--- title: National Running Day: Photos of Speed, Grace and Power description: On National Running Day, LIFE.com offers photos by a pioneer of stroboscopic photography, Gjon Mili, celebrating the beauty of the sport. canonical: https://time.com/3877324/national-running-day-photos-of-speed-grace-and-power/ author: Ben Cosgrove article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2013-06-04T19:50:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:47:35.330Z og:title: National Running Day: Photos of Speed, Grace and Power og:description: On National Running Day, LIFE.com offers photos by a pioneer of stroboscopic photography, Gjon Mili, celebrating the beauty of the sport. og:url: https://time.com/3877324/national-running-day-photos-of-speed-grace-and-power/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c101415344c065a/69884a3855a859aad6a8b5d6/03_111108074.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1500 og:image:height: 844 og:image:alt: 1962 Runner og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: National Running Day: Photos of Speed, Grace and Power twitter:description: On National Running Day, LIFE.com offers photos by a pioneer of stroboscopic photography, Gjon Mili, celebrating the beauty of the sport. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c101415344c065a/69884a3855a859aad6a8b5d6/03_111108074.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # National Running Day: Portraits of Speed, Grace and Power > Sponsored content. 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Worth Your Time is TIME's culture newsletter, published Tuesdays and Saturdays to 40,000 subscribers as of August 2026. #### Who writes TIME's culture recommendations? Culture editor Eliza Berman writes Worth Your Time, drawing on TIME's critics and culture desk. #### Is Worth Your Time free? Yes. It is a free newsletter available at time.com/newsletters. by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jun 4, 2013 7:50 PM UTC  Multiple exposure image of a runner, part of a photographic study of the body's movements, 1962. Multiple exposure image of a runner, part of a photographic study of the body's movements, 1962. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Jun 4, 2013 7:50 PM UTC For millions of people all over the world, running is such a natural, enjoyable and even addictive form of exercise that it can be jarring to encounter photos that remind us of just how _weird_ it is. After all, if walking is a form of “controlled falling,” as one well-known description has it, then running can perhaps be characterized as an endless series of narrowly averted catastrophes. People run for any number of reasons. They run for their health. They run because they want to push their own physical limits. They run because they’re neurotic. They run because working out at a gym is too confining, too smelly, too boring. They run because it makes them happy (or because it makes them forget, for a while, that they’re unhappy). They run because their friends run, and the camaraderie one enjoys when [running with kindred spirits](http://www.nyrr.org/) is one of life’s simple, abiding pleasures. Whatever the reasons, on [National Running Day](http://www.runningday.org/) LIFE offers photos by a pioneer of stroboscopic photography, Gjon Mili, that neatly illustrate the melding of grace and power one applauds — but rarely ever really gets a chance to examine — in the very best runners. Granted, most of these pictures are of sprinters rather than distance runners, but the elemental beauty, the smooth flowing movement of the enterprise pertains to virtually all types of running. Happy National Running Day. Let’s go. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Runner photographed during an ICAAAA (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) track meet, 1938. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Multiple exposure image of a runner, part of a photographic study of the body's movements, 1962. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Multiple exposure image of a runner, part of a photographic study of the body's movements, 1962. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Runner Gil Dodds, "The Flying Parson," on the third lap of his record-breaking indoor mile, New York, January 1948. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Runner Gil Dodds, "The Flying Parson," on the third lap of his record-breaking indoor mile, New York, January 1948. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Runner Gil Dodds, "The Flying Parson," on the third lap of his record-breaking indoor mile, New York, January 1948. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Hurdler Harrison Dillard beginning a sprint as his coach watches, 1948. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Runner as part of a photographic study of the body's movements, 1962. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Runner as part of a photographic study of the body's movements, 1962. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Runner as part of a photographic study of the body's movements, 1962. Gjon Mili—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images  Runner photographed during an ICAAAA (Intercollegiate Association of Amateur Athletes of America) track meet, 1938. 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