Running Practices A series edited by Margret Grebowicz Fly-Fishing by Christopher Schaberg Juggling by Stewart Lawrence Sinclair Raving by McKenzie Wark Running by Lindsey A. Freeman Running Lindsey A. Freeman ILLUSTRATIONS BY HAZEL MEYER Duke university Press Durham and London 2023 © 2023 Duke university Press All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America on acid- free paper ∞ Designed by A. Mattson Gallagher Typeset in Untitled Serif and General Sans by Copperline Book Services Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data Names: Freeman, Lindsey A., author. Title: Running / Lindsey A. Freeman. Other titles: Practices. Description: Durham : Duke University Press, 2023. | Series: Practices Identifiers: lccn 2022035503 (print) lccn 2022035504 (ebook) isbn 9781478017011 (hardcover) isbn 9781478019657 (paperback) isbn 9781478024286 (ebook) Subjects: lcsh: Running—Social aspects. | Running—Physiological aspects. | Running—Psychological aspects. | Queer theory. | Feminist theory. | bisac: sPorts & recreation / Running & Jogging Classification: lcc gv1061 .f74 2023 (print) | lcc gv1061 (ebook) | DDc 796.42—dc23/eng/20220811 lc record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022035503 lc ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022035504 Cover text handwritten by Lindsey A. Freeman. for Jessi This page intentionally left blank CONTENTS Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 Stride—Form—Cadence—Pace 14 On the Subversive Nature of This Handbook 17 A Note on “Just Do It” 30 Leaving It All on the Track 33 Running Is a Contact Sport 37 Running after Olympians 42 Running Is Your Life 56 Speed Play 58 Personal Best 61 In Training for the Boston Marathon 70 Running the Risk Of 84 Courage, or The Paris Marathon 87 Runner’s High 91 Let’s Let Our Running Be Real 97 On Hitting the Wall and Writer’s Block 101 Repetitive Stress 105 A Note on Cross- Training 112 A Note on Running to Music 114 Big Gay 10K 117 This One’s for the Rabbits, the Also- Rans, 120 and the Dreamers Loops—Practice—Repetition—Ritual 126 Cooldown and Stretching 131 Notes 135 Bibliography 145 Things I Thought With, Things I Ran With ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book was written during weird and anxious times. The handbook was both my project and my company through the coviD global pandemic, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and a variety of personal struggles. In order to keep going, some- times I needed my writing and running friends to give me a lift and to shake me out of my pain cave. Thanks to Amanda Watson, Coleman Nye, Cait McKinney, and Andrea Actis, who got behind the seriousness. Karen Engle read countless drafts, listened to excited talk about the minutiae of running, and be- lieved in this project, even when I was unsure how it would all fit together. Lauren Berlant, Ann Cvetkovich, Craig Campbell, Randy Lewis, Marina Peterson, and Katie Stewart from my Public Feelings writing group listened to and shared feedback on several sections in their early stages and helped them to loop smoother, and with better form. Thank you as well to my research assistants Ileanna Chela- dyn, Abu Fakhri, and Marina Khonina. And to the Department