Thoughts While Running #030
i used to be a morning person
…and by ‘used to’ I mean ‘still am’ but the difference is mornings are no longer ‘me’ time.
Of all the things I was forced to give up after becoming a mom (my bodily autonomy, the freedom to pee by myself, casually watching TV…ever), the one I’ve had the hardest time with was losing my mornings. This has by far been + continues to be the hardest adjustment for me since becoming a mom, a forced relinquishing of those precious, quiet morning hours. 1
You see, my son, unfortunately, inherited my sleep habits. My husband, despite a penchant for waking up at 3am, can sleep pretty much on demand. He’s an excellent napper and if left to his own devices could easily sleep in till 9.
I, on the other hand, cannot recall the last time I slept past 7am, jet lag included. If the sun is up, I am up; tired or not, I am awake. No matter my bedtime, I will still be up at dawn. Case in point : my son was so excited his Michigan Grammy and Uncle Chris were here the other weekend he refused to go to bed, as in he literally just said ‘no’. I think we all finally passed out around 1am and were up four hours later, with the sun and a very enthusiastic, slightly feral, 3 yr old.
During the week this was when I’d go for my runs; rolling out of bed, downing some caffeine and logging a few miles before work.2 On the weekends I’d enjoy a warm beverage from the comfort of my bed while reading or writing or sometimes streaming a show while my husband slept next to me. Now there is no lounging and instead of watching ‘And Just Like That’ I read
’s recaps, which TBH are far more enjoyable anyway.I don’t get these mornings anymore, or rather they look vastly different. I still wake up early and if the mister sleeps in I’ll make a matcha and do a little work, savoring the quiet of the morning with a cat (or two) next to me. So routine has this routine become, Mama Cat often waits for me on the couch.
I don’t work out at 6am anymore, as my morning is now one that involves making breakfast for two and convincing a toddler who’d rather play with trains peeing is, in fact, a necessity. Now I run at 9 or take a class at 10. I’m that person people see and wonder ‘does she have a job?’ because my day starts well after everyone else has started theirs.
When the store first opened, I ambitiously tried to open at 10, which lasted all of two days, of which I only made it on time once. We now open at 11am, however I resisted posting store hours for weeks, in denial that I was incapable of opening any earlier. I still feel a bit like I’ve failed, or my hours are too abbreviated (we close at 6) but it’s not like i’m sleeping in every day. I’m still up early + often squeezing in a meeting with a vendor, therapy, or a workout (or sometimes all three).
Living in a fog socked city like SF, giving up my early morning solitude hasn’t been totally terrible. Now when I run the sun is more likely to be shining, drivers tend to be paying (a little) more attention. Running on trails is much more enjoyable (+ less creepy) without the fog + coyotes howling. Not to mention running during a time of day when others are more likely to be out is also just a touch bit safer as a female running by herself.
I’m coming to terms with my used-to-be morning person status, the hardest part being that, like most things that happen when becoming a parent, it wasn’t really ever a choice. It was an assumed reality that at some point will balance itself back out. I still enjoy the occasional lazy morning, it just now involves a toddler and watching ‘toy Thomas’ on YouTube3.
So while the mornings aren’t necessarily ‘me’ time, they’re ‘we’ time. I’ll reclaim them as my own some day if he ever decides to start sleeping in, at which point he’ll probably be too old to want to cuddle with his mom anyway (but I hope not).
Consumerism in Running :
I hosted
from Running Sucks Friday along with a few key leaders from the Bay area run community (check out his below) - it was a great night full of new + familiar faces. Raz has been a huge champion of Running Wylder since day one; back when it was just a confusing substack mixed with random musings + fashion ideas all loosely tied back to running (which it might still be?)
Looking back on the evening, the conversation + the people, it really hit me just how lonely I had felt prior to opening the store. SF isn’t exactly the easiest city to break into, and I’d spent nearly 7 of my almost 10 years here at a brand I struggled to adapt to. I’d been feeling like an outsider - at my job because I wasn’t fashion enough, in the city because I wasn’t tech enough. Now that I’ve been removed from that industry for over two years (!) I’ve come to realize it wasn’t me, it was them. Fashion is an incredibly small + insular world, one in which I never really felt like I ‘fit’, which made it even harder to find my people. There are a few gems I still keep in contact with (you all know who you are + I love you) but now, eight months into this new life as a running store owner I can truly say I’ve found my people. Mondo from Nth Degree, Raz, Abel from Corremos, Rosie…everyone in attendance at the store? Y’all are my people + I’m so incredibly grateful for it.
