Does Running Culture Suck?

Culture Study Podcast

Society & Culture, Arts

4.5 • 789 Ratings

🗓️ 26 March 2025

⏱️ 50 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Why does every person who runs marathon want to convince you that you too could run one? What makes running clubs so intimidating? When people get into running, why can’t they shut the hell up about it? I’ve asked avowed non-marathoner Raziq Rauf, author of the newsletter Running Sucks, to help address all of your running culture related questions. Yes, we’re both runners; but we’re also both runners who are very willing to admit that running does often suck — and also willing to interrogate the cultures (of performance, of optimization) that percolate around it. (Plus: why academics get so into running, how people use Strava as a social/dating app, and how to find people who run your pace!) Raz might have even convinced me to try a running club. Maybe. Okay probably not.Thank you to the sponsors of today’s episode!Zocdoc is a FREE app and website where you can search and compare high quality, in-network doctors AND click to instantly book an appointment.Stop putting off those doctors appointments and go to Zocdoc.com/CULTURE to find and instantly book a top-rated doctor today.Take your food to the next level with Graza Olive Oil. Visit https://graza.co/CULTURE and use promo code CULTURE today for 10% off of TRIO!Show Notes:Subscribe to Raziq Rauf’s newsletter, Running SucksMy piece on Aging Into AthleticismRaz interviewed me for Running Sucks and you can read it here!A running newsletter I really love (and that does a lot to interrogate the norms of trail running culture, and what happens when races become profit centers): Sarah Lavender Smith’s Mountain Living & RunningIs Strava the New Dating App?Really interesting psychological study on Strava and collegiate club runners“Is Strava Ruining My Running?”We’re currently looking for your questions for future episodes about:WTF is going on with contemporary/everyday men’s fashion (will Dockers make a comeback? How should we think about the business casual fleece/puffer vest? What’s going on with swimwear? HATS? I’m so excited for this one, with the great Jason Diamond)Backyard chickens/farmingDark Academia (as in, the literary genre)Van/Skoolie/RV LifeSoCal Culture (broad, I know, but whew there’s so much) + Boston/Mass Culture (with Josh Gondleman)PERIODS (and specifically, period pain) with Kate Helen Downey, host of CrampedAnything you need advice or want musings on for the AAA segment. You can ask about anything, it’s literally the name of the segment!As always, you can submit them (and ideas for future eps) here

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, it's Anne. So here's a heads up on all the episodes that we've got in the hopper.
0:04.8	That's a melody word, hopper. She used that. We're going to start a new series. This is my
0:10.5	brainchild. We're going to see how it goes. It's about the cultures of various places. So, like,
0:15.9	the first episode is going to be about, like, culture or even more specifically Boston culture.
0:23.9	And we have the perfect co-host, Josh Gondelman, to do it.
0:27.1	So I want to do a bunch of other episodes that are kind of dialing in on what is the culture of this area.
0:34.2	Why is it weird?
0:35.6	What is wonderful about it?
0:37.1	We're going to get people who are very much
0:39.3	of the area, but then and can also interrogate it and appreciate it and be complicated, just
0:47.1	generally. So I'm thinking of like SoCal culture, Montana culture. I don't know, like,
0:53.6	I feel like we should have like a Quebec culture.
0:55.8	If you have ideas for a region and a co-host, it doesn't have to be someone famous,
1:01.4	it just has to be someone who can do this kind of combination of analytical appreciation
1:07.1	interrogation. Go to tiny URL.com slash culture study pod and fill out the form.
1:13.9	The other shows that we're working on outside of this series include one on backyard chickens
1:18.0	and farming and like why is there this interesting government push back to the land moment going
1:24.8	on right now. We're also doing one on periods and specifically period pain.
1:30.4	And then something along the lines of what's going on in men's fashion trends. So this one's
1:35.6	with Jason Diamond and it's like not like high fashion. We're going to talk about why there are
1:42.2	persistent ways of men dressing in this moment,
1:46.2	normal men, everyday men, dad men, young men.
	...

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