Running is release

You run. You release. You feel better.

 Perhaps that doesn’t sound particularly profound to you.

But that concept of cathartic release is one we profoundly believe is important. First and foremost for ourselves, as two people who run because it helps us deal with the everyday stresses and strains of life.

 That concept of release, though, is something we know resonates with many other runners too. And it’s something that we think the established brands don’t get quite right. There’s a whole lot of talk about personal performance, about enduring hardships, about pushing limits, suffering, gritting your teeth through pain, etc. And all those things are indeed what running can be about.

But where’s the recognition as to why we run?

Maybe it’s to get that new PB – sure, sometimes it is. Or maybe it’s to counter the too-boozy weekend. We’ve all been there. But for us, it’s a lot deeper than that. There’s something primal at the core of running. Something about how it unleashes not just endorphins but relief from the demons inside, small, medium, or large.

And guess what? The research on runners’ motivations shows we’re not alone in that thinking.

Running as medicine

Nine in ten runners say they get mental and emotional benefits from running.

The why, then, is release. It’s having that time out – from the desk, from the family chores, from the thoughts running around your head (pun intended) – and simply moving one foot in front of the other. You might be with others or on your own. But running is a personal pursuit where movement becomes medicine.

And there’s actually plenty of evidence that running can genuinely support mental wellbeing alongside physical health. We’re not claiming for one second that it’s a cure all for the complexities of anxiety, depression and other mental health challenges. But it’s sure as hell a useful tool. And we will shout from the hilltop (that we’ve just run up to at blistering pace, naturally) to tell friends and family who are having a tough time that running is something they could turn to, to see if it helps.

Why Run Riot?

‘Running riot’ is about that tension between the need to explicitly process the niggles and challenges of the day and the desire to simply empty the mind and find peaceful clarity.

Japanese novelist and avid runner Haruki Murakami put it best when he said “I run in order to acquire a void”. Or as Dom put it when we first started thinking about starting a running brand, “I run to blow sh*t up in my mind”.

In starting this brand, we want to celebrate the primal forces at play when we run. The release and the level-setting of the mind. And we want to do it in a fun, unconventional, and sometimes even absurd way. We want to Run Riot.

One final quote from the late George Sheehan feels apt to wrap up: “For every runner who tours the world running marathons, there are thousands who run to hear the leaves and listen to the rain, and who run to meet themselves.”

We’re for the runners who want to meet themselves. For those who want to have a little fun along the way. And those who want to look mighty fine while they do it.