G is for Gatekeeping
Thoughts on ALO in trail, Matt Choi, and writing the comments, let alone reading them. Plus I'm making an almost-podcast?!
A week back at home has been glorious. I attended a panel with some Substack luminaries, I went to see the band of a friend I run with, I was back at my desk (more on that below) and wrote almost 5,000 words last week. I just got tickets to see Hayley Williams at the Hollywood Bowl this October. Like I said: glorious.
Substack Live with Mario Fraioli and me
Tomorrow at 11am PST, I’m going live with Mario Fraioli for a new series of almost-podcasts where we’ll talk very specifically about running and writing. We’ll talk about them separately, but also not.
I’m a huge fan of Mario’s. He’s a fantastic writer, and a brilliant coach, and after finally meeting IRL in LA in March, we also met in SF and in Boston in April. I failed to get a photo together on each of the three occasions. Fourth time lucky, perhaps. Tune in tomorrow, anyway.
Between Running and Comedy Lies Obsession
The subject of this somewhat dramatic title is comedian and ultrarunner, Dan LaMorte. I’ve been following his progress for a couple of years now, and boy oh boy have there been some ups and downs. When I spoke to him back in December, he was experiencing some intense downs, but he’s hitting some highs right now. Hopefully, I’ll have time to go for a run with him this week. Let’s see.
Read my profile of another fascinating member of the running community, and also check out his Substack that he’s since been inspired to create. I very much look forward to reading his work.
Are trails the final level boss of running?
“In an age where many Millennials and younger generations self-identify as being ‘terminally online,’ when someone tells you that you’ve been on the internet for too long today, it’s normal to suggest that we touch grass. Taken literally, the act of rolling around on a lawn is genuinely quite pleasant, but if we understand that spending a huge amount of time on our laptops and phones requires some balance, and we’ve already identified the need for running as a perfect counterweight to our eight hours of sitting down, then what could be more diametrically opposed to looking at a screen while sitting in an artificially lit, climate-controlled room than running through nature?”
From Touching Grass, chapter 11 in This is Running (Batsford, 2026)
That’s the second paragraph of my chapter on trails. Page 198 if you’ve already bought a copy. If you haven’t yet, and you now finally understand that the rest of This is Running is essential reading, here are your purchase links. Or go visit your local library and ask them to stock it. Thanks to all of you who have got your libraries to stock This is Running!
USA - Amazon US | Bookshop US | Barnes & Noble
UK - Amazon UK | Bookshop UK | Waterstones
REVIEW - Goodreads | Amazon reviews really help xo
A review of This is Running on iRunFar
I love how thorough this feature by Lydia Thompson is. Give it a read.
Gmail has been putting my Google Alerts in the Spam folder, so apologies if you’ve replied to the newsletter in recent weeks and I haven’t replied. I guess I just have to check the Spam folder more diligently now. Thanks, Gmail!
I’m back on the road next week, as I travel to five cities on the Salomon Off Track Gravel Tour, where I’ll be leading runs and speaking about the very real relationships between cities, green space, running, and creativity. If I’m in one of your cities, come say hi!
5.12 Twin Cities, MN - TC Running Company REGISTER
5.16 Portland, OR - Fleet Feet PDX REGISTER
5.20 San Francisco, CA - Fleet Feet Menlo Pk REGISTER
5.25 Columbus, OH - Fleet Feet Columbus REGISTER
5.30 Denver, CO - Runners Roost Lakewood REGISTER
Do get in touch if you work at a brand and you would like to work with me on something similar in the future. It’ll be different to what you normally do. raz@runningsucks101.com.
FOLLOW ME - Instagram | Me on Strava | Strava club
G is for Gatekeeping
Remember when Matt Choi ran a sub-3hr marathon in NYC in 2024? Remember when the NYRR disqualified him and banned him from future NYRR events because of the entourage filming him? What if he wasn’t actually the bad guy in your Spaghetti Western mind?
