Running is one of the most popular sports worldwide. In the United States alone, participation peaked around 60 million in 2017, and dropped to around 50 million by 2020. Which is still a staggering number for a sport that has such a long varied history. Which often leads to an interesting question of when was running invented?
Was it really invented at all?
The answer is no, running wasn’t “invented” in terms of an idea someone once had, or it being created by a person.
It began out of necessity for survival millions of years ago and evolved over many years into a sport we now love. It’s simply a natural ability all of us humans have (and even animals do!).
Modern running and races, however, have a long and fascinating history, from the rise in competition to the marathon boom, to the participation of women in the sport.
When Was Running Invented
Let’s look at the many iterations of running. Running was “invented” in different ways depending on the goal…like survival to communication to sport.
Who invented running?
For some odd reason there’s a meme saying, “1784 Thomas Running invented it when he tried to walk twice the same time.”
I don’t even know what this means, but it’s a lot like when my husband says the game corn hole was invented by a…
