Tell me about your first run
Writing about running is like dancing about architecture - it's really a stupid thing to want to do
One of the things that I love finding out about the runners that I profile is how they started running. I ask them about their first run, and there are usually two answers.
The first time someone told them to go for a run.
The first time they went for a run by their own volition.
While the first one is usually at school and might involve being on the track or cross-country team, if the second one is applicable, it’s often the most revealing about their character.
It tells me their Why. It gives purpose to the thing they spend hours, maybe dozens of hours, doing every week. It explains their motives and reasons. It shines a light on some beautiful facet of their life.
I wrote about the intimacy of running a few weeks ago, and this is how I get to peer deep into the minds of the people I’m speaking to. As deep as they’ll let me, of course. Revealing anything about oneself to a stranger is an intimate act. The capturing of it might be even more so.
I’ve spoken before about how I signed up for a race back in 2007 expressly to use as an excuse to get out of drinking the relentless, daily after-work beers with colleagues at the self-appointed “rock ‘n’ roll” radio station I was working at. I was 23 years old and not even four and a half years of university excess prepared me for the level of unhealthiness my new lifestyle was giving me.
A fun little factoid that I left out was that I accidentally signed up for a women-only 5k race. Despite not taking part, I still raised almost £1000. Yes, this was back in the days when we raised money for running 3.1 miles. Maybe we should do that again…
But yes, after running 400m track and cross-country at high school, I started running again as an adult for my health. My health – both physical and mental – is still my number one reason, which is why you don’t see me running extra-long distances or training for races too often.
I’d love to hear about your first runs and your Whys. Please tell me about them!
New York, New York
I did spend the last couple of weeks in New York and Boston with friends old and new. I was in a little bit of a writing rut before I left. I hesitate to call it writers’ block, but it was as close to that as I’d been since starting this newsletter two years ago.
Some time with friends old and new, helped to unstick me anyway. I had some conversations that acted as a beautiful solvent.
I posted a couple of photo galleries on my Instagram, if that’s of interest.
One old friend in particular, Daniel, made the journey into Manhattan from New Jersey. Dan’s someone I’ve known for 15+ years from our days in the world of hardcore punk. He was in numerous fantastic bands from the New Brunswick basement scene, and I was a fan and collaborator from across the Atlantic.
Dan doesn’t run. He certainly doesn’t read about running, so I had to explain to him how, rather than writing marathon training plans over and over again, I write stories about the brilliant people and the rich culture that make up this beautiful sport. During that unwieldy spiel, he nailed it down for me.
“You write about running how you used to write about punk rock.”
Yep. That’s it. There are only so many articles to be written about the three (maybe four) chord progressions in punk rock. Beyond that it’s the brilliant people behind the social issues, co-ops, and movements that come from the punk rock community.
It reminded me of the perennially misattributed quote: “Writing about music is like dancing about architecture — it's really a stupid thing to want to do.” That’s probably not by Burroughs, Costella or Zappa, but we can definitely attribute this one to Raziq Rauf: “Writing about running is like dancing about architecture.” I’ll leave the second part out in favor of denial, and get the bumper stickers printed.
Either way, whatever I used to do is evidently what I still do now. I hope you enjoy it.
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Previously on Running Sucks
It’s been a year since I wrote about Jay Nunn running the last Pyongyang Marathon before the USA banned its citizens from traveling to North Korea following the death of Otto Warmbier. They just held the marathon for the first time in six years and 200 runners from over 40 countries (not including the USA, South Korea, and Malaysia) joined the other 300+ native runners.
Living through our own era of unprecedented American propaganda, I think North Korea is a fascinating case study of smoke and mirrors.
It’s been two years since my third Running Sucks article, which was about London run crew, Sikhs in the City. I hilariously titled it ‘A Cosmopolitan Running Club’ because Carrie Bradshaw enjoys that cocktail. You see? Anyway. Go read it.
Running Sucks Haiku of the Week
Back in my own bed
But I’m missing the city
New York stole my heart
It was a long but fruitful trip to the East Coast. It was an outrageous honor to get two guided tours of NYC by Mike Saes of Bridgerunners, who I profiled last year, and then a five-mile tour of Dorchester, Boston from Sidney Bapista of Pioneers. You’ll read my profile of that brilliant man this Thursday.
Thanks for all the recommendations. I enjoyed Apollo Bagels (cream cheese) and L’Industrie’s pizza (fig and bacon!) very much, and I got to use my MoMA membership for something other than buying cool oven mitts and filing cabinets.
I absolutely loved rubbing up against the city and its people so much more easily than you can in Los Angeles, but it’s important to note that we’ve also got truly great bagels and pizza. We just have to drive to them.
If we didn’t get to run together in New York: until next time! I’ll be back soon.
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Thanks for reading
Raz x
Like others, I have had many starts to running. Most recently, I consider my first run to have occurred about a year ago. About 12 years ago, I broke both my legs amidst half marathon training. I wasn't a runner as a kid: I miserably walk/jogged The Presidential Physical Fitness Test every year in school; later I tested out of PE in high school by joining the musical theater troupe and taking an extra science class. So in college, when I decided to start running on a treadmill because of anxiety around the *~freshman fifteen~*, I really didn't have a plan. But my siblings and I decided we were going to run a half marathon together. I still didn't have a plan. I just ran until I got tired and hoped I was going to make it past the finish line (it was 2010 and I didn't have a watch or find running culture the way I have now!). Then I broke both my legs just 6 weeks before the half marathon we'd signed up for. So, running cemented itself in my body as something I couldn't do and I turned away from running for over a decade.
Fast forward to summer 2023 - I asked a bunch of friends to sign up for a relay triathlon with me, and they begrudgingly agreed. We did the tri in April 2024, and I was the biker. As it turns out, biking is my least favorite of the three sports, so my most recent start to running happened immediately following that tri. I bought some shoes and my first run was a 20-minute walk+run on the peloton app on my phone. This time, I was armed with a watch and a water bottle and a fitness instructor in my ear telling me what to do. Honestly, it helped me be less aimless. A year later, I've done 3 5ks, a half, and a 10k. I'm slow. And my body in my 30s doesn't run or recover like my body in my late teens and early 20s could. I'm signed up for a 5k, a tri, and two half marathons in the Fall, and even if I finish DFL, I'm just trying to move my body and get stronger in these strange times we're living through (at least here in the US). I kinda hope this was my last *~first~* run :)
I have a couple first runs lmfao but they’re a clear progression of my life. I was overweight my entire life. My mom has always been a health nut and pushed me to be healthy and exercise. I just enjoyed eating and snacking significantly more.
My mom used to push me to run since I was fairly active. I did sports but did them chunky. If I slimmed up maybe I could take one of them seriously. So I tried to do cardio. It truly sucked. Running alone in the Florida heat and humidity was the worst thing ever. It sucks as a fit adult so you can only imagine how it felt to an overweight pre-teen. Safe to say it didn’t become a habit.
Next was freshman year of college, my mom told me I gained significant weight and I wasn’t happy with the way I looked. My roommate was a T&F/XC runner for the university. I hit the track one day and was once again miserable for a different reason. The weight made my knees hurt and I could barely run a decent pace without walking. That didn’t last long once again.
Then came Covid, my junior year in college. I had nothing to do but workout so this time it became a habit. I jumped rope to increase cardio fitness and slim down a smidge then started running. It started less as an enjoyable activity and more as a build a habit since you need to do this for yourself. Five years later and I’m cruising 7 min miles for double digit miles, have joined a run club with wonderful people, and have done multiple races. It was a wonderful change of lifestyle for me.