What's in a Name?

I have been running for one year. When I started last October to prepare for a turkey trot I never imagined how much I would come to enjoy running!
I have asked myself many times at what point does one become an official runner. When can you call yourself a runner without feeling like a poser? People who run marathons are clearly runners. People who run 5,6,7 miles as if they were out for a Sunday walk are runners. People who think running is easy are runners. I will say that running has gotten easier, but it still isn't easy. I feel like a fraud calling myself a runner, even though I have run in the snow, in the sunshine, in a 15 degree windchill, along the beach, along the mountains, at 7,000 feet and at 7 feet. I now run on vacations, in the middle of moves and set my alarm to get up at 6AM so that I can get in a run before my day begins. I even check the tide schedule for the sole purpose of determining if I can run on the beach or if I need to run on the pavement. However, those things don't make me feel "official." They never made me feel like I had earned the right to call myself a runner. But, today as I hobbled around the house, feeling my hip click thanks to IT band bursitis and as I painted my toes the darkest color I own to cover the bruising under my big toe nails I decided, that I can, with no shame, call myself a runner.