Five Things Running: Issue #23

I don't want to jinx it, but I had a great week.

Here we go again! It’s Monday morning, my name is Nico and I’m 51 years old, a father of four and that’t probably the reason why I love running a lot: just to get out of the house and keep some sanity. Just kidding. What sanity? Anyhow, I like running a lot, and I also like reading about running. In this weekly newsletter I ramble a bit about my running (or lack thereof) and at the end you get rewarded with five really interesting articles about running that I found somewhere on the interwebs.

So, to cut to the chase: I had a really good running week. It was the first time since April, when I had a disc prolapse, that my running really happened the way I wanted. I ran five times around the Alster in Hamburg, which is 10 km each from my house, and I did that from Monday to Friday before work. It’s so awesome when the kids don’t have to go to school in the morning and I can just run. On Sunday I ran around the Hamburg Airport, which is almost exactly the half-marathon distance. Talk about strategy here: I found the ideal place to live where I can easily do 10 km and 21.0975 km. Aside from that I tried to strengthen my core a bit with kettlebells and planks. I truly share the sentiment about planking outlined in this article.

It feels so awesome to finally be able to run often - and without pain. What a relief.

Ok, before we dive into the five articles, I have to point out that I will never ever understand the American concept of beer, as it truly differs from what we call beer here in Germany. I read about How Athletic Beer won over America and while I applaud the entrepreneurial endeavour and I’m happy about their success, I had a couple of cans of Athletic Brewing in various flavors after finishing as the fastest German at the Des Moines Marathon last year. How should I best put it? I like their marketing. But the beer not so much. And of course at this time I simply cannot spare you the short rendition of one of my favorite lines about beer. “American beer is like sex in a canoo. Fucking close to water.” 🤷‍♂️

🏃🏻‍♂️

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Why You Should Stop in the Middle of Your Run

This makes total sense to me - sometimes we just need to do something different, run a new route, or jump in a lake and then run back. That’s why I love doing early morning runs when I’m on a business trip. It just lets me soak in a different city much better than just sitting in conference rooms and taxis.

Engineering Running Happiness: The Science-Backed Mindset of Performance Happiness and Success

“Prepare more, expect less, and experience more happiness.” - this is pretty good advice, not just for running 200 miles, but also for parenthood and all those other challenges life throws at you.

New Study Highlights Critical Steps Toward Equity in the Trail Running Community

This is so important and I’m glad that people are doing more than just thinking about it. It’s still a sport dominated by white men and this needs to change quickly.

An AI Helped Me Find Running Shoes for the NYC Marathon. Here's How It Worked

I really like this approach and hopefully the AI is trained to be as objective as possible and doesn’t have any sales goals factured in. I don’t really like going to running stores as I usually know exactly what I’m looking for and which shoe I want to try on. Maybe it’s just me, but too often I have to deal with a condescending sales person telling me which shoes or brands I should try and which ones “are just not for you”. Well, I’m curious what AI will tell me about my ideal running shoe.

Study suggests moderately active people can have a positive influence on their friends

Good to know. I always had the impression that people were annoyed by posts on Social Media about running and talking about running all the time. Glad it helps.

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That’s all for now! I hope your Sunday runs were as awesome as mine!