Mind this gap, friends.
Visibility in running doesn't matter. Running matters.
Noise deprives us of focus.
There is a lot of noise on the internet about what it is to be a runner. If you read running newsletters, which I do, the noise comes in the form of encouragement. Encouragement to join a running club. Encouragement to sign up for races. Encouragement to stack those races in interesting ways: 10 marathons in 10 years, race vacations, relays with friends.
I believe all this is well-meant. But it is not running.
This week I stepped out for my Tuesday run at 9:15 at night. 9:15! That’s late even for me. Why? Because that’s the time I had. When I was pregnant, I left my house to run at 5:05a. Why? Because that’s when my body, working overtime to support another body, would best let me.
When I worked standard 12 hour days and often much longer in film production, I wouldn’t see my friends for weeks so I could both run and do my job as it demanded.
Am I not a runner?
Does my inability to make the deadlines of clubs, pay for race entry fees, and keep my running friends local make me any less of a runner than people who have all those things? Obviously, no. And that’s not even what influencers think they’re saying.
But they are saying it, nonetheless.
The conversations you see in your inbox or on your feeds make it seem like to be a “real” runner, you have to participate with the sport in certain very visible, very vocal ways. That is not true.
For anyone hustling a ragged life, or building towards multiple goals at once, or digging themselves out of an emotional or financial hole, if you’re intentionally out there, running, you’re a runner.
Having a club membership does not make you a runner. Having cool gear doesn’t make you a runner. Thoughtlessly making a series of little hops for several miles in succession doesn’t make you a runner. Moving with intention, habitually, paying attention to your body and to the few (or many) folks you run with. That is what makes you a runner. Get out there. Go run.
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How’s that Stoic Running book coming?
You might ask.
Answer: it’s going well! I’m constructing a training schedule (because of course) for myself that includes about a month of reading as background. I’ll hit all the ancient biggies: Seneca, Marcus Aurelius, Epictetus. And some lesser-known goodies: Cleanthes, Chrysippus.
Then I’ll throw in some moderns. Not stoics, but inclusive of modern thought in ways that I think are informative to contemporary stoic and running/athletic practice: Thoreau, Emerson, Flaubert, Bobby Jones, Murakami.
I’m going to do my best to follow Robert Caro’s dictum to “show, not tell” and to create a non-fiction work so compelling that readers look forward to every page turn.
If you’d like to support it, please consider changing your subscription from “free” to “paid” for a month or two. Turn it off when you’ve donated as much as you want.
I think I need about $8K to do this. That means that if each subscriber donated $10.00, or two months of support, I could get there.
Right now we’re hovering at about $400, so miles to go before pen to page. But we can get there. If you’d like to donate a fixed sum, please do dm me or email me at anamonroe@gmail.com for information. I’m doing my best to set up a donation mechanism.
I’ve penned 136 of these columns and written and published the global standard on Human-centered Design, so rest assured that your donations will not be lost in production. If I raise the money, this book is coming out.
Please “heart” ❤️ this newsletter. It’s a free way for more people to find this work and the running communities hiding right below our noses.