Is the Running Community Actually Toxic AF?

If you are at all online in the running community, you may have felt bombarded the last few days (yes, it’s only been a few DAYS) with some pretty negative takes. If you somehow missed it, the major controversies:

1. A runner posted on Threads that since she didn’t make the cutoff for time qualifying for the New York City Marathon, charity runners and slower runners shouldn’t get bibs to the race. (According to Runner’s World, time qualifiers had to “run 22 minutes and 52 seconds faster than NYRR’s qualifying standard” in order to make it this year).

2. This runner was bullied off social media and people reportedly contacted their employer and run club, begging the question, how far is too far when it comes to bad internet takes.

3. The Los Angeles Marathon announced it would give runners the option to end their marathon race at 18 miles due to dangerous heat, and stated they would still receive a medal.

I don’t really have anything new to add on any of these topics, and you can probably guess where I come down on this. Charity runners are as deserving as anyone else (have you tried raising $3,000 while training for a marathon and working full-time?). You can still be putting in insane amounts of effort (and yes, getting up at 5 a.m.) and not run a seven-minute mile. People should not be ruining people’s lives over one Thread on running a marathon. And your race is your race; someone taking a medal at 18 miles does not diminish your accomplishments.

(My favorite take on the LA Marathon is calling it “woke” and "the world’s easiest marathon.” Have you run 18 miles? IN 80 DEGREE HEAT? Do you think any part of that is freaking easy????? But I digress.)

Over the last two years, I’ve tried my best to curate my experience in the running community as something inherently positive. There is a ton of good in this community, and I’ve been lucky enough to find it. Places where every accomplishment is celebrated, where failure is seen as learning, where people lift each other up instead of tearing people down. Running has been my space for positivity, motivation, and seeing the best in people, particularly when very little else in the world is providing that. And the last few days, running has felt nothing like that.

I’ve talked a lot about how I started out running, and part of the reason it took me over a year to like running is I started on the toxic side of the sport - a side that’s always been there. I didn’t join group runs (that I paid for) because I was so anxious about inconveniencing other people and the judgment I got for not being as fit as others. I hated myself for gaining weight while training for a marathon. I saw people doing run streaks and “no days off” and hated myself for not being able to do that too. My anxiety around running was so bad when I first started that I’m not really sure how I’ve even gotten here. And while some of that was self-imposed, a lot of it was encouraged by a toxic undercurrent in running culture.

Long before social media, there were toxic parts of running. I think we have all seen examples of eating disorders and pressure to be skinnier in the running community, and that pre-dated us all being constantly online. Pressure to be perfect, to PR every race, and to push through injury has certainly always been there too.

Over the last few years, running has boomed (again), and more and more people are joining the sport. It’s harder to get into races. You see more and more running influencers. Running is a larger (or new) part of marketing for brands. And it’s created this new culture of competition in a sport that’s really just supposed to be about improving yourself from the day before.

Every (EVERY) single time there is a major race lottery, the running community explodes with commentary on who does and does not deserve a bib. (P.S. there are a ton of races out there that don’t require a lottery.) Sometimes it’s charity runners. Sometimes it’s anyone who can’t run a four hour marathon. Sometimes it’s influencers. The recent incident is only the latest in a very long line of runners who feel they have the right to decide who does and does not deserve to be a part of this community.

And whenever there’s a major marathon, there are people out there judging the people who take “too long” to finish. People commenting on people’s pace, saying “that’s not running, that’s walking.” People arguing over whether or not someone deserve their spot in the race. My knee went out at mile 10 of my first marathon - I was literally crying in pain - and yet somehow the worst thing to me was not finishing and proving alllll those people who said people like me shouldn’t be out there right.

That is not normal.

This community is supposed to be so inclusive, a sport with a low barrier to entry.

But this is how you end up hating it.

And maybe that’s the goal. Maybe the people who want to gate-keep the sport want people to get frustrated, tired of the negativity, tired of being told they are lesser, and they leave.

The last few days I have been absolutely exhausted by the community that usually brings me so much joy. To the point where I have wanted to be off social media as much as possible (I know, I know, that’s probably a good thing regardless). But the truth is, there has always been a toxic part of running that is just somehow louder this week than normal.

So what do we do about it?

Honestly, if I knew how to fix this, I would snap my fingers Thanos-style and do it. But I don’t.

I do my best to surround myself with positive forces in the community. People who focus on the good, consistency over perfection, including everyone.

And I try my best to be a positive force too. Running has brought me so much, and I want other people to have that too. Regardless of how fast you run, how many days you run, when your alarm goes off in the morning.

We give so much more attention to the negative takes than the positive ones. Maybe we should try giving the same engagement to people who lift us up rather than tearing down the people who are tearing down others to start. It just makes the negativity louder.

If we do it right, the running boom won’t be temporary. People will fall in love with the sport like many of us have. The sense of accomplishment when you run further than you thought you could. The smile on your face when you hit the split time that used to be impossible for you. The celebration at the finish line of a race, recognizing that YOU JUST DID THAT.

The vast majority of runners I have met are a force for good. I don’t mean to make it seem like there’s nothing good about running culture. Running can be such a positive force for good in our communities and in our own lives. We just have to lift THOSE voices up.