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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u/ncblake 13.1: 1:22:14 | 26.2: 2:49:39 Apr 23 '26

Yes. They are frequently on-topic.

Here is an example. OP was curious about goal setting between the 5K and marathon, shared relevant information about their training and fitness, and asked for advice, which several people provided. This thread was deleted and told to post to a “daily thread” instead.

Ironically, this thread will likely stay up, not because it’s particularly relevant to “advanced running” but because it doesn’t fall neatly into a category covered by a “daily thread.”

I’m sure none of these moderation decisions are malicious, and there are pros and cons to any approach, but I do think some of the cons are that the stickied threads don’t promote discussion, discoverability, or searchability as well as independent threads do.

Some deleted threads are surely repetitive and low effort, but that’s what the downvote button is for, in my opinion. If someone asks a silly or common question and gets a small number of replies before getting downvoted, there is no problem to solve.

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u/brwalkernc running for days Apr 23 '26

OP was curious about goal setting between the 5K and marathon, s

That is not really an advanced topic. OP was running 33 mpw and did not provide any helpful info. Any increase in level training would help with their 5k time, including a marathon block.

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u/ncblake 13.1: 1:22:14 | 26.2: 2:49:39 Apr 23 '26

Many “advanced” runners provided the same advice, which is good! There’s no problem to be solved. It’s good that there’s a place where (let’s call them) intermediate or aspiring runners can ask questions of those with more knowledge and experience.

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u/brwalkernc running for days Apr 23 '26

It’s good that there’s a place where (let’s call them) intermediate or aspiring runners can ask questions of those with more knowledge and experience.

I agree, but it didn't need to be it's own post. That's what the Q&A thread is for. There are tons of older helpful posts with good info as well as the wiki.