May 20, 2024, 17:36
When you open Instagram on a Saturday morning, you'd be forgiven for thinking that everyone you follow is a runner.
Selfies in head-to-toe Nikes, screenshots of running routes, and perfectly placed photos of coffee and croissants with the caption “post-run snack.” That's me. Are you looking at my Instagram?
Guilty of being charged.
My weekend ritual is to run parkrun (a weekly free timed 5k race held in over 1,000 parks across the UK) on Saturday mornings.
Every week at 8:30 a.m. I get out of bed, trudge to a nearby park, run for 25 minutes with over 700 other people, and at the end, I win a place and an official time, and come out of there with a real accomplishment. Enjoy the feeling. A bed for this.
And I'm not alone – searches for “how to start running,” “how to start running,” and “running routes near me” all increased by 50% at the end of 2023, according to Google data. According to running tracking app Strava, women under 25 are the fastest growing community on the platform and the age group most likely to track their runs.
What's behind this running craze? And why does running seem to be booming among women in their 20s, and for that matter, men?
I can only speak for myself, but running has become a safe haven for me after a day or week of work.
For 30 to 90 minutes while you run, you can switch off from the world and listen to a podcast, audiobook, or Beyoncé's latest album, and your anxiety will melt away.
Running is the only form of exercise I've ever done, and trust me, the most tried, but it makes me feel on top of the world when I'm done.
The feeling you get after running is incomparable to anything else, you feel like you can't stop, your head is clear and you feel energized.
It's also a type of exercise that you're not doing to change your body out of vanity or insecurity. I've been an avid weightlifter for nearly 10 years, but I quit the gym earlier this year after realizing I was only trying to make my body look a certain way, not for fun. In fact, I found the gym quite boring.
Running with others also provides a great sense of community and belonging.
I was lucky enough to run the Wizz Air Hackney Half Marathon on Sunday with 20,000 other people including Bridgerton heartthrob Jonathan Bailey and elite London Marathon runner Anya Kaling. As I crossed the starting line for the race, I burst into tears.
I'm proud not only of myself but of the thousands of others who decided to show up and run that day to challenge themselves, raise money for charity, or just have fun. thought.
I did it in the former and was happy to cross the line in a personal best despite the 20 degree heat.
There was never a dull moment as we zipped around the streets of east London. The crowd cheered from start to finish, complemented by a brass band, steel drums, and a DJ blasting dance floor anthems.
The community was vibrant and there was no shortage of sweets, energy gels and fresh fruit to hand out from kind locals to keep us moving.
That's why I love running. Everyone has their own reason, their “why,” but we can all come together for a race, park run, or running club and share a collective spirit.
Gen Z has running problems, and I certainly have them, but there are worse ones.
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