‘Running during the Covid-19 lockdown: reshuffling the pedestrian order’

In ordinary circumstances, many scholars take for granted the fact that pedestrians are mostly walkers, probably because they perceive runners as constituting a marginal population to whom they pay little attention. However, at the early stage of the coronavirus pandemic, runners became the focus of heated controversies. Could locked-down people be allowed to run for their health and mental wellbeing, or was the egoistic pleasure of runners unacceptable at such a time that called for solidarity? Given their increased exhalation, did runners pose a threat to walking pedestrians? This paper addresses these issues, based on a collection of 1,638 messages posted on an online forum, on the topic ‘Is it irresponsible to go running at this time?’ during the French lockdown and the subsequent weeks. The analysis of this material shows how walkers and runners became wary of each other because the other might be infected. The repetition of this experience led people to question their respective behaviors and identities, their right to occupy the public space and the meaning of their practice. It also led them to value part of it, such as the connection with nature – the Covid-19 experience thus contributed to reshuffle the pedestrian order.