Tribal Runners, Weekend Warriors, and Our Changing Relationship to Endurance Sports

The Art of Manliness

Society & Culture, Education, Philosophy

4.7 • 14.5K Ratings

🗓️ 20 November 2024

⏱️ 51 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Endurance activities, like distance running, have existed since ancient times. But humans' relationship to those pursuits has changed, according to time and place. In the West, we've currently turned endurance sports into a science — tracking every metric and chasing personal records through sophisticated technology and personalized training plans. But as my guest, who's spent years studying the running cultures in different societies, knows well, this modern, individualized, data-driven approach isn't the only way to pursue the art of endurance. Michael Crawley is a competitive runner, social anthropologist, and the author of To the Limit. On the show today, we first examine how Western athletes have "workified" running through technology and social media. We then look at how other cultures approach running differently, including why East African runners emphasize group training over individual goals and how the Rarámuri people of Mexico incorporate spiritual dimensions into their running. We end our conversation with how we might rediscover more meaningful, holistic ways to approach our own physical pastimes.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Brett McKay here and welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness podcast.
0:11.8	Endurance activities, like distance running, have existed since ancient times.
0:15.9	But humans' relationship to those pursuits has changed, according to time and place.
0:20.4	In the West, we've currently turned endurance sports into a science, according to time and place. In the West, we've
0:21.4	currently turned endurance sports into a science, tracking every metric and chasing personal records
0:25.8	through sophisticated technology and personalized training plans. But as my guest, who spent
0:30.2	years studying the running cultures in different societies knows well, this modern, individualized,
0:35.1	data-driven approach isn't the only way to pursue the art of endurance.
0:38.8	Michael Crawley is a competitive runner, social anthropologist, and the author of, To the Limit.
0:44.1	On the show today, we first examine how Western athletes have workified running through technology and social media.
0:49.8	We then look at how other cultures approach running differently,
0:52.7	including why East African runners emphasize group training over individual goals, and how the Rar-Muri people in Mexico
0:58.1	incorporate spiritual dimensions into the running. We enter conversation with how we might
1:02.3	rediscover more meaningful, holistic ways to approach our own physical pastimes. After
1:06.8	shows over, check out our show notes at AOM. IS slash endurance.
1:24.2	All right, Michael Crawley, welcome to the show.
1:25.6	Thank you for having me. So you are a social anthropologist and you recently put out a book
1:29.2	exploring why humans willingly, and some might say, I would say this, because I'm not an endurance guy,
1:35.8	needlessly take part in endurance events like marathons and triathlons, things like that. What led you
1:42.1	down that line of research? Well, I guess I've been running for
1:46.7	over 20 years now. I'm 36, so I've been running for most of my life. That culminated in running
1:53.3	at a relatively high level. I run for Scotland and Great Britain run a 220 marathon. But I suppose
	...

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