When you google “when was running invented,” you’ll get this strange but amusing result: “Running was invented in 1784 by Thomas Running when he attempted to walk twice as fast.” This is one of the most amusing running memes around. But now let’s get serious. Running is an ancient sport, as you may have guessed. It may be traced all the way back to the dawn of time. Would you like to learn more about running’s history and how it become such a popular sport today? Then continue reading.
Running is a very popular sport. According to Statistical, around 60 million individuals in the United States participated in some type of running in 2017. Sure, not all of them are regular runners, but the fact that around 20% of the US population has participated in the sport in the past year speaks volumes about its appeal. Let’s take a look at the sport’s history.
When Was Running Invented?
Our forefathers ran for one purpose and one reason only: to survive. Before running became a thing you did anytime you wanted to lose weight or post a bunch of exercise images on Instagram, our forefathers ran for one reason and one reason only: to live. We made it out alive. In a nutshell, murder or be killed. Sure, nowadays, survival is the last thing on your mind when you run (unless you’re being pursued by a large wild dog). Instead, it’s all about burning calories and keeping track of your pace. However, being able to run vast distances was essential for ancient man (and woman) to survive. Allow us to explain.
Ancient Humans & Running
Long-distance running was crucial in the evolution of the contemporary human body type.
According to evolutionary theory, this skill makes us human in the physical sense at the very least. The early relatives of humans, Australopithecus, an ape-like species, are thought to have developed to walk erect on two legs some 4.5 million years ago. Then, sometime about 2.6 million years ago, according to fossil evidence of some particular traits of the contemporary human physique, our forefathers evolved the capacity to sprint large distances.
According to one idea, that early humans, developed their long-distance running abilities as a result of their daily practice of stalking and following prey until it is too exhausted to flee.
Hunters who could sprint faster were frequently the most successful. If you couldn’t hunt back then, your prospects of surviving were limited (sorry, no checks from the government). In addition, research has identified a number of physical characteristics that strongly imply that our forefathers originated as distance runners. In the vast plains of Africa, the adaptation allows them to chase down food and compete more successfully with speedier predators.
Among these characteristics are:
- The decoupling of the shoulders, which allowed early humans to spin their bodies while aiming their heads forward when running.
- Features of the skull that aid in the regulation of overheating when running
- A smaller pelvis, waist, and trunk, as well as a taller physique.
- The growth of larger buttock muscles, which helped in running stability and power.
There are other additional features too. To put it another way, we were all born to flee.
In fact, few activities are more natural than pursuing or being followed across paths or fields.
Running is considered by some experts to be one of the most transformational events in human history. These assertions should not be taken lightly.
Hopefully, learning more about “when running was invented” and the growth of the sport will motivate you to run more kilometers and get the most out of it. So, were we created to run? Science is not deceiving. Our capacity to run large distances is one of the main reasons humans are still alive. There’s no denying that the talent has profound origins in human evolution.
