Sharing it all on social media

It's either happenstance or its a reflection of the current mood in the camp, but two of the newsletters I regularly read posted this week about the slow but definite ebb away from social media.

I recently went a whole two weeks between grid posts on Instagram . It's really the only channel I use to 'promote' this publication, even though I've actually got about 50% more subscribers to this newsletter than followers on Instagram. It's not the normal way around.

Either way, Twitter died as soon as I began this trip of writing about running. I tried Threads but it's just brands talking amongst themselves (and I count as a brand in this instance). Bluesky kinda feels like Old Twitter, but I just don't have the 2007-level energy required to build that up.

IG's algorithms are janky, but I still get enough good stuff for myself to keep it a worthwhile venture. Sure, it took three days to get my wife's latest post in my feed (even though I was in it), but I did get to stay on top of the latest edition of The Speed Project almost in real time.

Runners, I feel, still like to hang out on Instagram. We share photos from our runs. We post us wearing new bits of kit. We pore over the latest race results. We look at how other runners, friends, are running all over the world. It's all very in the moment, very connected, and very visual. It's a nice way of keeping in touch with the whole sport fairly passively.

And it's kinda that. I get enough stuff for me on IG, but I think I've always curated my feed pretty well. Those Twitter/X trolls that actively annoyed everyone else? Never really got 'em. I was mainly on there for the comedians workshopping their jokes. I also knew how to sort my feed chronologically, and I guess little bits of technical knowhow like that helped, but I believe it's more the intent that I was primarily building something for me and only me to consume.

On the creator side, this week, after appearing on the For The Long Runpodcast with Jonathan Levitt (more on that below), I received a few really lovely interactions on IG from people who found me on there after listening to the podcast. Shoutouts to Juliana, Shariq, and Ross, but especially to fellow -ziq Haziq.

It's good to reassess every so often, but I'm currently happy with writing here, and watching/posting on Instagram.

Back to those other newsletter posts, then. Both are by runners, but neither writes explicitly about running. I had a good moment last week, but all three of us are coming from the same starting point of being thoroughly exhausted with the relentlessness of it all.

Those of us who are around 40 years old are the first generation to have spent their whole adult lives online. We are the canaries down the coalmine, so it's expected that we might struggle. There were no best practices when we came along. There was no playbook. If we understand social media better now, it's because of us, and the mistakes we've made along the way.

As the platforms continue to evolve, and people learn how to use (and abuse) them, we pivot accordingly. Mirroring many a millennial's stance on the economy, however, a lot of us are giving up. We need a break, at least. There's seemingly not enough value in it all.

You may know Robbe Reddinger from Believe In The Run, but with his Suppertime newsletter, he blends some brilliant metaphors around the rest of his life. I love this one, and I know he's going to figure out his best path.

The next one is from Anne Helen Petersen , whose Culture Study newsletter is the one I have the most readership crossover with. It makes sense that I'm a fan. Anne goes into our relationship with social media the perfect amount. She always does this.

How to judge your year in sport

Unless you're planning on running more miles, more elevation, for more time, and more frequently every year for the rest of your life (something that is very, very, very, very unlikely) I suggest that you try to temper judging your year in sport.

As an incredibly risk-averse person, I always think about the year that I got those downwards-pointing arrows next to my stats. Right now, I'm maybe in the strongest moment ever in terms of my running, but it won't last — it can't — and I want that inevitable, permanent turning point to be as painless as possible.

With that said, don't worry if you haven't shared your Strava Year in Sport results on social media yet. Those stats will keep on compiling until December 31st, so you can still get those extra 3 miles in.