LOL!

I'll just be the opposite here and say that I like to put my runners on the research table. I've found that the berry bush or field get depleted too soon and in the games that I've been playing I haven't been in a rush on the building projects anyway. (Clearing the lagoon just distracts everyone else into doing laundary!)

At the research table, I try not to overwork them (i.e. restart the research after the "kick") so having one runner who gets things done twice as much as the others is like having an extra villager at the table! Since I try to get the Science Levels early, a runner here can be very useful.

That said, I still make sure that any runner I get early in a game gets trained in farming, building and medicine as well just for when I need that extra boost.

The nice thing about Virtual Villagers is that there really isn't a right or wrong way to do things, and sometimes it is good to experiment with different strategies. IOW, YMMV!