3. What I think I bring to the table

The table is BIG. It was big when I started running in 2018, and it’s grown bigger since. I’m seeing more and more running influencers and content creators pop up, which is amazing for the sport. I think running and its knowledge base are more accessible than ever before. There’s truly no shortage of resources. So among all that, I’m scratching my chin wondering What’s my place in all of this?

A little background first:

When I first started running, my primary source of running knowledge was YouTube. I faithfully subscribed to and followed Sage Canaday, Kofuzi, Jamison Runs, Ginger Runner, The Run Experience. Fantastic content! But a hard gap for me to bridge was that a good chunk of running content creators didn’t feel relatable. I don’t mean to apply that generalization to the creators I just listed. But being in my early twenties, trying to navigate early adult life while starting to take on running “seriously”, it was hard for me to accept and digest running advice from people whose lives and livelihoods depended on running and creating content. Like, it’s great to hear how a professional athlete trains and eats and recovers, but it’s hard to translate all of that into a regimen that fits in the life of someone who isn’t paid to run. Adding on to that, I don’t think I saw too many people sharing how running fit into their own lives. They seemed to share about running in an isolated way. I think this contributed to me phasing out of consuming running content. There was a clash in perspective.

I want to be the resource that 22-year-old, just-ran-his-first-half-marathon-and-is-toying-with-diving-in-more, me wished he had. Someone relatable. Someone real and maybe more explicit with all of the factors and challenges and experiences that a new, young (ish) runner might face. Someone who is sometimes serious about running and sometimes not and navigating what he wants to make of running. And especially someone whose opinions and methods I feel aren’t influenced by some brand affiliation or engagement metrics. I think I can be that person.

I want to share very openly my thoughts and experiences as I continue on this running journey. I think there’s a lot of great content out there on the more mechanical aspects of running, like form, training plan structure, how to get started, etc., so I don’t think I intend on covering those topics generally. More specifically, I’ll likely touch on those topics as they pertain to my own development as a runner. What I think that’ll look like will be more “this is how I train and this is what works/doesn’t work for me”, rather than the more prescriptive “this is what you should be doing” approach that I tend to see from other creators.

So to summarize, what I hope to share is my own perspective, as transparently as I can and with the fullest context that I can manage. “I run 40 miles a week” starts to sound a little different when you add “while working 44 hours in that week and commuting 1.5 hours per day and sleeping 6-7 hours/day”.

And to state plainly the perspective I’m coming from, I’m just a 27-year-old guy who:

• really likes to run and wants to get good at it
• has a normal 9-5 that he’s pretty into and takes seriously
• loves his family and friends and spending time with them
• enjoys introducing people to the sport
• likes to do lots of other things, too!

Hopefully I’ve done a decent job answering my own question of what I’m bringing to the table. In my revisiting/revising this post, I’ve felt like I hit the nail on the head on some re-reads. In others, it’s sometimes felt like ramble-y stream of consciousness.

Lemme know what you think or if you have any thoughts/questions. Feedback is very welcome!

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Also, adding a lil rant here:

I’ve recently become more attentive to new players in the running influencer world. Thank you, almighty algorithm. But damn there’s a lot of shit-tier (I realized on a re-read that this could be read as shittier..That works, too!), low quality advice that gets circulated. Accessibility is an amazing thing, but poor advice in the hands of viewers who may not know better is a dangerous combination. I don’t want to be involved in that. Ok that is all :D

February 10, 2023 / Revised March 18, 2023