Running counts among today’s most popular sports. Sometimes the race is on even before the competition itself has started, as tickets for events sell out within hours. In France, this has got people talking about a “race for the runner’s bib”.

So, while running enjoys the reputation of a wholesome sport, the reality is that some of us feel stress at the simple prospect of donning a bib, while even a greater number of us face exhaustion upon completing a race such as a marathon or trail. So, what exactly is the toll of the sport on our bodies, and does our status as an amateur or a pro make a difference?

It’d be easy to place professional and amateur runners in two separate boxes. Indeed, pros train hard–up to three times a day ahead of certain races. Life at those times is austere, punctuated by meals, runs and sleep, leaving little room for improvisation. And while you might think that the countless events around the world might dilute some of the demand for them, competition in such a universal sport is in fact fierce and professional runners need to push their bodies to the limit to get better at it.

High-level careers are often brief, lasting five or six years. Stories such as that of Eliud Kipchoge, the first man to run a marathon in under two hours (under non-certifiable conditions), sixteen years after becoming world champion in the 5,000 metres on the track, remain exceptions.

The significant mechanical stress inherent in the sport weighs on the muscles, tendons and skeleton. There are times when rest periods are short and it’s increasingly common to see athletes injuring themselves during competitions on live television, a surefire sign of physical and mental exhaustion. Some might consider these factors to be fairly typical: after all, these are top-level athletes.

But are world champs, next-door champs and ordinary runners really that different? Considering the tip of the iceberg of this question, the answer seems obvious: they don’t run at the same speed and therefore........

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