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Archangel289 t1_j2f33l6 wrote

Wife and I were in Williamsburg today before her marathon next week, and it had me wondering:

Since the Olympics existed for so long, how common has it been over the millennia for humans to run for fun? Or to get dedicated exercise in general? (E.g., push ups, sit ups, and those sorts of basic exercises, even if they didn’t look exactly like we do them today)

This was triggered by seeing a couple out for a run in historic Williamsburg, VA, and it made me wonder how out of place someone running like that would be in the 18th and 19th centuries.

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GSilky t1_j2f7btk wrote

In the USA it was considered pretty nutty before the late 70s or 80s to run for exercise or fun unless it was for a particular sport. Jogging was getting a start in the late 60s, but the long distance for no reason was frowned upon by orthopedists.

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