Call of the Wild or Discipline? The heart of joggers swings

“Need to get away from it all”, “don't want to run only on asphalt”… and above all, “incomprehension with regard to an absurd rule”… Many joggers confide that they do not respect the rule not to go away more than a kilometer from the home, imposed during confinement.

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• In these times of confinement, the rule is that sports practice be done within a radius of one kilometer around his home, and no more than an hour per day.

• An untenable measure for joggers?

  There is a lot of debate about the question, judging by the more than 250 responses to our call to testify on this issue.

• In the lot, two-thirds define themselves as "rebels" but "assumed", often calling this rule absurd.

  The last third respects it.

  Not necessarily a cheerful heart.

  Although, because some take the opportunity to challenge themselves again.

“Another city-dweller rule for city-dwellers applied to all of France without distinction”… A regular jogger, Emmanuel does not hide it: he does not respect the “1 hour / 1 km” rule in any way.

As with the first confinement, this only allows sports to be practiced within a radius of one kilometer around his home, and for a maximum of one hour per day.

Living in the open countryside, Emmanuel continues the 15 km outings, "by cheating on the departure time by completing the certificate or by taking two".

"I will just have to show the right one in the event of control", he launches, while betting on the hope "that in the countryside, our police force show discernment.

"

The majority rebel joggers?

Are there many running enthusiasts to do like him?

This is the question you asked

, via its “You testify” section.

One thing is certain: this rule of "1h / 1 km" is a lot of talk.

This is evidenced by the large number of your responses - nearly 300 - preventing us from being able to reproduce them all in this article.

This is also evidenced by this letter from 45 deputies Les Républicains (LR) addressed to the Minister of Sports, Roxanna Maracineanu on Friday, inviting them to suspend these limitations and to reopen sports equipment to associations.

A petition is also circulating on change.org for the government to expand the authorized perimeter for the practice of running to 5 km around the home.

There is no health reason to prevent the practice of individual sports beyond 1km / 1 hour.

In this socially devastating period, the practice of sport is essential.

To bodies, to spirits.

With 44 colleagues around @FabienDiFilippo, let's write to @RoxaMaracineanu.

pic.twitter.com/AFp5DcZE75

- Aurélien Pradié (@AurelienPradie) November 15, 2020

If we judge from your answers, a majority of runners are in any case in the “rebel” team.

The ratio is of the order of two thirds, one third.

And seems even more marked for this second confinement.

Several joggers thus explain having scrupulously respected the rule last spring, or even not having run at all, and taking more liberties this time.

“I am more aware that the important thing is to respect the spirit of this confinement, explains Simon.

So, I always stick to one-hour outings, but I allow myself loops that can take me more than 1.5 km from my home, to avoid always passing in the same place.

"

"Need to get away from it all", "the bitumen is not good for the joints"

Sometimes, moreover, it is the only violation that these joggers say they make to the rules of containment.

The temptation is too strong, to listen to some.

Especially for marathon runners and trail runners [these fans of nature races], used to long outings.

Sylvain, who runs between 30 and 40 km per week, is one of them.

"I was very respectful during the first confinement, even if it meant doing 70 tours of the private park of my residence like a" hamster ", he begins.

This fall, I'm going 15 or 20 km in the inner suburbs of Lyon, the better to get lost.

"

A way to get away from this difficult period?

The justification often comes up, in any case, in the responses of those who defy the rules to reach the nearest park or forest.

In the words for example of Amel, nurse in the operating room, or Lydie, also a caregiver, who speak of a need to "clear your head".

In addition to the desire to breathe, more technical considerations are regularly added.

That in particular not to run exclusively on asphalt, traumatic in the long run for the joints.

This is the precision brought by Valentin, Nathalie, but also Paul, 67, who allows himself a gap of 100 meters on the circle of one kilometer around his home "to catch dirt roads".

The trick of the two certificates ...

From there to saying "rebel"?

Many reject the adjective.

Or specify it.

"Rebel perhaps, but above all in common sense", writes Ludovic.

"I go running outside the city, on country roads where I do not meet anyone, while if I respect the perimeter of one kilometer, I meet a lot of people," he explains.

This argument comes up very often.

“If I have to catch the Covid, it will be at work or at the supermarket, and not alone in the middle of the scrubland,” notes Michaël, who sometimes goes up to 15 km away.

