Five Things Running: Issue #112
Run more. But read this first!
Heya and welcome back to Five Things Running!
This Friday my schedule was empty, as it is usually the case after a holiday on a Thursday. So I had a slow start into the day, wanted to go running, but decided to dabble with some work stuff first. Then I finally laced up my shoes and went running. After about 2,5 km all of sudden my iPhone plinged and my calendar app informed me about a videocall with one of my clients and a third party. Ha. I hadn’t really checked my schedule, just assumed it was empty. So I raced back on a direct route and was only 4 mins late, albeit a bit sweaty…
On Sunday I got to try out a route in a different part of town, which was a nice change of scenery. I do have to say that I feel my legs a lot right now, but it also feels good to get back into running and slowly increasing the kilometerage. I don’t do mileage, I’m European.
Here’s this week’s Five Things Running!
Can running too far be bad for your health?
During long runs, blood flow is redirected from organs to muscles, damaging the small intestine and reducing kidney function as a result. The immune system also becomes suppressed for several hours after a marathon. But these changes are short-lived, if you give the body time to recover.
Still, routinely running long distances raises the risk of certain long-term health problems, most notably cardiovascular ones. A 2020 reviewfound endurance athletes are especially prone to ventricular arrhythmia, a type of abnormal heartbeat, and that middle-aged male athletes have more calcium deposits in their hearts, which raises the risk of heart disease, compared with non-athletes. Male marathon runners had three times the number of calcium deposits than controls, and male athletes also have twice as many coronary artery plaques as non-athletes.
pfff. I don’t care.
How Movement Reconnects Me to Life: Running Through Severe Depression
This feeling came across after I finished the Bridge Run, as if in all those weeks before I had forgotten what it felt like. Some of that is, perhaps, because I’m ill. I’ve dealt with major depressive disorder for most of my adulthood, and I’m currently in a flare-up. This is all terminology my therapist recommended I use because, as she said, “it’s an illness, just like any other illness. And just like an incurable condition, there are periods of flare-ups and remission of symptoms, even when you are being treated.”
It’s great to see what impact running can have and I admire the courage to write about this in such openness.
15 Most Influential Running Brands Built on Performance, Community & Style
In today's fractured media landscape an opportunity exists for smaller, savvy brands to find and build dedicated communities around their particular approach to run culture. From finance bros to recovering punk rockers, a brand now exists just for you. And because good branding means life or death, they're are cooler than ever.
The new running brands are meeting the moment. If running is cool, then running clothing should be, too. In 2025, activewear—a dated term that hasn't found a replacement yet—can't just wick sweat and have well-placed pockets. It has to project lifestyle values. Better yet, access to a subculture (of hot, fit, renegade runners no less). Some brands gatekeep, others run with open arms. With so many running brands out there nowadays, it's important to know where they—and you—fit in.
I’m a sucker for upstart running brands. I just love all this energy.
Run. Create Content. Post. Repeat.
In this universe of running content it gets incredibly hard to carve your bubble due to the huge amount that gets produced every day. Every single actor in the market creates content daily. Inevitably, Most of it is standardized and feels like a copy and paste. Both influencers and media gravitate around the same topics and story lines. Product reviews, interviews with the same over-exposed people and defeating your inner demons in yet another endurance challenge are some of them. If you are able to zoom out from the algorithm, these themes become evident resulting in many empty shells made of graphically captivating content with no unique substance.
The good thing about running content is that every run is different.
Unleashing the Rawdawgs: The Wild Saga of America's Sexiest Run Club
Running clubs have existed in Austin and across the country for decades, but Rawdawg had arrived on the scene as a new wave was swelling. A 2024 survey by Strava found a 59 percent increase in participation in running clubs compared to the previous year and heightened interest in social fitness in general. Likely catalyzed by Instagram (many run clubs post photos and videos of participants; some in Austin even have designated photographers along routes) and by frustration with dating apps (one in five Gen Z–age participants in the Strava survey said they’d gone on a date with someone they met through exercise), running clubs exploded. The clubs drew seasoned runners trying to revitalize their routines and new runners seeking buddies to hold them accountable as they trained. There are fitness benefits too: People tend to run farther and be more consistent when in a group. By summertime, Rawdawg’s founders estimate, 800 people were showing up to their runs.
I’m grateful for the partners of Five Things Running: Acid Running, New Balance and COROS!
If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:
Now, go running!
— Nico
🏃🏻♂️
Running too far? What is too far???
What is normal? 45 minutes 3-5 times a week? Ok yeah fair enough.