R̶o̶c̶k̶ m̶u̶s̶i̶c̶ Run clubs are dead

Are run clubs over? It's unlikely, isn't it.

That’s that, folks! You might as well disband that run club community that you’ve been nurturing so carefully. It’s OVER! Run clubs are dead!! The broadsheet press has said so.

It reminds me of my 15 years working in specialist rock music press, when the heritage broadsheet papers like The Independent, The Times, The Guardian would cyclically (cynically?) publish loosely-news-related opinion pieces titled

ROCK MUSIC IS DEAD

and then, upon festival announcement season or a new university paper,

ROCK MUSIC IS BACK

Neither was true, of course. Those of us watching brilliant bands, both old and new week in, week out knew that, but it was irritating when those not in the trenches saw fit to comment on what we knew much more about.

It’s barely been six months since the same writers realized that the rise of run clubs were worth pitching their editors as a general interest piece. I guess we only have to wait a couple of months for the slew of Why Not Join a Run Club in the New Year articles.

Within serious running circles, there is a certain amount of sneering at run clubs like Lunge Run Club in New York, which is the running club extension of a dating app that attracts 1000 runners looking for love every Wednesday evening in Manhattan, and Rawdawg Run Club in Austin, founded by a bodybuilding IG influencer, which… I dunno what it does beyond running, like every other run club, to be honest. It all reminds me of the sneering at Kanye West for wearing Cradle of Filth and B*rz*m t-shirts.

Running culture and everyday, non-running culture is overlapping like never before.

Running is cool. We don’t like that. Our culture is not your prom dress etc. How dare a couple of non-running influencers single-handedly get thousands more people running??? Yes, we actually do think everyone should run, but not like that. Not with them.

The likelihood is that just how I am never going to stand next to Kanye while watching Cradle of Filth, you are never going to share a space with most of the people at Lunge and Rawdawg, so it really, really doesn’t matter.

Going back to the ROCK IS DEAD thing, though, there are several surface-level similarities between running and music.

• Both music and running are used as therapeutic devices

• Unsanctioned races remind me of basement punk shows (very cool)

• No qualifications needed to be good at it (but they help)

• There are soooooo many tattoos and neckerchiefs

• Loads of gatekeeping, often just to drive revenue

Do we have to start asking runners what their three favorite non-Majors marathons are? Maybe what they ate on their last 50k. They’ve never done a 50k? Probably not a real runner! Ran an ultra before running a 10k race? That’s not how this works!?!

Anyway… The reality is that running isn’t going away. If anything it’ll continue to grow, and merge with the rest of our worlds. A portion of the oodles of new people who have adopted running over the past few years will get super deep into this sport that we love, becoming one of us, and we’ll also see more and more sensationalist clickbait-headlined articles about what running is, isn’t, can’t, and won’t.

Both things can be true. All of it can live side by side.

As ever, I’d love to hear your thoughts on all of this. Are you former music industry head turned runner? How’s your run club? What’s your favorite album by a cancelled artist? Have you ever rolled up a bandana and tied it around your neck/forehead/wrist?

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I’ll be writing a little more deeply about the expansion of running culture specifically into menswear fashion culture this Thursday. It’s been a fun one to dive into.

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Last week on Running Sucks

I interviewed two people who created built global networks of city running tours so that you can go on holiday and find someone to safely guide you around a foreign place by foot.

It was a real pleasure to find out how and why Raoul Spronken and Lena Andersson created their separate lists of tour operators. Two cool people who have pushed running culture into hop-on-hop-off-bus culture.

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Last year on Running Sucks

It’s been a year since I interviewed influencer Emily Shane as part of a mini-series on running slowly. The piece resonated with a lot of people and went incredibly viral. It’s been the no.1 article on the site ever since, and I’m very thankful for that. There are four times as many people subscribed now, though, so 75% of you probably haven’t read it!

Because all of Emily’s content was video-oriented, my talented friend Benjamin Gibson went and took some fantastic photos of her in a park as part of the piece. My wedding photos were in his portfolio until he got the gig as Elton John’s tour photographer! Fame adjacent. That’s all I want.

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Elsewhere on Substack

Just yesterday,

Like the Wind Magazine

launched their Substack. The venn diagram of Running Sucks and Like the Wind is a big, beautiful blurry circle, and I hope to work with Simon and Julie in the near future.

If you don’t know about LtW, go and sign up. If you like what I do, you’ll enjoy what they do. Great people, great magazine, great to have them on here.

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Running Sucks Haiku of the Week

People keep asking
When I’ll run a marathon.
Probably never.

Maybe it’s because the autumn marathon training season is starting, or because I’ve met a couple of new people this week, or maybe because I am always very open about not wanting to run a marathon, but it’s come up in conversation a lot.

It’s really ok not to run a marathon. Or a half-marathon for that matter. I personally don’t mind long distances. I just don't like organized races.

I ran almost 10 miles on Saturday. Almost half of it was on my own, and I returned home feeling good! I’d accomplished some exercise, I had a great chat with Howie for Silver Lake Track Club on the way, and then I came home pain-free and watched a movie. A lovely morning.

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Housekeeping

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My version of a TSA Tray Aesthetic post, but using an In-N-Out tray, because I am a big fan.

$$$ - Upgrade your subscription for $50 ($1 A WEEK!) OR tip a one-off $5 OR etc etc. It’ll make me happy, and you’ll be able to win Janji gift cards etc.

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Thanks for reading
- Raz x