What makes an athlete and athlete?

A few weeks ago I participated in our monthly WW 5K social walk around the city. Yes, I shouldn’t have done it; I was in agony for two days after the walk. But I had an interesting and eye-opening conversation with my friend Bob. Bob is a WW lifetime member; he lost over 100 pounds and he walks all over Manhattan every day. I was explaining to him the results of the MRI and my injury. I joked that “I guess I can call myself an athlete since this is an athletic injury.” Bob responded in all seriousness, “Yes. It is an athletic injury. You are an athlete. You can tell people that.”

When I think of athletes, of course I think of professionals who make their living in any given sport. When I think of athletes, I also think of people like Mel (my super WW leader and runner) and my friend and fellow WW Sheryl (she runs, rides her bike EVERYWHERE, and is just such an all around active person), just to name a few. I also think athletes are all of the thousands of people who have been running, biking, playing tennis, or just live at the gym (I see a ton of them in my running magazines and on my social websites). The one person I never would have considered an athlete is me.

I know I don’t look like how an athlete “should” look. To many athletes, I probably don’t sound like an athlete. Yet somehow I became an athlete. I always thought that running is something I do, like washing dishes or cleaning the house. I just never think of myself as a runner. Maybe it’s because I’m still considered a newbie, but I think I maybe don’t feel I have “earned” the right to call myself a runner yet.

I've read many times that if you run, then you are a runner. Well, I run. I must be a runner and an athlete. Don't all athletes get injured at some point during their "career"? This is mine. 

I am an athlete. I am a runner.