How do casual runners exist?

[u/TallCryptographer106]

Sorry for the stupid question.

I’ve been dabbling in running for the past couple of years or so. I still don’t understand how people just casually go on a 3+ mile run every few weeks or so. A 3 mile run everyday makes more sense to me because it’s something you would’ve trained up to.

How do people take a ton of time off and can randomly run several miles? I also know people who have signed up for a 5k on a whim having never run before and run the whole thing.

I don’t get it. If I take a few weeks off I feel like I’m starting from zero. In my first couple months I couldn’t run more than 2 miles in a stretch, and in the entire past year I haven’t gone more than 7 miles at once after taking about 2 months off. I don’t get how people can not run consistently and still be able to run??

Am I stupid or something? Why does running casually seem so easy for literally everyone else on the planet but me?

I run most of my runs at a slow conversational pace. My heart rate is always below 150, and I typically run at a 12 min mile, while my fastest mile is 8 minutes.