Your friend is training for a half-marathon. Such is the current running boom that, for a significant portion of readers, that statement will be true.
Seeing people exercising more should be an exclusively positive thing for someone like me – a fitness journalist and coach hell-bent on helping people enjoy fitness. But I have one major issue with running’s latest episode: it’s become exclusive.
A certain clique-ishness online among the sub-20-minute 5K crew and marathon (née, ultramarathon) runners has deterred several people I’ve spoken to from even trying the sport. I chatted to one man who, despite running four times per week and hitting upwards of 20km in some sessions, said he wasn’t sure if he could call himself “a proper runner”.
And when you do start, running is expensive. Between multiple pairs of shoes, physio fees, gels, recovery tools, travel costs and paying for the race entry itself, it’s easy to see how it all stacks up – to more than four figures in the case of some people I’ve heard about.
There’s nothing wrong with diverting a chunk of your finances to something you’re passionate about. But some voices are suggesting we need to be decked out to the nines, and a run doesn’t count unless we log a standout time or distance. This is my issue.
The irony
To counter deteriorating activity levels and health in the UK, authorities are encouraging people to exercise and move more. Walking and running should be two of the most accessible remedies. But to make money and earn clout online, certain brands and influencers are raising the barrier to entry.
This is the opposite of what I think – as someone who runs semi-regularly for fun and fitness – the sport is all about.
“It’s the most accessible sport in the world,” Ben Parker, founder of coaching app Runna, previously told me when quizzed on why running was so in vogue. “The barrier to entry is so low when you compare it to equivalents like cycling. All you need is a relatively cheap pair of shoes and some old clothes.”
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This is how running should be: readily available, enjoyable and open to all.
“I think running boomed in a way that fed itself with a lot of virality too, due to the fact that people don’t shut up about it,” Parker adds. “Anyone who achieves any kind of endorphin [release] or does something good wants to tell people about it.”
This idea might make some people roll their eyes and recall a long, unwanted conversation about somebody else’s exercise habits. But if something is free, it makes you feel good and it benefits your health, then by all means, shout about it from the rooftops.
But don’t gatekeep it by bragging about Strava scores, sneering at slow paces and insisting a £200-plus pair of race shoes is essential for any organised event. Instead, why not find ways to open up your newfound passion to as many people as possible?
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The hidden cost of exclusivity for athletes
It is not just everyday exercisers and would-be runners who suffer the effects of exclusivity. The rising cost of sport could be preventing promising athletes from realising their full potential.
The career of Bolton-born Sinead Bent, a Gymshark athlete, physio and one of the world’s top Hyrox racers, was almost kiboshed by costs before it even began.
“When I was younger, [my siblings and I] had to do a lot of ferrying ourselves around,” she says. “I would walk myself to school, walk home and jump on my bike if my parents asked me to go to the shop, so everything we did was quite active.
“Then at primary school I noticed that I loved anything to do with sport. We would do races against the other primary schools and I’d always win. That’s when my PE teacher said, ‘Maybe you should join a running club, because you’re actually quite good.’”
Bent tried a few different clubs, with some proving unaffordable as they charged a membership fee plus a fee each time she used the track.
But her love of running continued to grow, and in secondary school, she earned an interview to study sports at college.
“I really wanted it,” Bent says. “I wanted to look the part too, but I didn’t have a good pair of running shoes. They were out of our budget. My parents weren’t wealthy – if our shoes weren’t from Asda they were from Wynsors World of Shoes. I was a little bit embarrassed about that.
“But my PE teacher said: ‘No, this is an important step for you, getting into college.’ Then he took me out and bought me some using the school budget. I’m forever grateful to him for that.”
Read more: I made a lot of mistakes during my first Hyrox race – here are six things I wish I knew beforehand
Bent is a phenomenal athlete. She can run faster carrying two 24kg kettlebells (part of a Hyrox race) than most people can run without them. The idea that she wouldn’t have the same opportunity to express this athleticism as someone from a more affluent family is an unpleasant one.
“Being a physio, I see a lot of different types of people, and I still find cost is a big barrier for people who are underprivileged,” she says. “There are great events like Parkrun for kids, but there’s still the fact that some kids don’t have anybody to take them. We’re still not there with learning how to approach that.”
Greater awareness of the free events available could provide part of the solution, Bent suggests. Sharing of equipment could also help.
“If you’re done with it, pass it on,” she says. “Nowadays, people who do have money buy so many pairs of shoes, and they probably get rid of them before they need to. Think about giving them to somebody who could really use them.”
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Stage your own running revolution
Running’s exclusivity is not universal. There are brilliant organisations, running clubs, charities, athletes and coaches out there doing excellent work to open up the sport to as many people as possible.
Many of the issues mentioned above require wider societal change too; government-level interventions and schemes to make sport more affordable, like equal opportunities for all and subsidised transport to make clubs more accessible.
However, on a personal level, I’ve started to rebel against running’s exclusive and immaculate visage by embracing “the ugly run”.
If you want all the gear and you can afford it, go for it. If you are training for a longer race and you require more advanced fuelling techniques such as gels, go for it.
But for the vast majority of people, I think we could benefit from removing a lot of pomp, ceremony and stress from the semi-regular run. Much of the World Health Organisation’s physical activity advice hinges on the idea that “every move counts towards better health”. The lower the barrier to entry for movement in all its many forms, the better.
Anyone who can don an oversized charity shop top, slip into some comfy shoes, swig some water and stride away from their house is “a proper runner”. This is the hill I will die on – perhaps after running up it a few times first.
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