Five Things Running: Issue #95
It's the first issue of Five Things Running. In 2025.
Heya and welcome back to Five Things Running!
It’s a new year and we all have adjusted our running goals for this year, right? My goal for the year is to run consistently and without injuries, ideally at least 50km per week. Also, I want to run something longer than 50km, but I haven’t yet decided which one. I did sign up for one 85 km race from my university town of Göttingen up to the peak of the Brocken in the Harz Mountains. But then I decided not to follow-through as I figured that the end of February would be a bit too early in the season for running up a mountain in a snow storm. Also later in the year would be a lesser chance of snow storms, I guess.
I finally started running again on New Years Eve when my knee didn’t hurt too much anymore. It took me ten days after my fall until I could run again, which I find deeply annoying. I ran four days in a row last week and then it started to freeze and everything got icy and on Sunday I found a different excuse not to run, but it’ll get better next week.
What are your plans?
Anyhow, here’s this week’s Five Things Running!
Why Marathon Running Is Booming
GenZ likes the longer distances and Run Clubs are driving sign-ups as well. Ever the contrarian, I don’t find running on roads that exciting anymore…
The longer the race, the closer it gets: women are closing in on men when it comes to ultra-endurance events
“Men are dominant at most athletic events but ultra-endurance sports (exercising for six hours or more) represent a unique domain where the performance gap between men and women is narrowing significantly.” - this is so fascinating stuff.
Hate running, or even the idea of running? Me too, until I started hacking it
For all those people who want to start running this year and don’t think they could actually like running, this might be a good starting point.
The courage to fail
“In retrospect – and knowing that the next section was long, exposed and remote – it was probably the right call not to continue; you have to know when you’re putting others at risk as well as yourself. If I hadn’t been so familiar with the route would I have carried on and, having no other choice, somehow made it to the final stop? Possibly, if I had trained my fortitude as much as my legs or been able to eat that sandwich instead of clutching it like a dead pet. At the time though I knew my bravery had long since deserted me, if it had made it to the start line at all. Then again, I thought, Everest is littered with the remains of the brave.”
‘I just ran a lot’: the Strava user whose runs became a viral art phenomenon
“Why don’t you run like this?” - this is what my wife asked me when she forwarded the viral reel of Duncan McCabe’s Strava routes. I guess because I don’t care that much about the looks of my running routes.
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
🏃🏻♂️