You probably know I’ve got a love-hate relationship with running. But when Raziq Rauf, the guy behind the Running Sucks Substack, sent me his new book This Is Running, I couldn’t put it down. So I figured I needed to get him on the show.
Raz is a former music journalist, BBC and Guardian contributor, USATF running coach, and now author of what is genuinely a cultural history of running in the 21st century. We talk about the super shoe revolution and what carbon plate technology actually does to your body, why run clubs exploded out of the pandemic, how brands coming into that space changes the community, and what it actually means to find yourself while you’re out there grinding through a five mile loop.
We also get into the sneaker side of all of this… the Nike Alphafly at fashion week, whether performance running shoes can cross over the same way basketball shoes and tennis shoes did, and the moment it all changed at the 2016 Olympics.
If you’ve ever laced up for a run or thought about it, this one’s for you.
This Is Running is available to order now: https://amzn.to/4tlGWxq
Follow Raz at @runningsucks101 on Instagram and find his newsletter at runningsucks101.com.
Timestamps:
- 0:00 — Intro & how Nick found Raziq on Substack
- 1:00 — Raz introduces himself: London, LA, running, writing
- 1:50 — “The radical act of running” — what that opening line means
- 3:22 — Why this isn’t a training book… and why that was the point
- 6:43 — The photos, the format, and thinking about the book holistically
- 7:17 — Nick’s love-hate relationship with running and the Bay to Breakers
- 9:39 — Moving to LA, run crews, and using running to find community
- 12:50 — Stan Smith was a tennis player, and other things sneakerheads understand
- 13:24 — How the pandemic turned running into a movement
- 16:03 — Why run clubs went “like wildfire” when lockdowns lifted
- 21:09 — Brand run clubs: the compromise between community and commerce
- 24:31 — The super shoe revolution: carbon plate technology explained
- 27:16 — Nike Pump Fury, the 2016 Olympics, and the moment everything changed
- 28:28 — Alpha Fly at fashion week: can performance running shoes cross over?
- 31:23 — GORP core, Salomon, Norda, and the casualization of technical footwear
- 33:55 — Accessibility: $300 super shoes vs. the reality for most runners
- 37:00 — A marathoner in Bangladesh wearing his shoes for 1,000 miles
- 39:27 — The Pegasus Turbo, ZoomX cushioning, and the shoe lifespan no one talks about
- 41:52 — Is the $300 super shoe worth it? Raz breaks down the 4% advantage
- 44:42 — Finding yourself in running: silence, boredom, and no headphones
- 48:27 — Vivid dreams, writing, and the creative byproducts of running regularly
- 49:50 — Moving your body gives you 60% more ideas (the brick study)
- 51:05 — From music journalism to running writing: the transferable skills
- 53:38 — Where to find Raz and how to get This Is Running
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