Running, as initially described by Jet-Poop, is a way to get around, a sport, a defense mechanism, a hobby or avocation, and a way of life. People who love running, or simply people who run, are called runners. Runners enjoy good health and a long life compared to their more sedentary counterparts. Real Runners hate people who play basketball. (Okay, that was pure trollism. Sorry.) However, running as a sport, more so than so-called "team sports" like basketball, actively encourages sportmanship. If I beat you in a race, bar exceptional cases, it is simply you were slower, not because you screwed up, I outwitted you, or my skills are better. You have no one to blame but yourself. More likely, you will be congratulating me and I you, and both of us will see what we can do to improve our times. Running is pure exertion; few activities provide as good a workout as running.

In competitive running, there is always one factor to judge; speed. Sometimes this means raw speed and acceleration, as in the short races, sometimes this means incredible endurance, as in the long ones. Speed has two factors; stride length and turnover rate. Sometimes it involves working together (relays), sometimes it involves jumping (hurdles, steeplechase). But it always boils down to who covers the most ground in the least time: speed.

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In UNIX-alikes, unlike tone describes of peecee operating systems, running is the normal state of processes, ending when that process terminates or is killed.