Instagram vs Reality- The Update

I’ve got to admit it, but I’m a bit late to the party. In my defence, I had a vague idea that it was going on, I’d just underestimated how big it was and exactly how late I was.

Of course I’m talking about running, and the party that I’m late to is the RunTok phenomenon of runfluencers. This time last year I wrote about Instagram vs Reality on marathon training and running, about how amazing it was that we now had resources and research at our finger tips on how to get faster, how to prevent injury, how to fuel and hydrate properly etc etc. And as Eilish McColgan pointed out last Sunday after she’d beaten her mum’s London Marathon time from 29 years ago, she’d simply had more hacks in her corner now compared to her mum all those years ago - joking that her mum had only used water and flat Coke to get around her marathon!

This is all good news; not only do we have this flow of information on social media promoting the many mental & physical health benefits of running, (yawn, we know this) we’re also being supported by unique motivational challenges with trends like #rununtil__________ (fill in the blanks - you give birth, see an octopus, an orange cat, see a sunset), turning a “boring” run into fun and frivolity with the pressure taken off the numerical data. It reminds me a bit of lockdown and the innovative ways I tried to keep my members engaged!

And now there’s a newish kid on the block vying for our attention in the form of AI, and I have to admit I am a fan, although slightly fearful of being made redundant due to the speed at which AI driven tools and technology are changing the game, not only for runners but coaches as well. There is so much more insight into individual performance optimisation, and let’s be honest, who doesn’t want their performance to be optimised, at their fingertips?

Wearable technology is now equipped with sensors that can track your running form, stride efficiency and fatigue levels, and as it’s gobbling up the stats, scrutinising past training programmes and weather conditions, it can predict injury risk factors based on training loads and be ready to provide you with insight into new training practices and race day outcomes quicker than you can say, ready, steady, go!

I love how accessible running is to everyone, how it’s transitioned from serious athletes who did it, to this almighty shift of #runtok having recently read how back in the day (1960s) a runner in America was reprimanded by police because he was running outside ON HIS OWN! he was asked what he was doing, because apparently only weirdos (who weren’t serious athletes) ran for purely for exercise.

Thankfully, now, we don’t all have to pretend that all this running is just about improving, we’re forgiven if we’re not constantantly hustling - no pain, no gain, and at last we can be honest and open about how much emotion we pour into our training, our racing or just showing up to run club. It’s no longer just about the physical, it’s become deeply personal and emotional – I mean, just look at the emotional descriptions on everyone’s Strava runs!

And this is all wonderful, it really is.

But what worries me about runtok is that the realities, challenges and persistent barriers are still there, I just don’t think they’re actually being made visible as we’re invited to “run with me”. The overtraining pressure, the body image aesthetics that we must aspire to, achievement anxiety, comparison culture and representation gaps, demographically and socioeconomically, are still very evident from where I’m standing.

I took a sneaky peak at Tik Tok and #runtok and immediately sent my daughter Ellie a message- OMG! I’ve just looked at run tok! I feel inadequate! She replied – Oh it’s a whole different world…

Isn’t it? Do we see the reality of running on RunTok? Where were the posts about the really shit runs? The runs that didn’t happen because you couldn’t get out of the car? Or when you did manage to drag your body out of the heated seaty, you managed to run 100m, felt crap, so got back in the car and went home? That wouldn’t have been a very interesting “run with me” tok! And what about the runs where you didn’t have time to put your make up on? Or you don’t have the latest gear? Or the ones when your gel has split in your back pocket because you forgot it was there and sat on it? Or how about when your legs don’t represent bronzed, defined gazelle like pins? Instead they’re mottled with pus centred, infected midge bites from when you were eaten alive from your run in the woods. Where’s that on social media?

And what is the reality of watching thousands of people running London Marathon in person, the full 15 hour day, that for the first time in a number of years I didn’t manage to do. I love supporting, you really do get to see the absolute best of people as a whole community of people gather in one place with a common purpose. It’s incredibly special to witness what was once thought of as an individual sport now having created such a huge community. I usually settle myself down in one spot, just on the Embankment, on the right hand side overlooking the London Eye, with a handy Pret just round the corner.

We get there so early we usually witness all the emergency services and support crew getting their briefing, as we settle ourselves in between the Boris Bikes and the barriers. The whole day unfolds as a race of many parts. The elite runners whizz past- focused, strong, determined, not a hydration vest or gel in sight, you blink and they’ve gone. This is closely followed by the fast club runners, the ground covered by the blur of red and green Vaporflys, a continuous rolling of “thwack, thwack, thwack” as the distinctive shoe rhythmically hits the ground, an automated herd all reaching their destination, just over a mile to go.

Then, the mass of runners stream past as the crowds surge, this is the point in the race that I think of as the “natural distribution”, the highest point on the bell curve, our position now an envied spot as family and friends beg to be let in as their loved ones zooms past, but not before a quick selfie!

The sound of the ground changes again, as the pain, sweat and tears becomes clearly etched in hot, sweaty faces, from the previous hours spent cooking nicely in the start pen followed by running in the mid-day sun- not only mad dogs and Englishmen but a whole host of recreational runners raising money for charity.

And this is where it gets real. For me this is the hardest part of supporting, as the crowds disappear without a second thought to the runners on the left side of the “average” curve, they’ve seen their person and they hurry away to the finish, excited that they’re part of the carnival.

But we stay, and we shout words of encouragement, useless shit that, although full of good intentions, probably doesn’t land well- shouting “you’ve got this” when clearly, they haven’t, feels heartless, but other than jumping over the barrier and giving them a hug, what else can you do or say – jelly baby anyone?

Watching people suffer isn’t pleasant. They don’t look strong, focused or determined - 200 metres can feel like 200 miles, they look broken and beaten, limping by, in tears, wobbling, being propped up but not by the crowds along the Embankment. I’ve always found it hard to leave our familiar spot when it’s time for us to move on. I’ve often dragged my heels, usually after having been given a stern talking to about how I can’t wait for everyone.

This is also the reality of running marathons, and just simply of running. Not just the social media hype of the images of triumphant arms raised high with a draped medal around the neck. I celebrate every single person’s sense of victory and pride for completing a marathon, but I would like more people to understand the reality that it’s hard work, with months of training- running a marathon isn’t a snapshot of just running, and then all you have to do is simply keep going. It’s so, so much more than that.