Interesting observation. I don’t carry a phone with me during races or listen to music, so whatever pics come out of it are at the mercy of the race photographer. And I’ll acknowledge when I see people with selfie sticks narrating their progress, I get a little cognitive dissonance… like… wouldn’t you be faster if you really focused on running? On the other hand, I ran Boston 2014 less as a race and more of defiant FU to the fear that the bombing had inspired the year before (ran that day as well). In that 2014 race I ran with a beta pair of Google Glass sunglasses and recorded a lot of the course and my interactions with friends and other runners then cut it into a 15 minute video that got some 13,000 views. So absolutely get the compulsion to document and share things that feel epochal in my running life.
Really enjoyed this. I ran Boston UK marathon last weekend. Just 800 runners and no live tracking. Like you, I’ve found it hard not to overthink things in big city marathons. I had an awful London Marathon in 2022 and the thought of people watching my tracker made it worse. My result in Boston wasn’t what I hoped but I was happy with my performance. Anyway, what I’ve always found in my own content is that people respond most when you’re honest and open about things going wrong, disappointments and bad results. So although there is that pressure to present perfect, actually that’s not what people want - they want genuine highs and lows.
This is timely. Just last week some friends and I joked about the influencer that recorded himself going the bathroom inside a port-a-potty at a major marathon.
I get documenting a momentous achievement like running a marathon but it’s gone too far.
Thank you for saying this! Last year at New York Road Runner's Midnight Run, I saw two people in the span of five minutes literally run into safety cones because they were documenting their runs on their phone. So not only is it socially annoying - it's actually a safety issue!
It's an interesting time for sure! I enjoyed this read, thank you :)
Road running is so time obsessed that comparison is always going to be tough to avoid. It's literally all anyone talks about as road runners (what's your pace, what's your goal time, are you trying to BQ)
It's always going to be the consumers job to make sure the information they're getting is legit and as careful as creators should be, there will always be those that do/say whatever they want. I feel like for the most part, we can tell when people are authentic and those are the folks that kick around long term. Not always, but for the most part we sift through the bullshit fairly well.
I love this angle and as always, well written argument. I do agree with it all. But I also think when we see a few (or even a few hundred) people doing something it feels like "Everyone is doing it".
Everyone is not doing it. The majority are not doing it (more than 50%). I'll go out on a limb and say it's between 1-5% and even that is quite generous.
I don't know that many people that write a newsletter and I also don't know that many people that use an action cam for the whole race let alone upload a full vlog style to the socials. It's a lot of work one, and also most people don't feel comfortable being in front of the camera. Yes a few bad apples have made the race experience bad for a few unfortunate people "in their shot", but like the gym, just stay away from them. Is it more work, yes, but it's not that hard.
This trend/fad/bubble will burst soon enough and there will be something else that people are obsessed about. Humans will be humans.
This issue is not going away and in a sense it's driving the resurgence of running as a sport. Activities where you can celebrate and feel good about your own personal achievements are hard to find. That said I would like to see races ban the use of cell phones while running. Sort of like don't text and drive.
Completely agree, I ran Milton Keynes half on Monday and I wondered how many “reels” I would be in rolling my eyes in the background as runners went live!
Hit it out of the park again with this one, Ashley. I honestly love it when I see others post vulnerably about disappointments, set backs, injuries because it’s so much more relatable rather than a highlight reel.
Interesting observation. I don’t carry a phone with me during races or listen to music, so whatever pics come out of it are at the mercy of the race photographer. And I’ll acknowledge when I see people with selfie sticks narrating their progress, I get a little cognitive dissonance… like… wouldn’t you be faster if you really focused on running? On the other hand, I ran Boston 2014 less as a race and more of defiant FU to the fear that the bombing had inspired the year before (ran that day as well). In that 2014 race I ran with a beta pair of Google Glass sunglasses and recorded a lot of the course and my interactions with friends and other runners then cut it into a 15 minute video that got some 13,000 views. So absolutely get the compulsion to document and share things that feel epochal in my running life.
Really enjoyed this. I ran Boston UK marathon last weekend. Just 800 runners and no live tracking. Like you, I’ve found it hard not to overthink things in big city marathons. I had an awful London Marathon in 2022 and the thought of people watching my tracker made it worse. My result in Boston wasn’t what I hoped but I was happy with my performance. Anyway, what I’ve always found in my own content is that people respond most when you’re honest and open about things going wrong, disappointments and bad results. So although there is that pressure to present perfect, actually that’s not what people want - they want genuine highs and lows.
This is timely. Just last week some friends and I joked about the influencer that recorded himself going the bathroom inside a port-a-potty at a major marathon.
I get documenting a momentous achievement like running a marathon but it’s gone too far.
Thank you for saying this! Last year at New York Road Runner's Midnight Run, I saw two people in the span of five minutes literally run into safety cones because they were documenting their runs on their phone. So not only is it socially annoying - it's actually a safety issue!
It's an interesting time for sure! I enjoyed this read, thank you :)
Road running is so time obsessed that comparison is always going to be tough to avoid. It's literally all anyone talks about as road runners (what's your pace, what's your goal time, are you trying to BQ)
It's always going to be the consumers job to make sure the information they're getting is legit and as careful as creators should be, there will always be those that do/say whatever they want. I feel like for the most part, we can tell when people are authentic and those are the folks that kick around long term. Not always, but for the most part we sift through the bullshit fairly well.
Thanks again for the fun read!
I love this angle and as always, well written argument. I do agree with it all. But I also think when we see a few (or even a few hundred) people doing something it feels like "Everyone is doing it".
Everyone is not doing it. The majority are not doing it (more than 50%). I'll go out on a limb and say it's between 1-5% and even that is quite generous.
I don't know that many people that write a newsletter and I also don't know that many people that use an action cam for the whole race let alone upload a full vlog style to the socials. It's a lot of work one, and also most people don't feel comfortable being in front of the camera. Yes a few bad apples have made the race experience bad for a few unfortunate people "in their shot", but like the gym, just stay away from them. Is it more work, yes, but it's not that hard.
This trend/fad/bubble will burst soon enough and there will be something else that people are obsessed about. Humans will be humans.
This issue is not going away and in a sense it's driving the resurgence of running as a sport. Activities where you can celebrate and feel good about your own personal achievements are hard to find. That said I would like to see races ban the use of cell phones while running. Sort of like don't text and drive.
Completely agree, I ran Milton Keynes half on Monday and I wondered how many “reels” I would be in rolling my eyes in the background as runners went live!
Hit it out of the park again with this one, Ashley. I honestly love it when I see others post vulnerably about disappointments, set backs, injuries because it’s so much more relatable rather than a highlight reel.