10 Famous Running Scenes in Movies

The other night I was watching an episode of Shameless and was surprised by a scene in which the character Fiona, aka unlikeliest-runner-ever, reveals she was a track star in high school and makes her way back to a track one morning to see how she does in the 1600m. I’m sure I wasn’t the only runner watching a decidedly non-running show who was disappointed when the episode ends and we never find out what time she makes. I mean, I can understand if they didn’t give us the splits, but not even her result? Such a letdown!

My reaction to the scene made me start thinking about how many famous running scenes in movies there are. With all due respect to the often-used car chase scene, there’s nothing like watching a chase on foot, especially when you run yourself and know what every moment must feel like. When researching running scenes in movies after I had thought of all my favorites (side note: most fun blog research ever!), I couldn’t believe how many there were. It soon became clear that I would have to edit this list way down – proof we need running for our everyday life. Even if everyday life in the movies isn’t always so…ordinary.

I mean, when you live in a world infested with zombies and you’re the only human (and dog) seemingly left alive, you’ve got to get that training done somehow, right?

Or, when faced with an unexpected event like, oh, I don’t know, a crop-dusting plane intent on dive bombing you…well, a little speed work is in order:

Oh what, a plane is too implausible? Well, what about the next time you’re walking on a single train track suspended over a huge drop and suddenly you’re in a race for your life as the steam train roars toward you?

It’s not always running because of crazy situations. Sometimes it’s just part of your day, like when you work in a gym and just want to rock out on the treadmill:

Or when you’re going streaking!! With all your friends!

Or you just really, really, really need to get home in a hurry:

Sometimes there’s even a meta reference to a running scene in a running film in a running scene in a non-running movie:

Before time slows down in The Matrix and what would normally be an impossible feat comes easily, there’s a ton of training to be done (complete with bad guys materializing to keep you motivated):

And what better reason is there for running than that of true love (well…true love and a broken-down car):

Now I know I promised you 10 famous running scenes in movies, but when I went to look up a famous running scene with Tom Cruise, I found something else. Quick, what movie with Tom Cruise do you think I was looking up?

Turns out, doesn’t matter what movie you guessed because apparently Cruise runs his butt off in every movie he ever films:

So, what’s your favorite running scene in a film?  What would you have included? Which Tom Cruise film is your favorite? And has your running ever come in handy in a real-life situation?

P.S: This post includes Amazon affiliate links, meaning if you click on one of these awesome movies and buy it through Amazon, I’ll get a small commission at no cost to you.