The Weakly: welcome back
Normal service is resumed in the Running Sucks house. Here are some updates on what I've been doing, writing, and reading.
Welcome back. It’s been a nice month off. What’s been going on?
I was in ‘Europe’ for all of August. I put that in inverted commas because primarily I was in east London, in my parents’ spare room, but I also popped up to Scotland (more family), and over to Greece (various mythological temples).
While I was in the UK, I immersed myself in the rich running scene that has been cultivated there. I even organized a panel discussion at Knees Up - the wonderful new running space (cafe, events, activities, shop) from the creators of Your Friendly Runners.
If you look closely, you’ll see some microphones and cameras. You’ll be able to watch the best bits of the panel as soon as that all those enormous files get edited. You’ll find some bits on here, and some on my Instagram.
What else? There are 2,000 people reading this newsletter now. That’s a nice round number to say out loud, isn’t it. Thanks! I love you all for reading along with me.
Previously on Running Sucks
I interviewed Kimiko Ninomiya of Hot Boys Athletics while I was in London, and posted it the day Rebecca Cheptegei died. I got some interesting responses to it. One incredibly angry chap on Threads said that women should actually want to hang out with angry men.
Perhaps the myriad subtle, but very valid reasons of why Hot Boys exists — and is thriving — is lost on the people only willing to skim a headline/precis. Take a read, anyway. It’ll only take you 6-8 minutes. This one flew straight into the Top 10 articles on the site for good reason.
The only article I posted in August was this one, an op-ed from Zaakiyah Brisker of South Central Run Club. Take a read if you enjoyed watching the Olympics. I did, but I always like to fall back on old adages. In this case: don’t hate the player; hate the game.
My interview with Zaakiyah was my first article of 2024, and is still one of my favorites. That angry man on Threads accused me of buying into the culture wars. Buddy, I’ve lived in the culture wars for over 40 years. I had to spend $700 on last-minute flights to Scotland last month because of the culture wars (racist riots) happening in the UK. I didn’t much fancy driving through the English heartlands during that — places that could have been mortally dangerous for me, and not in a trail running way. So yeah, I buy into the culture wars.
Kimiko on when Running Sucks:
The Hot Boys Athletics founder has been working her way back from a knee injury, so this is what’s been sucking for her:
Being patient and not running as much as I want to. I've just been slowly building up volume. It's so easy to not think about it and get up and run every day, and be like, ‘I'm just gonna go for a run.’ and then I'm like, ‘Oh, I can't.’ I’ve had to add up my mileage and figure out what days I'm gonna run, whereas I like to be a little bit more fluid with it. And going back to my first track workout was just horrific.”
It’s been 100-110°F / 38-44°C the past few days in L.A. Not great for running in! I was planning on running a cool 20-miler to the ocean with some friends next weekend, but I’ll have to make a call on whether these couple of weeks of travel, rebalance, and then extreme weather has detrained my body too much to do the whole thing or not.
Elsewhere on Substack
I read this fun piece on running by Brooke, a non-runner / spouse of a runner. There are very cool little bits of art throughout this publication that make me wish I could create cool little bits of art like that, but I’ll stick to haikus. I know my limits!
I also enjoyed this piece by Ashley Mateo. I have famously never run a marathon. I have a complicated (quite simple) relationship with races: they all suck. Waking up at 3am to run at 7am? By the time I start running, I’ll be tired, annoyed, hungry, more annoyed, etc etc. Not my idea of fun. My solution is to not run organized races. Easy!
Last year on Running Sucks
I’m about 200 miles into my pair of Hylo Impact running shoes, and I like them a lot. I tried on a prototype of them when I interviewed the founder, Michael, when I was in London last August (yes, it’s an annual trip). They might be my new daily trainer!
I should change the title from Tesla to Patagonia, but Hylo is a very cool company that is building great things for the world. The fully-recyclable shoe doesn’t sacrifice performance for sustainability, and that is very, very cool imo.
Running Sucks Haiku of the Week
Running 20 miles
Without a medal waiting
That’s quite a cool flex
To just be in really good half-marathon shape at all time? That’s a goal, isn’t it?
Housekeeping
WIN - Go and win a $50 Janji gift card, by going to the Competition page and filling in the form. Easy peasy.
BUY A RUNNING SUCKS HAT! - I also returned to L.A. to a box of Running Sucks x Fractel hats (I interviewed the founder, Matt Niutta back in May). Maybe 1% of you will buy one. They’re great hats - some of the best around imho - and they’re a wonderful way to show your support of me, of course. I should take a photo of one on my head, really.
$$$ - 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
Good to have you back and writing, Raz! Wish I could have been at the Knees Up event, but looking forward to the video. Good luck in that heat, don’t melt!
Awe thanks for the feature!