Rest doesn’t preclude running. Most high end runners run every day. It’s very easy to run at recovery pace and feel better than if you’d done nothing at all.
I find the tendency of very amateur runners having very strong opinions about running, odd. There are literally decades of research, and while the particulars change over time, the macros tend not to.
Here's Nils van der Poel's (World champion, World record) 5k 10k speed-skating training-program.
He explains why he took Saturday and Sunday off ;-)
https://www.howtoskate.se/
For example:
"As I rested for two days my body would get a reset. On Monday-sessions I would always be well rested and ready for another hard five days. And if I weren’t well rested, if my pulse was not responding as usual or if my legs felt heavier than they usually did on a Monday-session, I would take notice early. I would know that something was abnormal before it became a real issue and I would throw in some extra rest days and avoid a negative trend."