34 Comments

Community-building is as community-building does. This is the role-modeling we all need in 2024. Thank you, Relayers. Thank you, One Iowa.

That's funny about the static requirements of family. When I visit my mom in Oregon, she always prepares a dinner of meat loaf, creamed corn, and mashed potatoes. That is what 8yo me thought was a bomb-ass meal, but I have been vegan for almost half my life. Every year, I remind her of this reality and fill up on salad instead. Every year, she hears just fine and declines to listen. I understand this is her note to me that she doesn't feel included in that second half of my life. She's not wrong. Any emotional maturity, such as it may be, that I achieved as an adult has been supported by having my family at a distance, geographically and calorically. There's always room to improve my communication, for sure. Like with tangos and embargoes, though, it takes two to make that work.

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I've been looking forward to your 2023 in running newsletter since June and I thought maybe you decided not to write one but I am so glad you did. I strongly agree that "[t]here are few things more humbling than having a group of people, many of whom are strangers to you, see you at your worst," because I felt it too. I was an emotionally fragile wreck and only knew one person on the team IRL when we started, but you all pushed me and pulled me to the finish. We all did that for each other. Thank you Lyz, Molly, Em, Gabs, Jennifer, Katie, Alissa, John, Rob, Keaton, Ted, Alan, and April. <3

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I held out because I really needed the end of the year break and I didn’t want Classy Tom and Caleb yelling at me that I did a year end round up before the year ended. (Just kidding! Those men can’t yell at me!) You started the relay group because of your own losses and loneliness thanks for doing all that work and bringing us together

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It was my pleasure. I had a chance to trust people and prove myself to people and it paid off all around. The entire experience was better than I could have hoped for and exactly what I needed.

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I used to run alone with music blasting in my ears until one day I opted out of the music. It was 6:30 a.m. in spring, and for the first time running, I heard the sounds of the world waking up. It was an unbelievable moment I will always remember. Then there was the time a friend asked me to run a 10k with her. She was nervous about the distance and that her pace was super slow. I wasn't a fast runner and was thrilled she asked. Together, she finished next to last and I finished LAST!! It was awesome. I highly recommend finishing last with a friend.

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That last line x 1 zillion. Just right.

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I started running in at the end of 2022 and mostly kept up a weekly practice through 2023. I’m proud I’ve kept back to is the few times of year where I got off track. I’m still running alone, as a primary caregiver to two young kids being alone was one of the benefits of running. I have similar hesitations about running with others, “I’m not fit enough to breathe and run and talk at the same time. I’m too slow or can’t go far.” Perhaps this year I’ll consider running with someone else.

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Some years are for learning your power alone. Some years are for learning on others. I hope your running journey helps you find what you need

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You’d think those scripts would get quieter as we age, but 40ish years on, and in my head I’m still that husky kid that can’t “run for shit.”

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I ran from age 11 until 46 when I had to quit due to chronic illness. It’s been two years and I miss it so much. I’m hopeful that I’ll find a way to get back to it, even if it doesn’t include marathons and ultras like before. And the people I’ve met through running are simply some of the best people. Cherish every run, even the terrible ones. The ability to get out there is truly a gift.

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I started running at age 42 and it was so empowering to run my first 5K! I ran consistently for about five years and then less consistently as minor injuries crept in. Two years ago I destroyed my ankle which ended any chance of running again. I miss that feeling of accomplishment and wish I had done a group relay when I had the chance.

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Why am I crying?

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We all need people and too often we have to do it alone. It’s too much

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Thanks for capturing this aspect of running. In my experience, the right group can generate a sort of positive collective hysteria. What seems hard or unattainable actually becomes fun.

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Thank you, Lyz, for a wondrously inspiring, tear inducing, sharing of joy. A Happy and Peaceful 2024 to You and Your Beloveds!

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I love running with people and I love training alone. Both/and. Relays are incredible. How can you not bond with people who smell you at your worst? I ran a half marathon this year, and I run a race most years, but this one hit different because my only goal was to train in a kind way, a way that didn't end up with me being injured at the end, and a way that allowed me to have fun more than set any kind of PR. Best race of my life because afterwards I had enough energy to walk around a new city with family and friends, eat some great meals, and bask in the glow of post-race accomplishment. I'm already looking forward to not setting any records next year.

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I shared this column along with my own response and thought I should share it with you, too, Lyz:

" I haven't run for a long, long time. But once I did.

I like what Lenz writes about the stories we (and others) tell about ourselves. In my family, I was the reader, the one who didn't want to do strenuous things. True...but also

I did basketball, track, and volleyball. I rode for hours up highway 99 and other places on my bike, (with friends sometimes and often alone) and went on RAGBRAI every year. If I wanted to do an after school activity, often I walked or rode my bike home, which was at least a few miles on steep curve gravel roads. So, a reader. But also, athletic.

I like what Lenz writes about doing things alone, and doing things together, and about clonky, sometimes unbeautiful persistence.

And I like that she used that running to raise money in Iowa for trans care when it has been so threatened. Sometimes, we can do the things.💜"

Thanks for all that you do.

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What a great newletter!

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I love this! Sometimes, I think I might want to run with others. I've been running since high school and I am now 61. I have never once referred to myself as a runner. I just say "I run with my dogs in the mornings." I don't enjoy it. I never have. I think, at this point, I run because I can. I sort of feel like if I stopped I would just fall over and die 😅🙄

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Running, alone without music, podcasts, or carrying anything but a house key, was my sanity until I was waylaid by physical issues. I replaced it with biking (again, alone). I miss running every single day. Not because I was great, but because it hurt and I never stopped. Keep going...

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I’m from the south. I embody the “Southern Girls don’t perspire” meme to the point that when I was in middle and high school I never completed the state fitness tests - somehow I was always on my period. (Male PE instructors always fell for this).

In 2018 I got a personal trainer and for 2 years I went two days a week, lift heavy things and absolutely nothing changed. Covid changed everything I knew about myself.

First I walked because that was all I could do and I needed to do something besides watch the unnerving 2020 election coverage. My boss joined a virtual across the country race and needed a team - I told her I could give her 2 miles a day. She ran and I walked. We made it across country and then some and we actually won the race.

The first big change was going to a full service running store and finding out that I have been wearing the wrong shoe size for most of my adult life. The second is finding out that not only do I sweat, I sweat E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E!

Sometime that year - I started running down the hills because it felt more stable than walking fast downhill. Then I ran on the flat parts and next I am just running. I am still in shock that my body can do this. My first 5k that clocked in under 30 minutes was mind blowing. I still have the picture I took of my Apple Watch.

I lost and have kept off 40 pounds in the last 3 years - this wasn’t a miracle to me - My current size is how I pictured myself even 40 pounds ago. I never envisioned myself a runner or an athlete and now I am.

I walk with others but I haven’t graduated to running with other people yet - other people throw me off.

I agree running isn’t for everyone but it’s being outdoors that makes it my favorite choice.

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