Heya and welcome back to Five Things Running!
Wow, what a week! I did two runs in Augsburg, one along the River Lech and one along the River Wertach, and for those of you who watched the Munich Olympics in 1972, this might sound familiar: they did all sorts of Kayak competitions in Augsburg back then. I was born that year, so obviously I have no recollections of the events, but I stayed in the hotel that they built for the Olympics and that featured lots of framed photos of people in kayaks… also, I ran through the so called “Fuggerei”, a social housing project established by the Fugger family some 500 years ago, when Augsburg was the financial center of the German Empire and the Fuggers where the most powerful finance people around.
Also, I met the shoefairy in Augsburg. Out of the blue, a person I met for the first time in person said: “which sizes shoes do you have?” and then dropped two pairs of shoes at my hotel the next day, which she got through some media deals a while back and never used or needed. I look so fast in The North Face Summit Vectiv Pro, let me tell you!
Also, according to Strava, I reached my running goal for this year on Sunday: 2000 km. I’m pretty happy that I managed to run that much this year.
Speaking of Strava, did you notice this really braindead new feature called Athlete Intelligence, which was probably developed by some bored intern within 15 mins and offers no real value to anyone, except for some VP at Strava who can now say: “Strava uses AI to improve the user experience!” - Strava price hike incoming!
And there’s one more thing: Josh Rosenthal invited me on the Borderlands Podcast to talk about trail running in the Northern German diaspora and about finishing my first 50k ultra. I really enjoyed the conversation with Josh and I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as well.
After the podcast I kind of remembered that this was not my first 50k at all! I did a 50 km march during basic training while I was in the army - and I ran most of the 50 km instead of marching, because the march happened on an early Friday morning and we’d be off duty as soon as we finished. So I hurried up and finished second of about 200 men who had to participate - in army boots and with a full backpack. The best fun I had during my army time was when I sat near the gate of the camp, already showered, had an ice cream and waved at all the unfit officers walking slowly and full of pain…
Anyhow, let’s get to Five Things Running!
How Envy Undermines Competition
“We can strive together, calling each other to higher standards. We can be focused, driven, and invested in our crafts without compromising our communities. We can compete without envy.” - read on and find out how this works. Sorry, no image, but the article is written by Sabrina Little and she’s so smart, I have to read everything she writes.
Parkrun at 20: how a gentle jog turned into a 5km Saturday morning obsession
Parkrun is quite a phenomenon. In my timeline on facebook I see so many people doing their 5km parkruns every Saturday It’s so great to get people moving.
Why It’s Actually Not So Bad to Have a Bad Workout
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger meets no pain no gain. Actually, I’m usually happy that I did a run even though I didn’t feel like it.
What We Can Learn About Exercise and Aging From an Outlier of Human Physiology
This is a fascinating study, even though the data has been supplied from just one person. The timespan is 50 years, which is really something.
How Do You Get First-Time Fans to a Track Meet? Hire Megan Thee Stallion
It’s 2024 and finally somebody is thinking about repackaging a track meet into something that is attractive for more people than just die hard track fans.
If you missed last week’s edition, you can read it here:
Now, go running! And listen to the Borderlands Podcast!
— Nico
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