Let's Stop Glorifying Grit

I saw a post floating around social media that made me roll my eyes: “The person who chooses to run outside in the winter over a treadmill is a powerful person.”

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I’m sure the poster had good intentions. But, c’mon. Do we really need to act like being warm is some kind of luxury that makes you soft?

Brady Holmer, a sports scientist and runner, had a good response on X: “No. Let's stop glorifying ‘grit’. If the weather is bad and you'll get a better workout on the treadmill, run on the f***ing treadmill. Nobody’s superior because they run outside.” He nailed it.

Oversimplistic sayings that fetishise grit are all over the internet and running culture. Most of us have seen those Steve Prefontaine quotes: “To give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift.” “Somebody may beat me, but they are going to have to bleed to do it.” “The best pace is a suicide pace, and today is a good day to die.” (There’s no proof the late long-distance runner said the last one, but it’s commonly attributed to him.)

And then there’s people like David Goggins, the Navy SEAL-turned-ultrarunner, who is famous for his hard-nosed, unrelenting motivation. One of his most cited quotes is “I don’t stop when I’m tired, I stop when I’m done.”