I was suffering through a long run the other weekend while listening to one of my favorite interviews with Hanif Abdurraqib. The interview closed with Hanif being asked, what are the demands of the times asking of him as a writer? He began to answer what the writer’s job is, but changed his thoughts to say the job of the living is to be unflinchingly honest, “…be honest about our ability to feel deeply and thoughtfully because if that goes away, if that begins to erode there are consequences we will never be able return from”.

Ecological and social harms and injustices are calling us and requiring us to go deeper in our understanding of the impacts we create by our actions. Running being one of those actions. My question to myself and runners/running culture is, how can we be more expansive with our running practices? What kind of running culture can create resilience for what we face when it comes to climate change and a fascist government? Both are creating suffering that we see and feel every day. What kind of running culture will fill us with joy, and love, and sustain us in the long run — literally.

There is a new trend I am seeing from my friends on Strava and I am here for it. In the description box I am seeing friends describe the fog collecting on the ends of pines, or the shade of pink the sunrise was as they ran along the bay, or how during a 100k race my friend saw the butterfly version of the caterpillar they made friends with a few weeks before. I mean, come on. If tech is here to stay, let’s bring more life to it and less ego. And if anyone knows the folks at Strava, can we talk about an iNaturalist type function on the app that is intended to be the social network for “those who strive” and possibly expand their definition of strive?

When we run together, we experience joy together and we damn sure suffer together. Running, too, is inconvenient.

Let us be inconvenienced and let us consider it a gift.

Running transcends the physical act; it can serve as a time for connection and reflection… Could approaching running in this way encourage us to reconnect more with ourselves, each other and the environment? Could running, when viewed through this lens, becomes an act of responsibility—each step reminding us of our connection to the natural world and our responsibility to care for her?

A theme of Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book, The Serviceberry, Abundance and Reciprocity in the Natural World, is that all flourishing is mutual. If all flourishing is mutual we don’t need to hoard power, it doesn’t make sense to exclude people because they don’t fit within what you know. Giving women of color what they need to flourish in the small world of running doesn’t stop white women from also flourishing. Giving trans women a voice in the sport, doesn’t silence cis-gender women. In fact, wouldn’t it actually make the small world of running just a little bit bigger, and allow for the physical and mental benefits of running and being in community to reach more people, in turn reaching people who aren’t even in that world. That is when we begin to see changes beyond running culture and within our big C culture.

“Unions to me represent the biggest opportunity to address the societal woes that the government is either incapable of or unwilling to address because they conflict with corporate interests. And that's how I view the greater project of what I do through unions. Even more so than getting people on the same page with each other, I think most importantly and most immediately for me, is this is the counter force to corporate influence. I think running clubs are another opportunity for that on a cultural level.”

…towards the end of our time together, I asked Margot, “If gender is the least important thing about you, what would you say is the most important thing about you?” Their answer: Existing in a state of awe.

Change is happening, it is always happening—as Octavia E. Butler says, “the only lasting truth is change.” Yet, some folks try desperately to keep things the same, uphold the status quo, and stay deep in their dissonance. Take a look around. What are we trying so desperately to hold onto?