Track and Field Blogs - Molly Huddle

Aside from conveniently being the name of the Saucony casual product line, I have been thinking about how running culture is an actual phenomenon. I was thinking about this as I was embarking on my quest for abs in the gym the other day. I noticed a group of dudes who showed up pretty regularly and lifted pretty hard. One of them was there every day, mostly training high school kids, but he must have been a body builder of some kind himself. Between the time he obviously spent lifting and the time he spent training the kids, he must live in the gym. “Lame” I thought, not realizing my hypocrisy. He was meticulous beyond anything I’ve ever witnessed or done in my own workouts, and I do this for a living whereas he is doing it as a hobby… obsession, compulsion….etc. He usually brought a cooler of food and bright pink powdered supplements to the gym. One container actually had brussel sprouts in it, so I’m sure the others were equally appetizing. I heard him talk about how he “hasn’t had junk food in 30 meals”. He counted be the meal!

The other guys joked with him and asked if he wanted to go out for beer and ice cream. He simply pulled up his tank top and flexed his stomach, which showed every vein and muscle under his papery, tan skin. “you must not be fun to hang around right now” said another large dude. “That’s why I live alone” he answered matter-of-factly. He boasted about his pants size, said his clothes were feeling tighter, “ just since January” . I rolled my eyes, figuring the others would do the same, but no, they compared trials and tribulations in the weight room and were genuinely in awe of him. “What is the point” I wondered “in just getting as muscular as you can? What is the function of ‘being swoll’? Who cares?” Then it hit me, well what’s the point of being… fast? What’s the point of being the fastest person of ALL, even? Like the lifter, other runners would respect you.

Like lifting, it carves out a lifestyle for you. We go to bed early, eat a certain diet, do certain drills and spend money on massages because, well what an obvious question, because we will run FASTER. And everyone who runs thinks it makes sense, it’s just a part of the culture. Race a 5k at 7 am? Sure, part of culture, not weird at all, like eating Haggis to a Scotsman, or wearing Ugg boots to a sorority girl. And it can be a lonely, too, like the body builder. Running culture includes solitary moments, whether you’re actually alone with just the tumbleweeds at mile 15 on a training run, or just alone in your choices like not going out every night of the week, or being too tired to do something fun so you take a nap instead, or not taking that day trip to Santa Fe because then you’d have to move your run to an inopportune time, (grumble).

I left the gym thinking I actually wasn’t so different (sans abs) from the lifter dude. I am so far into a culture of running that I didn’t even notice that my life is kind of weird too. Kind of solitary at times, maybe not as meticulous as his, but certainly governed by what makes me faster. But, I guess that’s how a culture works: weird to those on the outside, and a sacred and unquestioned way of life to those on the inside. Heavy.