Faith’s Nike’s Breaking 4 :
I don’t think I need to state how I feel about Nike + if you’ve stopped in the store at all, you know my thoughts. I appreciated
’s optimistic take on the event, however, I’m a bit more pessimistic when it comes to the brand, especially when they put a large amount of money behind something (like women’s sports, *cough*).Des + Kara’s view on their Pod is fantastic - if you’re crunched on time just skip to the middle, which is where they talk about it. I appreciated their enthusiasm for the bra as my reaction was a little less than,4 as well as their perspective on just how unrealistic it was to shave 7 seconds off the mile time. Not that breaking the 4 minute barrier is impossible, but as Kara put it, Faith is the world record holder + multi olympic gold medalist. She’s already at the top of her game; there’s no tweaking she can do to her training or her diet to make a huge difference so at this point it’s less about her as an athlete + more about what she’s wearing, ie : whatever gimmicks Nike can innovate into. I appreciate what they did by elevating her as an athlete, but did they change the trajectory of track? I don’t know.
I saw commentary somewhere (I can’t remember where, apologies) that argued Nike did more for track with ‘Breaking 4’ than Grand Slam Track. I’d argue track has been having a moment, kicked off by ‘Sprint’ and the Paris Olympics. Both Nike + Grand Slam Track are simply capitalizing on the trend. I’d also argue Nike is more of a marketing company than a product company. They create something new every 10 years and put a lot of money behind it to make it an industry trend.5
Not to say I wasn’t incredibly excited to watch Faith attempt the impossible, but as an outsider, it did at times feel more like a Nike showroom + the influencer/press focus overshadowed the main event. Why wasn’t the stadium packed with fans? It was almost awkwardly empty, especially when the memories of it filled to capacity during the Olympics are still so fresh. It seemed more like a moment for the press than a moment for the fans (and athletes). I was listening to Lauren Sherman’s ‘Fashion People’ podcast on my run yesterday + she mentioned she was at the event when news broke about Anna Wintour stepping down as editor in chief of Vogue.6 She talks about receiving the news while waiting to ‘watch a woman run the mile.’
I’m sorry, but this was more than ‘watching a woman run the mile.’ This was a historical event - she might not have broken 4, but Faith still shattered her own world record. Rather than filling the stadium with super fans eager to watch Faith run, they filled it with reporters waiting to ‘watch a woman run the mile’? I haven’t watched the documentary and given how little free time I have to watch anything these days I probably won’t so if there was a reason the stadium was empty (too much cheering would create too much wind?) let me know in the comments.
At the end of the day, will we be seeing 3D printed bras rolled out to the masses? Who knows, as the most common complaint I hear about bras in my store is level of support. Very few A-cuppers like myself come into the store complaining about what the options are, because most bras work well enough for us.7 The most complaints I hear are women with larger chests who need the support to be able to comfortably do the sport they love. Faith’s bra was about creating a lighter weight, less restrictive garment. For an elite runner where support isn’t the issue, I suppose this is innovative, which is why Kara + Des were so excited. But will this translate to the masses?
Nike be nike-ing, and they don’t drop millions of dollars if there isn’t an ROI. I’d love to say their attention on supporting female athletes has nothing to do with the upward trajectory of women’s sports but Nike goes where Nike sees dollar signs, and I don’t think we’ve fully seen what they have planned for their post-Breaking 4 track product.
While the world might be paying attention to Nike now, the two running brands I’m most excited to watch over the next year or two (+ stock on my shelves) are New Balance + ON. Ones that have been true to the sport while also supporting and innovating through their athletes, without the necessity of an Amazon Prime documentary.
*k
As I type I have two feet currently kicking my back because ‘mama your writing is so booooooring’. It’s 6am.
No stretching, obviously because I was on the side of forty where I still thought I was invincible.
‘Toy Thomas’ = middle aged men building train sets using ‘Thomas the Train’ trains. 10/10 wouldn’t recommend.
I DM’d
‘Eliud Kipchoge got a shoe that changed the trajectory of running + all Faith got was a bra?!’ She obviiously got more than that but launching with the bra just felt…lackluster.exhibit a : the flyknit. exhibit b : the alphafly
if you have no idea who this is, it’s a big deal to the fashion world. but she’s basically still in charge of everything so also like, not a big deal.
I was supportive from back then because I saw the clarity of your vision and thought immediately, and it was fantastic to see it having come to fruition on Friday evening. Thanks for creating it!
I watched a panel from L’Équipe (main French sports newspaper) discuss the event, and apart from one person who thought Faith’s run was a significant achievement, they all agreed that Breaking 4 was more of a marketing coup for Nike and its innovation than a chance to build more excitement around Track & Field. One panelist even equated the event to high-tech product testing.