Why does everybody want to go to the rodeo?
We love Westerns again, don’t we? Everything from Yellowstone (and all its spin-offs) being the most-watched television show during its five-season run, to Beyoncé’s 2024 concept album Cowboy Carter is serving #CowboyCore. Yeah, that’s a TikTok reference, I’m afraid.
I’ve watched Stagecoach Festival grow in real-time over the past 15 years to become the highest-grossing country festival in the world, just a couple of hours east of me. Maybe it’s partly Bella Hadid’s influence (she’s been dating a real-life cowboy for over two years), or Pharrell’s fall-winter 2024 collection for Louis Vuitton that drew yeehaw inspiration from the American West, or maybe it’s a sad reflection of the deranged state of society that’s seen tradwives and homesteaders become culturally relevant again. It’s all part of the same conversation.
We know about trail running’s exponential rise in the same timeframe, with the race locations largely in the American High Country, and the belt buckle trophies. During the latest boom, urban runners have taken to wearing a bandana around their necks, and are reverting from high-tech polyester to retro cotton t-shirts, for instance. It’s a chicken-and-egg situation as to whether cowboy culture has infiltrated running, or the other way around
Either way, it’s the definitive American caricature. It’s the Marlboro Man sitting atop a strong horse, lit cigarette in mouth, with a holstered gun at the ready, and it’s infinitely more palatable than American reality right now. Plus, due to how this culture was formed from plundering native lands, it’s really no problem if outsiders want to wear it as their prom dress. A strange win-win.
Of the brands, Satisfy has recently leaned deeply into the timeless rodeo ranch aesthetics of a bootcut jean, a ten-gallon hat, and a hand-embroidered shirt, with the French brand even taking an LA-based country band to perform at an American race not long ago.
More than fashionable posturing, though, it’s escapism, but from what? In my conversation with Candice Burt earlier this year, we talked about how being on the trails is the furthest thing from sitting at one’s laptop all week. The act of running extraordinary distances, secluded, and surrounded by nature is a reclamation of humanity from the ever-creeping tendrils of technology, even if there are $100 of energy gels and electrolytes stashed in your pack.
The desire to situate ourselves in a Western – even temporarily – speaks to a nostalgia for the perceived authenticity, simplicity, and ‘otherness’ of the raw, untamed West. As we ignore the difficulties of catching our dinner ourselves versus a quick trip to the supermarket, it brings us to that question non-runners too often ask us: “What are you running from?”
South Asian Runners
Happy South Asian Heritage Month!
Yesterday, I very softly launched South Asian Runners, a new project on Instagram where I will shine a light on a different runner of South Asian origin every week. I’ll be writing about one on here every month.
My parents are from Bangladesh, if you didn’t know, and I didn’t grow up with many (any?) role models that looked like me. This is my attempt at making it just a little bit better for the next generation.
And next month I’m hosting a panel in London on South Asian runners, alongside Amritpal Ghatora (Tracksmith), Mara Hafezi (SAHM), and Harkiran Kalsi (Women Make Moves). Please come to Runlimited on Aug 14 if you can, especially if you are not from the South Asian community!
Running Sucks Haiku of the Week
Achilles tendons…
I’m sure they’re very useful.
I don’t care for them.
I’ve had this nagging pain/irritation in both my heels for a couple of months, ever since I tried to play a pickup soccer game with some other ageing football fanatics. Never again, he says unconvincingly.
Housekeeping
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I love cowboy anything as I have been in an agriculture business most of my life. I have always had a flock of sheep, raised much of my own food, cared for the land, and after I retired began running. I was an agriculture teacher in a high school and most everyone I run with cares for agriculture as much as I do. I raise a steer every year for our freezer along with the lambs, that I usually sell to my running buddies. If you eat your are part of agriculture so why not love food production and cowboy everything.