Becoming a Sustainable Runner: A Guide to Running for Life, Community, and Planet

Anyone who runs enough to, say, pick up a book about how to sustain more running likely attaches part of their identity to running. That’s not a bad thing! It is okay to love the part of ourselves that is committed to running and be fascinated by the way our body moves through space. Acknowledging that identity helps us commit to the work that runn

Sure, we can do a quick search to find running clubs in our area and check them out on social media to see if we are a fit. The real compatibility assessment begins when we bravely show up, hoping there will be another equally awkward person who made the same choice, and we can gravitate together. But doing so requires confidence to even get there,

Learn how to sit in the discomfort of failure. To what behaviors do you revert to get away from those feelings of discomfort—blame, avoidance, distraction? What can you learn to make sure you never feel like this again?

Leaving it to the experts, Renee McGregor, a sports dietitian with a specialty in REDs and eating disorders, explains how digestive issues and recurrent injuries are two of the most common symptoms of REDs, but are often ignored or written off as something else. According to McGregor, “Individuals who are in low-energy availability frequently exper

It is not only about the mental and emotional side either; there are biological reasons that we thrive on running in groups. We came across this concept reading Brad Stulberg’s The Practice of Groundedness. Brad discussed Kelly McGonigal’s work on the collective joy that our species is hardwired to feel when we move in synchrony with others. We kno

If our mood continues to be unstable, or we experience physical symptoms that could be related to overtraining (see chapter 5), this is a sign to back off. This is a time to give ourselves grace and understanding if days or even weeks of training are missed. When we take the long view and prioritize consistency, there’s always space to take a coupl

Agriculture isn’t just a driver of climate change but is also a victim of its shifting conditions as the climate grows less stable and increasingly unpredictable. As Jonathan Safran Foer wrote in his book We Are the Weather, “Changing how we eat will not be enough, on its own, to save the planet, but we cannot save the planet without changing how w

Reduce your consumption whenever possible. Use Buy Nothing groups and share between friends. Set a challenge to reuse each packaging item at least once. Remember, you don’t have to be a zero-waste master who fills only a mason jar of waste each week, but it is about reusing things whenever you can. Rethink your running clothes by choosing quality o

No one wins at it. You can sit for 30 years and still be a beginner. I love this as a counterbalance to my competitive side as a trail runner.” Getting started might be the hardest part, particularly for those of us who feel uncomfortable or downright itchy when forced to sit with our thoughts and feelings. Like many folks, your brain might feel li