“The general rule is to avoid brewing, right?

“Asks Paul, who has chosen to opt for country roads, rather than“ going around in circles in the village ”.

Audrey also makes it a matter of safety.

She prefers to run in the forest, "rather than slaloming on sidewalks without a mask […] or on the road with cars and bicycles".

So to avoid the fine, some "runners" have refined their strategies.

Xavier goes "in ninja mode".

He leaves early in the morning, when it's dark, "dressed in black and the headlamp off," he explains.

I only switch on when I pass a car and once I have reached the forest 4 km from my home.

"Karine, she makes two certificates," one on my phone and the other on paper, which takes over, "she says.

A technique that many say they use.

Claude, Émilien and William tell of going even further, by mentioning an address other than that of their home on one of the certificates.

"It allows me to access a forest to play sports," says the first.

Still others define themselves as “assumed rebels”.

"I understand that the State is establishing a single rule that is easier to manage, but I have decided to take my responsibilities and assume if I get fined," writes Sébastien.

Rebels ... but also disciplined joggers

So much for the rebels.

If they seem to be in the majority, it should not be forgotten that a good number of those who answered us scrupulously respect this rule of "1 km / 1 hour".

Often out of a sense of discipline… without gaiety of heart, in other words.

Yann, father of three daughters, did not see himself setting a bad example.

Daniel, fined during the first confinement, does not want to be pinched again.

As for “MarySofy”, Xavier, Audrey or Lilian, if they do not venture more than a kilometer away, they confess that they have trouble understanding the rule.

Even qualifies it as absurd.

“Banning group outings would have been more than enough,” adds Olivier.

Others, on the contrary, including experienced joggers, ended up putting up with it.

Justine and Ingrid say they run “in a star” to avoid excessively repetitive curls.

Frédéric, used to traveling 60 km per week, for his part uses an application for calculating isochrones and isodistances, which allows him to visualize on a map all the possibilities of movement in this perimeter of one kilometer around his home. .

So that "respecting the rule does not really pose a problem for me", he assures us.

"Learn to play with these constraints"

Still others have decided to play on these new constraints.

Fred recounts "trying to do the most kilometers in the allotted time and space".

"I manage to do 13 km without too much effort, I hope to reach 14 by December 20".

Emmanuelle and her husband have challenged themselves to run 10 km every day, while Eric is now having fun beating his time records on portions of the route around his home.

“You can also vary your outings by doing interval sessions, working your stride or other, invites Hubert.

It's up to you to be inventive, curious to (re) discover your neighborhood.

And then, we can always say that this confinement will last only a time and take it with philosophy.

“I'll take advantage of the great outdoors later, for example Martin.

The forest is not far, the sea either… but they will wait ”.

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In confinement, run with or without Strava?

This is a bit of the big dilemma in these times of confinement.

The Strava mobile application, popular with joggers, allows you to record your sports activities via GPS and thus share your performance with your subscribers and, in return, monitor those to whom you have subscribed.

All in a spirit of collective emulation, trying to capture the best times on timed road segments.

On the one hand, the application makes it possible to spice up “containment” outings, limited in time and duration.

In any case, that's how Arcole and Benoît sees it.

"I noticed, on these course exchange applications, that even the local champions were starting to reduce their race perimeter and thus generate collective emulation around the respect of this rule", slips the first by indicating that "to beat a record on a Strava segment, or at least attempt to beat it;

constitutes an additional motivation.

"The search for segments to beat" also allows you to discover streets in which we are not used to passing, "says the second.

“Knowing that people can visualize your routes also helps to follow the rules a bit,” adds Marie.

But in the camp of “rebel” joggers, we sometimes prefer to deactivate the application.

This is the case with Guillaume, a cyclist, "because I don't want to encourage others to do the same", he explains.

Or JC, who is disabling the app for its long weekend outing.

"I do not want to send a message like: 'we must not respect confinement,' he begins.

And I also want to avoid unpleasant remarks.

"Carole puts it into perspective:" As much last March, as soon as we published on Strava an outing "rebel in the forest", there was someone to lecture you, she remembers.

This is no longer the case today.

There is more respect for each other's choices and situations.

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• Covid 19

• Coronavirus

• Running

• Physical activity

• Jogging

• Confinement

• Society