I finished the Manchester Marathon last month and set an 18-minute PB. Before I’d written a text to my sister or friends who had asked that I let them know how I got on, I sent a tweet to around 2,000 people that I’ve never met.
Straight away, the congratulatory tweets came flooding in from all over the world; from people who understood what that meant in terms of hard work, early nights and even earlier morning runs – people who had followed my progress through my blog and had offered encouragement and support. Not because I’m an elite runner, but because I’m just like them. The reply from my sister: “Well done. That’s good, right?”
I’ve kept a running blog for as long as I’ve been a runner – around five years – and I’m not the only one. There are thousands of running bloggers or blogging runners across the UK. Runners of all levels. People like me who write for a living, as well as those who barely write at all except for their blog – they’re all sending out regular updates on their training and racing.
Non-runners struggle to comprehend why anyone would willingly head out on a cold, wet Sunday morning to run around for hours on end and, similarly, it’s difficult for people who don’t read or write running blogs to see the appeal. Why would anyone be interested in what you have to say? You’re hardly Paula Radcliffe. Who cares how far you ran yesterday? Stop with all the bragging.
Of course, there’s money to be made from blogging; there’s free stuff too, that brands will dish out to popular bloggers in the hope of a favourable review. But for all the bloggers I’ve met, the motivation for reading and writing blogs is simple: we want to connect with people like ourselves, get inspired by those a bit faster and share what we’re doing.
Like parenting blogs, where new mums might write about their experiences and feel reassured that other people feel like them – that they’re not the only ones struggling to cope – new runners take solace in the fact that people who are now knocking out respectable marathon times once struggled to run two miles on a treadmill too. Fitness magazines are often full of airbrushed models not even breaking a sweat as they run through a park. If you want to see what a real runner looks like after 10k, go visit some running blogs. You’ll find they’re just as sweaty and red-faced as you.
On 12 May, myself and my friend Liz Goodchild (who I met through blogging) hosted the UK’s first conference for running bloggers. Write This Run saw 50 running bloggers come together in London to talk about running and blogging. We had a panel of expert speakers including Team GB Olympic marathon runner Scott Overall and ultramarathon multi-world record holder Mimi Anderson, as well as a bag full of free stuff for them all. But what mattered most to everyone was the coming together.
Running and blogging can be solitary pursuits. So we invited bloggers across the UK to come out from behind their keyboards and meet up in real life. As one of our guests put it: “It was a bit of a surreal experience – as if some of your favourite storybook characters had suddenly come to life and were in the same room as you! All these people whose faces I knew, whose running journeys I was familiar with, whose lives I caught glimpses of on a daily basis, there, in the flesh, in ‘3D’.”
I believe one of the greatest things the internet can do for us is bring us together. To connect us with other people who like what we like, to share knowledge and experience. And though the connections and friendships we make online are no less valid because they haven’t been made in person – when they are taken offline and into the real world it takes them to another level.
10 blogs on my reading list
1. Will Run For Beer
A quick marathon time and a beer connoisseur – pretty much my idol.
@willrunforbeer
2. Running on Empty
In 1982, Terry ran a marathon PB of 2:25:35. His posts contain decades of experience.
3. Six Second High
Simon curates beautiful pictures and thought-provoking articles.
@Simon_Lamb
4. Scott Overall
An insight into the life of an elite marathon runner.
@scottoverall
5. Mimi Anderson
Endless inspiration from a phenomenal ultra runner.
@ Marvellousmimi
6. Heights of Madness
Great writing from a pretty quick ultra runner.
@muirjonny
7. Warrior Woman
Honest and thorough reviews from a self-confessed gadget geek.
@warriorwoman
8. Runnerstood
Running is often a jumping-off point for well-written, creative posts.
@Liz_Goodchild
9. Run Tramp
Brilliant pictures and interesting interviews.
@runtramp
10. We do run run
Blogging eats itself – a blog that profiles other running bloggers.
@nicolarowlands
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