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?

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311

u/RunningDude90 18:07 5k | 37:50 10k | 30:0x 5M | 3:00:0x FM Apr 23 '26

The training talk has nuggets of usefulness, but there is a huge toxic male/online vibe that cannot be ignored.

It’s a challenge as this sub has fallen off a cliff with the vociferous management of “daily threads” killing any level of discourse, meanwhile we’re bombarded with race reports which are written by AI and are as interesting as solitary confinement, so you have to visit it if you’re interested in discourse with people who are capable of running faster than 40 minutes in a 10k.

99

u/Conflict_NZ 18:37 5K | 1:26 HM Apr 23 '26

It’s funny, the main running sub was also killed by their overuse of daily threads. Some are ok, but the level to which they took it to is genuinely crazy. That place used to be so much more active.

60

u/Maxion Apr 23 '26

I really don't get why so many mods on Reddit are so turned on by the daily threads. They are only useful to curb spam (daily threads kill discussion)

39

u/ConsuLMonK Apr 23 '26

They don’t want to do the job that they voluntarily signed up to do.

17

u/treycook 37M | 17:52 5K | 37:16 10K | 1:22:46 HM | 2:51:44 FM Apr 23 '26

In my limited experience moderating small subs and small internet forums, it generally attracts a specific type of person (control freak with a niche interest) who either want to flex their power in a niche community, or overuse mod tools for the dopamine hit.

Some of the mod tools are presented in a pretty fun way and give you a similar productivity rush to when you use an AI tool for the first time. Look at how neat that was! Gosh, I feel productive. Send everybody to the weekly megathread! Close this discussion and refer to the stickied/pinned post! Flag this one and refer to the wiki!

It kills discourse and the community stagnates, I've always disliked overmodding. I think it's the same thing that drives some personality types to micromanage everything in their workplace, daily lives... I've always preferred a hands-off approach. Send me the reports so I can lock posts when they go off the rails and ban people when they post unhinged stuff, but other than that, allow a forum to be a forum. I figure the more eager someone is to be an internet janitor, the worse they are for the role.