Five ways to look cool while working up a sweat.

Heart pounding. Gasping for breath. Pouring with sweat. We’ve all seen (or been) that guy, on the verge of collapse while crushing a Sunday morning run and screaming internally, “Why? Why am I awake?” The thing is, running isn’t fun. We claim otherwise, but it is – or should be – hard. Ever since the ancient Greeks devised the Olympics, man has used running as a measure of pure physical fitness, so it makes sense to say that if you look dignified while you’re doing it, you might not be putting enough effort in. As with many things in life, however, there are outliers from whom we can learn. While running is a gruelling leveller for most of us, history has shown that there are exceptions who prove that it is possible to look cool while pounding the pavement. Here are five arguments against decking yourself out in state-of-the-art Lycra and a Fitbit for that 5K.

While some people make heavy work of running, others seem to levitate along, free of the limitations, such as fatigue or gravity, that hold the rest of us back. Mr Frank Shorter, gold medallist in the marathon at the 1972 Olympics, is one of the latter. The real benefit that comes from this ability is that almost everywhere suddenly becomes your running track, including the mountains of Boulder, Colorado, 5,000ft above sea level pictured here. The red tracksuit top goes nicely with the foliage, too.

When running with a friend, there’s always a point when the conversation stops, the breathing gets ragged and things take on a competitive edge. But, if you’re Mr Wilt Chamberlain – 7ft 1in tall, possibly the most dominant basketball player of all time, scorer of a career total of 31,149 points, 100 of which he scored in one game in 1962 – you don’t have much to prove. And that’s why the main takeaway here is that real men go running with a dog instead, barefoot and on the beach.

Look at this image of Mr Michael Douglas training for his starring role in the imaginatively titled 1979 sports drama Running. Can you hear “Chariots Of Fire” playing in your head? The 26-mile stare, set on the finish line, the defiant jawline, the windswept mane of hair. This is what running looks like, as imagined by someone who doesn’t really run (even if the New York Athletic Club singlet – and decision to run in the middle of the road – are on point).

Once upon a time, tracksuits were something you actually wore for running (as opposed to watching Netflix with a hangover, or for pairing with Balenciaga). In running terms, this was a more casual time, a time before compression tights and body armour, a time before #smashingyourgoals. The relaxed gait of Lord Sebastian Coe training in the tranquil surroundings of the Sheffield countryside in 1981 add another layer of Zen here. You’d never believe this man won four Olympic gold medals.

Sometime in the late 20th century, Mr Phil Knight and Nike turned jogging into running, and with it came performance-enhancing, unflattering clothing that left less and less to the imagination in the dubious name of aerodynamics. Before this happened, however, it was still socially permissible to wear jogging bottoms (the clue is, after all, in the name), as Mr Ryan O’Neal demonstrates here in Milan in 1982. We also envy having Ms Farrah Fawcett as a running partner.

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