"Hit the ground running"

[BeBMan]

Please explain a simple Krautman what the phrase in the title means exactly

I heard it in media reports of the elections for the first time and then quite often, but in Herman it doesn't make any sense

[Tuberski]

Get to work right away.

Seize an opportunity; begin at full speed. For example, As soon as the front office gave its approval for the new department, we hit the ground running.

The origin of this term is disputed. It may come from troops dropped into a combat zone, from stowaways jumping off a freight train as it nears the station, or from Pony Express riders avoiding delay when they changed mounts.

'Hit the ground running' didn't originate in WWII, as is often reported. The literal use of this phrase saw the light of day sometime toward the end of the 19th century in the USA. An early citation of it is found in a whimsical story which was syndicated in several newspapers, including The Evening News, 23rd April 1895, in a piece headed 'King Of All The Liars' (and should their readers have not got the picture from the text, they were kind enough to provide one):

"I turned to run and figured to a dot when he shot. As he cracked loose I jumped way up in the air and did a split, just like what these show gals does, only mine wasn't on the ground by six foot. The bullet went under me. I knew he had five more cartridges, so I hit the ground running and squatted low down when his gun barked a second time."

There are many references to the term in the early 20th century. These all use hit the ground running in its literal sense and relate to the various ways people might do this, for instance, hobos jumping from freight trains, troops being dropped by parachute etc. The first figurative use that I've found so far, i.e. a usage where no actual ground or running is involved, is from The Hayward Daily Review, October 1940:

"It sometimes seems to me that the young idea nowadays wants to hit the ground running and to tell the old editors how to run things."

ACK!

[Zevico]

I'm guessing it means, when you parachute onto the ground, and you're a soldier taking a target, you want to hit the ground running, so to speak (though of course that would probably be really dangerous irl).
Or maybe, it means you just hate the earth so much that you want to hit it, but gaia is a wrathful deity and she will smite you if you do it too much, and if you're on soil too long you're a dead man. Hence you need to hit the ground whilst running for concrete or pavement.

[BeBMan]

Thx

[Zevico]

Remember if you fail your will save Gaia gets to smack you down like a *****. Those dice rolls will be coming like hurricanes.