What's in a t-shirt
Are t-shirts just a souvenir, or can they be a window into a person's personality? What's this got to do with running??
Last month, a stranger approached me in a bar in LA. It’s always worrying, isn’t it? What do they want? Is this a friend or foe? Luckily, I’d just been on a run, and the stranger was wearing polyester shorts in December. I knew he was one of us.
Incidentally, it was my first evening run in a while. At some point during 2022 I resolved to become more of a morning runner to better cope with the intense summer heat of Los Angeles, but I carried on running in the evenings for the social element. That schedule didn’t work. If I wanted to wake up at 6am, I also needed to shift my bedtime up, so midweek social runs were out.
Anyway, this guy comes over and he blurts out, “I saw your t-shirt and had to say hi!”
I got the t-shirt in question from Your Friendly Runners in London last August. It’s part of the ‘been there, done that, got the t-shirt’ souvenir philosophy that I was brought up on.
Simon (that’s his name) came over and spoke to me in the same way as when a plumber who saw me wearing my Opeth t-shirt recently asked me if I only like their earlier stuff to gauge whether I’m a music snob or not.1
It turns out that Simon is Simon Reid, a coach for The Outrunners, a charity that uses running to help “widen the possibilities for young people” in Hackney, east London. That’s a brilliant example of what running can do for a community with a little thought and desire.
I can’t wait to run with both Simon and The Outrunners next time I’m back in London, and it’s all because of a t-shirt.
With that said, here’s my contribution to the Los Angeles Wildfire relief efforts. It’s a t-shirt. Every single penny will go to wildfire-related relief. Whether that’s the Pasadena Humane Shelter, a less-well-endowed GoFundMe, or other charities. I’ll post all receipts.
Why GLENDALE? Well, I live in Glendale. The run club I founded is Glendale Runners. I woke up on Wednesday, January 8th to an enormous plume of smoke from the Eaton Fire seven miles away, billowing over my home, plunging it into artificial darkness. I was affected, but not like my friends in Altadena have been.
Even if Los Angeles is already out of the national news cycle, less than 18 days after the horrors, the families and businesses that suffered so deeply in the fires are still facing the stark reality of living after a disaster. How to help? Money. 100% of all sales of anything in my store will go towards helping.
The hope is that one day you’ll see someone wearing this t-shirt and yes, you’ll remember these fires, but you’ll also remember how the Los Angeles running community came together to help one their neighbors in their darkest moments.
And if you need more incentive, everyone who buys one gets 3 months upgraded membership on here, so you can then enter the competition to win a $100 Janji gift card.
PLEASE BUY A GLENDALE T-SHIRT FOR L.A. WILDFIRE RELIEF
“Why not a Running Sucks shirt?!?” you cry!
Because I’ve found that getting a t-shirt designed when you’re not a designer yourself is quite difficult. I'll make a Running Sucks t-shirt at some point, but in the meantime, go buy this one.
This is a win-win situation
It’s still January, so I’m offering 33% off upgrading your membership. That’s just $35 a year.
What do you get?
A VERY cool Running Sucks sticker pack
The chance to win a $100 Janji gift card every single week
A profile of a runner who I believe is doing something amazing in the sport.
A weekly roundup newsletter with links to anything running-related that I think is cool.
The feeling of supporting my independent journalism. You help keep all this available to read for free.
Discounts on all merch and events.
Click here to upgrade for just 66 cents a week!
Running Sucks ̶H̶a̶i̶k̶u̶ Poem of the Week
Everything is on fire, but everyone I love is doing beautiful things
and trying to make life worth living,
and I know I don’t have to believe in everything,
but I believe in that.
This is the perfect poem for right now and it was written by Nikita Gill.
With half of Los Angeles burnt to a cinder, and the rest of the USA figuratively sure to follow suit after that bunch of chuds sieg heiled their way around the President’s lectern, this poem was a lovely reminder that all we can do is make cool shit.
I have so many friends creating beautiful things right now. Books, music, art exhibits, children, local community endeavors. What else do we really need?
Make the world better one poem, one t-shirt, one newsletter at a time. That’s all we can do. So let’s.
Housekeeping
SUPPORT - Upgrade your subscription for just $1 a week to support my journalism. If you forward this newsletter and get your friends to sign up, you will be rewarded with FREE UPGRADES because both are really great and supportive.
WIN - You can win a $100 Janji gift card every single week of 2025 if you upgrade your membership for $50. You see the economics of that are hugely in your favor, right?
MERCH - Buy the last of the Running Sucks x Fractel hats or a sticker pack and I’ll donate 100% of profits to Pasadena Humane, who have taken in hundreds of animals displaced by the fires.
PLEASE BUY A GLENDALE T-SHIRT FOR L.A. WILDFIRE RELIEF
Thanks for reading
- Raz
Ghost Reveries is my personal favorite Opeth album because it comfortably straddles the divide between the extreme metal of the Swedish titans’ earlier work, and the more melodic and progressive work afterwards. I like both types of music.
I love this so much, Raz! Thank you for being you.
I love blue even
though it makes me feel blue for
Glendale and LA
Turned out to not be the greatest Monday but this helped to put a smile on my face.
Keep it simple.
Create cool shit.
Buy a t-shirt