Running is Stupid, Illogical, and F*cking Insane

Here's why you should do it anyway.

Jul 03, 2024

In Today’s Newsletter

Why running is an insane thing to do, and why you should do it anyway
How to keep going when you want to quit
and my personal running journey

Hurling yourself through the air, pounding you feet against the pavement, and not stopping for miles is, on paper, one of the most illogical things someone can do with their time in 2024.

We live in a world manufactured to cater to our every whim, nearly instantaneously. Cars and public transportation get us where we need to go, the world’s vast array of information and people are at our fingertips on our phones, and you can get an incredibly comfortable Eames dupe for just $600.

There is literally no reason in our current infrastructure to run anywhere, expending the energy when we could be watching Seinfeld for the 100th time.

Yet, despite this, 50 million Americans actively run, and the rising popularity of the exercise is even more evident with the explosion in run club culture. What are we all running away from?

Why You Should Run

One of my best friends once told me that humans are the best runners on the planet. I found this fact to be implausible at first glance. What about the cheetah? The puma? Turns out he was right.

Humans evolved over millions of years, not to be the fastest runners in the animal kingdom, but to be able to outrun their prey over hours and hours of hunting. They literally just didn’t stop, and eventually when other animals couldn’t keep up: humans went in for the prize.

Running is innately in our DNA, and the spirit of endurance lives within all of us, despite thousands of years of technological evolution.

The many reasons we shouldn’t fit running into our daily lives are the exact reasons we all may need it more than ever before. The world makes it so easy to take the path of least resistance. Running is hard, like really hard, and we are all better when we do the things that are often deemed too hard.

Running is not only a physical game, the right training, the right diet, but a mental game. Our mind tells us to quit, to slow down and take a seat, that we can’t go any further. But with the right mental tricks, we can often surprise ourselves.

How to Not Stop Running

When I run, I have an internal methodology for quelling the voices in my head telling me stop. Here are some mental exercises I like to do—

Pros and Cons Game

In my head, I start to list out the pros and cons of continuing the run. This usually doesn’t hit until after a few miles, and sometimes earlier on a hot day or if I my legs feel heavy from a high mileage week.

Here’s an example:

Pro: If you hit your mile goal, you’ll feel accomplished, fit, and get kudos on Strava.
Con: If you stop you’ll be a failure and everyone in your life will be ashamed.

The actuality of these pros and cons doesn’t really matter, but fear of failure and rejection is a powerful tool you can utilize if you need to. In this instance, the pro outweighs the con… and you keep going.

Future Self Evaluation

When running, think of a future version of you watching your current self. Do you want future you to be proud of the effort you put in and the results you achieved? When you look back at this moment, will your future self be more proud of you for running farther than you’ve ever gone, or wish you would have stayed inside and watched TikTok’s? This David Goggins video lays out this concept well—

My Running Journey

In high school, some of my friends decided to run track. We all hung out everyday after school, and I’d be spending a lot more time alone in my bedroom listening to Earl Sweatshirt’s ‘I Don’t Like Shit, I Don’t Go Outside’ if I didn’t join them on the track team.

Begrudgingly, I started running. And it was immensely embarrassing. I was not an athletic kid, I didn’t play any sports growing up, lacked coordination, and had a few pounds I could have lost. Most importantly, I easily gave up.

I got put into the races that didn’t really matter, and underperformed even low expectations. The entire endeavor felt so foreign and awkward to me, which showed in my often last place results.

After that season I never ran track again, and all but gave up running until I went to college, where I’d pick up running every now and then, but then spend too many evenings after class hitting the bar, and too many mornings hungover.

It wasn’t until I graduated, in the midst of the pandemic, when my post-college life felt hopelessly out of control, that I decided to really lean in.

That Summer, I got a membership at my college rec facility, and started running the indoor track nearly everyday. What started as a 2 mile jog, turned into 3, then to 4, until I was able to run long distance outside across campus.

At times, running felt like the only thing I could really control. Where relationships and friendships changed, jobs came and went, and the world shifted beneath my feet, running was a constant that kept me sane.

It was a time of pure isolation, stress relief, and a place to gain clarity.

Years later, I found myself running more often and in extreme conditions when things in life got tough. It served as a coping mechanism, something that kept me accountable and sane. And despite how unhealthy it may have been to spend hours in the blistering Summer heat running around town, I did get pretty good.

Now I find myself here in New York City, a place that feels made for running, and I’m currently training to run the 31 mile perimeter of Manhattan later this Summer, my most extreme physical challenge yet.

Will I be able to do it? Without a doubt. Because there is no other option.

If you’re in NYC, I host a weekly run club called ‘The Manhattan Project’

We take off every Saturday at 8am for 5 easy miles. Join the Strava club here for updates. I’d love for you to join me. Here’s what I ran this morning:

Thanks for reading this special running edition of Who Do You Know? I’ll be doing more dedicated newsletters in the coming weeks, but will be back to my regularly scheduled daily content tomorrow. Have a great day :)

Jake Bell is a content marketing, creative strategist, and designer based in NYC. He specializes in brand building, content creation, branding, art direction, creative strategy, and making things cool.

Want to chat? Email me: jake@jb.studio