My teenage Nike love affair
And a live appearance in Hollywood talking about run club culture
A live conversation in Los Angeles
On Wednesday evening, I’m hosting a panel where we will explore how the building of run club communities in Los Angeles, both in-person and online, has evolved over time and technology.
Community First: run clubs then and now
I’ll be joined by some of L.A.’s finest in Kit John of Movement Runners, Zaakiyah Brisker of South Central Run Club, Richard Lin of Lombardy Run Club, and Hannah Maile of WeHo Run Club. Here’s the spiel:
Los Angeles is in the midst of a running boom, but the culture behind it has been years in the making. This conversation will explore how run clubs have built lasting communities across diverse neighborhoods. From early pioneers to the latest generation of leaders, the discussion brings together key voices shaping the culture, each sharing how running has connected people, shaped identities, and redefined LA’s streets.
If tickets appear to be sold out (about 80 spots have been snapped up since Thursday afternoon), drop me a line, and I’ll make sure you get in.
You will get the highlights and photographs of the evening right here next week, fear not.
My Nike Town love affair
I remember when Nike Town opened in Central London in 1999. It was the biggest Nike store in the world. It took over a whole quarter of Oxford Circus.
Teenage me was already a Nike guy at that point, largely due to them being the kit manufacturers for the mighty Arsenal Football Club, but in general that Just Do It / Swoosh campaign was just so cool, and quintessentially American. From music, film, and television to sports and food, American culture continues to make up at least 50% of everything we consume in the UK, and it was all so glamorous during those impressionable young years in London’s suburbs.
It was pleasing, then, how the monolithic, singular brand experience that this six-floor, vertically-integrated celebration of sporting capitalism provided beat out the competition. All other brands were left in Nike’s dust. I visited every one of those six floors, soaking in every display the escalators took me past.
When I picked running back up after university, Nike’s hegemony over me dictated that there was only one place I was going to go for running gear. While the gusset of the 2-in-1 shorts is long gone, I still have the Volt Green running shirt I bought at the same time. Maybe the neon returns this year…
In terms of shoes, I had a pair of Vomeros already, but I remember picking up some Nike Free 2.0s from the 4th floor (I think) that the running section shared with some other at-the-time-minor sport. I’d convinced myself that they would train my feet to be stronger, or something like that.
It was good marketing, but all they had to compete with was the other giant established brands. Adidas, Puma, New Balance. Who cared about them? Not me. Cut forward a quarter of a century and we have a multitude of decade-established ‘new’ brands like Tracksmith, Satisfy, On, Hoka, Janji and so many more challenging Nike’s dominance with sleek design, beautifully inclusive experiences that run the gamut of lifestyle, and <whisper it> superior product.
After a couple of years of questions being asked about Nike’s continuing relevance in the running world especially – their bread and butter – Nike Town closed earlier this year for a revamp. There has been a temporary relaunch ahead of and around the London Marathon as RunTown.
While Nike Town launched as a soccer-centered building, RunTown has a new focus. From what I’ve seen online, there’s a big DJ / sofa situation, and continuing the singular, vertically-integrated vibe, there is Kipchoge coffee. The two floors of RunTown are not overladen with racks upon racks of product like Nike Town was — it has the same spartan vibe as many third wave running stores, albeit with bold Nike colors.
Is Nike back?? They could be if they want to be but the fact that Nike was accused of stealing Satisfy’s MothTech IP last year, and more recently has reflective vests that are eerily similar in style to those from Miler Running suggests they’re not there yet. The $37 billion company should be able to come up with their own ideas imho, but ethics have never been their strong point.
Just like in other subcultures, however, those smaller brands allow us, the consumer, to say that we were day one supporters. Nike’s problem is that nobody can ever replace that — especially not them. Nike is in a different mode of life. They’ve been festival headliners for 35 years now. They’re Metallica. I wear t-shirts of bands I saw play to 20 people the same way I wear Injinji toe socks and a Ciele cap. I don’t wear Nike any more. Nike doesn’t represent me any more, on many levels.
Culturally, Nike is popular with the beginner runner and the elite runner. Nikes will often be someone’s first running shoe, and then they’re often the carbon-plated shoe that gets you to the pinnacle of your racing career — to Boston or a sub-2hr marathon. For the rest of us in the middle? That’s where we have the space to flex a little more of our personality and values with what we wear.
Can Nike crowbar their way into that? Or is this just a desperate rebrand from a company that wants to be more things to more people than it’s maybe able to be? It’s another two years until Nike Town re-opens fully, so we’ll have to wait and see.
Last week on Running Sucks
Last Thursday’s longread was with Erin Groll and Community Track Club. Erin puts together a monthly track night for all the run crews in the Cape Town area of South Africa.
Read Erin’s story now if you haven’t had the chance. It’s a 6-minute read.
As ever, I ask people what part of running sucks the most and — most importantly — what they do to make it suck less. We don’t like to just complain. We’re solutions-oriented! Here’s what Erin had to say.
“I’m training for London Marathon and my husband is training for the Two Oceans Ultra, so we are two parents training at the same time, and that’s hard. We’re playing the game of whose run is more important. Well, mine is a marathon major!”
“My training blocks for marathons are so all over the place because of the nature of my job. One week I’m home, one week I’m away on shoots. I’m just trying to be more consistent, and look at the bigger picture of what running does for me. I ran a three-hour training run, but I also spent three hours with a friend. As someone with small kid, out social life is not pumping. ”
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Running Sucks Haiku of the Week
More public speaking…
I find it very stressful.
That’s why I do it.
I’ve had to think quite hard about the public-leaning aspect of what I do. I’m a writer first and foremost. I’m incredibly comfortable communicating from here at my desk, but I want to do more. This is the work, but 2025 dictates that I also have to do work about the work.
I started taking posting on Instagram more seriously since talking to Laura McGreen almost a year ago, and might have more IG followers than Substack subscribers one day, but Reels are absolutely not my thing. I considered making a podcast, and I outlined what I think is a great concept for one, but ultimately this is the work I believe in.
In-person events are the polar opposite of a newsletter. While this paragraph can live online forever, an event lives only in the moment. You can be excited (or not) at the exact same time as 100% of the rest of the audience. It’s a weekly EP release on Spotify vs the band coming into town.
I had incredible stagefright during the conversation I put together in London last year. I know of so many musicians who prefer the confines of a studio over performing live, so I get it, but maybe it’ll be better this week?! If you’re in LA on Wednesday, come find out for yourself!
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Thanks for reading
Raz x