Real runners!

I'm sure you've heard them all.  You're a real runner when:

• you have black toenails
• you spend more on a pair of trainers than any other pair of shoes
• you schedule your life around running, not running around your life 
• your fridge contains 'energy' products
• you can never have enough safety pins
• before you even have children you are considering how much a baby jogger costs and whether you would get dodgy looks propelling your infant around the park
• your medicine cabinet contains ibuprofen gel, deep heat and stacks of blister plasters
• you check the weather report so you know what to wear running and when to run
• you have more running clothes than any others waiting to be washed
• you growl when someone refers to 'jogging'
• you have medals and t-shirts from various races that have no purpose, but you can't part with them
• you know where all the loos are on your running routes (and failing that where the dense foliage is)
• you can eat like a horse and need to
• you have as many receipts from running stores as you do supermarkets

There are many more, but I have a new one and it happened to me in the dusky, wet park last night.

• you know you're a runner when you swallow your first fly

You're definitely a runner if you see this as protein rather than 'ick'.