and they were of a hieratic character. The suggestion is that the written runes were introduced from the south of Europe by a Phoenician agency, and that they were copied from Greek or Roman coins which had found their way to Scandinavia. In several of the sagas it is recorded that runes were inscribed on round pieces of wood, called kefli, or runic sticks. It has been suggested that the Eddaic poems were preserved in this way, but the only authority for this is that the Sonatorrek is said to have been taken down on a kefli. In Christian times runes came to be regarded as an archaic curiosity, and were engraved on sticks, chairs and spoons; a loto stick with runes on it is preserved in the Bodleian library. In the Fornsögur runes are mentioned as carved on the blade of an oar. Even cases occur in which the normal Latin alphabet was called rúnamál or a language of Runes. A runic letter was called a rúnastafr in Icelandic.
Authorities.—Ludwig F. A. Wimmer, Runeskriftens oprindelse og udvikling i Norden (Copenhagen, 1874); L. F. A. Wimmer, Die Runenschrift (Berlin, 1887); J. Taylor, Greeks and Goths: a Study on the Runes (London, 1879); G. Stephens, The Old-Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England (Copenhagen, 1879); Bugge, Tolkning af runeindskriften på Rökstenen i Östergötland (Stockholm, 1878); Cleasby and Vigfussen, Icelandic-English Dictionary (Oxford, 1874); Wilhelm Grimm, Ueber deutsche Runen (Göttingen, 1821); Olsen, Runerne i den oldislandske Literatur (Christiania, 1891). (E. G.)
RUNG, a short round bar or stick used as a cross-bar or rail in a chair, and particularly as one of the steps or rounds of a ladder. In Scottish the word retains the original meaning of a staff or stick, especially a short thick cudgel. The O.E. hrung is used only of a bar or rail in a wagon; the word also occurs in O.Du. ronge, beam of a plough, Ger. Runge, pin, bolt.
RUNNIMEDE, or Runnymede, a meadow on the S. bank of the river Thames, England, in the county of Surrey and the parish of Egham. It is celebrated in connexion with the signature of Magna Carta (q.v.) by King John on the 15th of June 1215. It has been disputed whether the ceremony took place actually in the meadow or on Magna Carta or Charter Island lying off it. The charter itself indicates Runnimede by name, but this may have included the island, which is the traditional site and was in 1217 the meeting-place of Henry III. and Louis (afterwards Louis VIII.) of France.
RUNNING, the most primitive form of athletic exercise considered as a sport. Athletic apparatus of every kind has been improved in modern times, but the spiked running-shoe may represent the sole advantage enjoyed by the modern runner over his Olympic prototype. As an athletic sport running has been in vogue from the earliest times, and the simple foot-race (δρόμος), run straight away from starting-point to goal, or once over the course of the stadion (a little over 200 yds.), formed an event in the Greek pentathlon, or quintuple games (see Games, Classical). It was diversified with the race once over the course and return, and the διάυλος, a long run many times (often as many as twelve, i.e. about 23⁄4 m.) up and down the stadion. There was also the δρόμος ὸπλιτῶν, a short race for warriors, who wore full armour and carried sword and shield, which has been imitated by the modern military race in full marching order. Except in the warriors' race the Greek runners were naked, save occasionally for a pair of light shoes. No records of the times made by the runners in the Greek races have been handed down. It may be inferred that the contests were very severe, since the ancient Olympic chronicles preserve the memory of several runners, of whom Ladas was the most conspicuous, who fell dead at the completion of the long course, and were buried in state with their brows encircled by the victor's chaplet. In ancient Italy running was practised in circus exhibitions, as described by Virgil (Aen. v. 286 seq.).
In the middle ages the best runners were oftenest found among the couriers maintained by potentates and municipalities, those of Tartary, England, Scotland, Italy and the Basque country having enjoyed the greatest reputation, while the Peichs, or Persian couriers of the Turkish sultans, often ran from Constantinople to Adrianople and back, a distance of about 220 m., in two days and nights. Many couriers carried silver beads in their mouths to obviate thirst. Couriers (syce) who run before the carriages of their masters are still in use in the East. In the districts of India not traversed by railways, dak runners are still employed to carry the mails from village to village, many wearing bells about their necks to frighten away the tigers. The runners of the American Indians were famous, and extraordinary tales are told of their swiftness and endurance.
In all parts of Great Britain, running at short distances, as
well as steeplechases and cross-country runs, has been popular
for many centuries, each district and period having its
champions, some of whom achieved national reputation. Durting
the Puritan rule and that of Charles II. athletic sports all but
died out in England, only to be revived with renewed vigour
in the early part of the 19th century, when the public schools
and universities began to pay more attention to them. A
significant event in the history of running was the institution
of the famous “Crick Run” (cross-country) at Rugby in 1837.
The establishment of the Cambridge University sports (1857),
the Oxford sports (1860), and the British championship meetings
(1866) placed athletics upon a formal and recognized basis.
Records made thereafter received the stamp of authenticity,
those made in former years being doubtful on account of lax
measurements and timing. In the United States and Canada
authentic records date from the institution of the American
Championships in 1876. The National Association of Amateur
Athletes of America was formed in 1880.
Running at the present day is divided into sprinting (distances up to one-quarter of a mile), middle-distance running (from one-quarter of a mile to 1000 yds.) and long-distance running (over 1000 yds.).
Sprinting consists of running over short distances with a full and continuous burst of speed, the chief distances being 100 yds., 220 yds. and quarter-mile. Distances up to and including 220 yds. are in America called dashes. The course for sprinting races, when run in the open air, is marked off in lanes for the individual runners by means of cords stretched upon short iron rods. Starting in sprints has now become very expert. The old method of dropping a handkerchief was the worst possible way to give the starting signal, since the muscles react most slowly to impressions of sight, less so to those of touch, and most quickly to those of sound, a difference of 4⁄100 of a second in reaction amounting to over one foot in a run of 100 yds. All modern foot-races are therefore started by the pistol; the runners wait for the signal in a crouching attitude, with the fingers of both hands resting on the ground on each side of the body, from which position they spring upwards and forwards at the sound of the pistol. The crouching start was found to be much quicker in getting off the mark than the upright attitude formerly adopted, and by 1892 had been adopted by all first-class sprinters in America, and a year or two later in Great Britain. Another advantage is that the runner is steadier on the mark, and since its adoption the prescribed penalty of being placed one yard behind the mark for starting before the pistol-shot has been very seldom enforced, and the risky experiment of “beating the pistol,” i.e. letting the body fall forward in the hope that the shot would come before the feet had to be moved, has practically disappeared.
The improvement in training and the adoption of the crouching start have resulted in the continued reduction of sprinting records. “Even time,” or 10 secs., is still considered a fine performance for the hundred yards, but has been repeatedly beaten both in England and America. A. F. Duffey, who, like C. A. Bradley and J. W. Morton, won the English championship in four successive years, shares with D. J. Kelly the record, 93⁄5 secs., for 100 yds.; and J. W. Morton, a Scot, as well as J. H. Hempton and W. T. Macpherson of New Zealand, are credited with 94⁄5 secs. The excellence of American runners in the sprints is probably accounted for partly by temperament influenced by climate; but the American practice of running
