a decade ago, and has nurtured some amazing friendships. It may the single greatest thing I do for myself, despite being unpleasant at times. So long as my limbs are working, I plan to keep on shuffling out there...