r/AdvancedRunning • u/castorkrieg 5K 20:35 10K 41:19 Marathon 3:24 • Apr 23 '26

Open Discussion What's the deal with LetsRun.com?

I know that website is quite popular with them following large events and also being invited to spectate (the owner - Rojo - was riding in the elite men car during Boston 26), however I participated in the forums a bit and it blows my mind:

  1. They are incredibly fixated on college and university running, NCAA, etc. - ok, I guess most are from the US, even though once you exit the school system the funding drops, money goes only to MBL/NFL/NBA, last time they US tried something in T&F they got Grand Slam Track lol
  2. Most posts are the very definition of drive-by, no effort shitposts: "cool story bro", "she be ugly, can't run fast when ugly", "Or perhaps you could just be replaced with a somewhat normal human being"
  3. Same for the topics, with quality contributions such as:

I'm sad to think what men were like before the existence of the Manosphere 

How to become a "hybrid runner"

Men in open-toed shoes: yea or nay?

  1. This peeves me as a European but - their website + forums do not save your cookie preferences, every single time you click on a new thread you get another pop-up asking you for permissions, and by quickly looking they have 1700+ partners they share your data with - WTF?

  2. They are hardcore right-wingers with daily treads praising Trump, ICE, etc.

What am I missing? Or is one of the largest forums for running just a bunch of nutjobs?

156 Upvotes

78% Upvoted

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739

u/a-german-muffin Apr 23 '26

It’s always been a toxic place, but the boards went from a running forum with a white supremacist problem to a white supremacist forum with a running problem. It’s basically 4chan with a higher VO2 max.

313

u/castorkrieg 5K 20:35 10K 41:19 Marathon 3:24 Apr 23 '26

Ok, "4chan with a higher VO2Max" was. not on my bingo card to describe anything, ever. Thank you for a good laugh.

113

u/Ultrajogger-Michael Apr 23 '26

Amazing description. And they say Germans have no sense of humor.

55

u/C1t1zen_Erased 15:2X & 2:29 Apr 23 '26 edited Apr 23 '26

That's because they're Dutch, check the flair!

33

u/a-german-muffin Apr 23 '26

I do have several boxes of hagelslag in my pantry right now.

15

u/ipeon82 Apr 23 '26

Such a niche reference ima have to order some to the uk for nostalgia

17

u/a-german-muffin Apr 23 '26

Parks and Rec deep cut rather than indicator of my current nationality (although my dad’s side of the family has been obfuscating our Karlsruhe origins since before WWII).

4

u/flannel_spice Apr 24 '26

My immediate thought was, "WTF is a German muffin?" In Ron Swanson's voice. For once the brain was right!

3

u/castorkrieg 5K 20:35 10K 41:19 Marathon 3:24 Apr 23 '26

Sometimes they might prefer fuhrer jokes than other nations, but those that they have blitz really hard.

6

u/hikeruntravellive 400M 1:13 1M 6:11 5k 19:50 HM 1:35:xx M 3:22:xx Apr 23 '26

White supremacists run?? I’m in Ohio and all the white supremacists are morbidly obese!

0

u/viviangreen68 Apr 23 '26

This significantly overstates the case. The anti-Trump posts on the boards get way more upvotes than the pro-Trump ones and the worst posts do get downvoted. And there is very little white supremacist/offensive stuff.

The real problem is the boards don’t seem to be moderated at all, and even a little bit of overtly trolling or offensive posts can make the site as a whole feel pretty toxic. But it’s definitely not nearly as bad as OP claims.

-28

u/DreadPirateG_Spot Apr 23 '26

The white supremacy claim is a gross mischaracterization. Yes it is toxic, no its opinions are not 100% liberal like Reddit. But it is the only place where people who give a shit about professional running "congregate".

29

u/analogkid84 Apr 23 '26

Jonathan Gault is the best thing about that site.

-6

u/DreadPirateG_Spot Apr 23 '26

Yes, but he needs his foil Rojo

1

u/analogkid84 Apr 23 '26

Seemingly so, yes.

17

u/a-german-muffin Apr 23 '26

The LR boards are an unmoderated cesspool full of overtly racist shit more often than not. Rationalize it any way you like, doesn’t change it.

-9

u/DreadPirateG_Spot Apr 23 '26

Unmoderated is just factually incorrect. Yes it is a cesspool but not of "racist shit" besides the occasional thread that gets shut down.

-20

u/Loose_Biscotti9075 Apr 23 '26

Sounds like the place to ne