It’s January, middle of winter for us in the Northern Hemisphere, and usually a time to recover, build-up, and continue to reflect. So the questions for this week are why do we run? And what is your relationship with running? I’ll start with some ruminating on these questions and then broaden that to the collective we.
Brittany Runs and Circles of Social Media
I think a fundamental question for the why is to ask further, are you motivated internally or externally (intrinsic vs. extrinsic)? I just watched Brittany Runs a Marathon, which I thought was a pretty decent running movie with some interesting implications.
First, how about looking at it through some different perspectives? I frequent a couple or three running forums, each with a different sort of clientele and each had its own consensus take. Let’s look at those.
Letsrun had a thread on it, and as you might expect, it was very negative. Fat Girl tries to run, guffaw! No surprise there. The mostly anonymous message board is negative toward just about everyone and everything. And discussing a movie about an overweight woman trying to find her way in the big city through running is a bit too much for the typical Letsrun poster to handle. Considering the domineering demographic that’s not surprising, because their collective oft-triggered heads explode at any point of view different from their own.
I’ve been a long time participant at another venue with a completely different perspective. Even though “C” Runners (site name withheld to protect the innocent)is in the name this more of a social forum where running, let alone talking about running, is at best ancillary. Brittany Runs a Marathon was a hot topic for several weeks there. And the consensus was that while the storyline wasn’t always great, it was resonating because the demographic here is probably 1.5 to 2 to 1 female to male, and the overall interest is in running as a fitness activity. Nevertheless, the discussion never really got to why she turned to running, just more about the story itself.
Finally, there is millennials “R”forum (also name and identity of forum withheld to protect the innocent) and its offshoot (where the cool kids go) that I follow on yet another venue. As far as I could tell, they did not even discuss the film. The core group are in their 20s and 30s, but outwardly more competitive-minded. They are highly interested in time and pace, a little bit less in place. They are a good group of younger runners, and I seem to get along with most. I bet most are intrinsically motivated, but also share a lot of banter. They are obsessed with training theories (me along with them somewhat, although I’m an advocate of go as you feel and not by someone else’s canned schedule from chapter 7 of a book) and the gadgets that measure the minutia of every run, and now down to every single stride if need be. Each of the participants may or may not be intrinsically motivated, but the interaction there is inherently extrinsic. So many posts to get likes, wows, high fives, or at least some lols. So they weren’t into Brittany, probably because here story just doesn’t resonate, but also because perhaps Brittany would get all the likes?
And what about Brittany?
I think she’s wrapped around both intrinsic and extrinsic motivators. In her case, she started out intrinsically motivated, in that she wanted to change her life around from overweight party girl to someone more goal-oriented. She did that, and carried it through after many a trial, but her approach along the way was very extrinsic, with social media and interactions with current and former friends taking the bulk of the film. However, toward the end, I think her drive was perhaps more intrinsic once again, as she pursued her goal more or less on her own, all the while turning around other parts of her life. I didn’t do a follow-up to see what has become of the real Brittany. But an interview or two might be worth watching.
Why I Run
I started running partly out of guilt for quitting track after one day in my senior year of high school and partly to get out of gym class for my final term of school. So maybe a toss up between intrinsic and extrinsic. However, I found some ancillary benefits like feeling less stress and a sense of freedom. And after just a few months I found that I could run a bit faster than I thought I was capable of. I think that those first six months of running were fairly intrinsic.
However, when I signed up to run indoor and outdoor track my freshman year of college, the motivations shifted to extrinsic. I wanted to prove myself as a runner, to get some recognition, and to earn the respect of my peers. I did find the intrinsic aspects great, like nothing beat going out for an hour or more run on a snow Thanksgiving or Christmas night, while everyone else was watching TV. Nevertheless, those extrinsic motivators rolled into a larger and larger snowball each season.
At first I just wanted to qualify for the travel team and score points at some meets, and hopefully PR every time. I would write down time goals and set out to attain them. I barely any of my goals, and at best only ran to what I would have considered intermediate goals (running times my senior year that I would have thought satisfactory as a sophomore). College running was a disappointment, and my mental approach back then didn’t help matters much.
However, as bad as it got sometimes (last semester was a disaster, as I mentioned in an earlier post), I always returned to running in the off season, for its own sake. In fact, looking back at my favorite runs of that time I recall just those first few weeks starting back after a break, when it would be just running on my own or along with a friend or two. Not thinking about times or goals or beating any inter or intra rivals. Just running.
After finding myself as a long distance runner a few years later and ever since, like many long-term runners–I probably have drifted between intrinsic and extrinsic. I favor the intrinsic, but recognize that winning a prize or placing high in the results is largely extrinsic, while I find the heat of the competitive battle (the race itself and that day of afterglo) to be inherently intrinsic. And that’s the part that really brings me back. If it was just for the award or PR time, I probably would have quit 35 years ago.
However, this is the social media-selfie era like non-other, and for better or worse the extrinsic is more important than ever.
Impact of Social Media on Our Rationale to Run
Going back to Brittany and social media. We who are dedicated runners all like to get some recognition for our drive and accomplishments. And social media in its various forms is the perfect outlet to express yourself and to get likes and thumbs ups and any sort of emoji support.
So we have forums, side chat rooms, and platforms like Instagram and Facebook, or the perfect blend: Strava. Oy vey! When does it all get to be too much? Suddenly your effort and competitive ability are put out there on a daily match race with dozens or hundreds of other similarly driven individuals, and whomever ends the day or week the most virtual pats on the back wins.
Right.
To what end? Sure a little recognition feels good and few thumbs ups can be a motivator as you grind through week after week of workouts, long runs, medium long runs, tune ups, and of course races. But inherently, we don’t need all this, do we?
Sometimes it’s worth it to just step out the door, with GPS watch or not (but the social media aspect on mute), and just go for a run for 30 minutes, or an hour or two. Maybe some might want to go seven hours. But let the experience speak for itself, with no external digital boosting to nudge those dopamine receptors.
But Why Do I Run?
I run because it completes my day, I like the movement and seeing the outdoors. Some runs are better than others. I also simply enjoy being in shape. Sure striving for high places or (now age graded) times are good motivators, but that is ancillary to just running. Awards or accolades from competitive performances are great, but the satisfaction from that is fleeting and secondary.
rrunnin234 