If you told me a year ago that I'd become a running hobbyist, I'd have laughed. Even when I opened my gym membership, my thinking was "I'm not looking to become a 'runner', just competent while I train my cardio fitness". Very little equipment is required; if I decided tomorrow to close my gym membership, I could still run.

Then I ran a couple 5Ks, and got a pair of "real" running shoes, and now I find myself looking for meetups to connect with the local running community. There's a 5K at Tradewinds Park off Sample Road benefitting ovarian cancer tomorrow. I won't make that. 6AM registration? $30? Not really all that expensive as hobbies go, but...

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Marine PFT orders describe 3 grades of fitness: first- through third-class. It's annoyingly complex, but suffice it to say that in my age bracket, assuming I met the minimum standards in pull-up and crunch tests, I would qualify as third-class by completing the 3-mile in 30 minutes (6.0mph), and second-class at 20m30s (8.78mph). First-class would not be achievable with running excellence alone, because even with a "perfect" time of 18m00s (10mph), you don't get enough points to make up the difference between 3rd-class and 1st-class.