Something I learned over the last year as I got into running is that many avid runners don't even like running.<p>I wouldn't say that I "like" running, either. I got into running because I was experiencing a mental health crisis, and I needed something besides drugs and alcohol to deal with feelings that were otherwise impossible for me to cope with.<p>Suddenly, as a guy who has shouted "what are you running from?" at Bay to Breakers celebrants, what had been a joke became a dark and profound awareness. It turns out, I was asking <i>myself</i> that question. Running, paradoxically, helped give me the emotional resilience to face what I was running from head on.<p>There are very few things in this world that cost you nothing, are equally available to everyone, and can automatically, reliably and immediately improve your subjective experience.<p>This is a brilliant joke, and I love it. But the flip side is that almost everyone I know that ever got into running has Been Through Some Shit, is aware that running is annoying, not very fun, and kind of cringe, and Does Not Care, because whatever it is, running helps.<p>All of which is to say — you can think of run clubs as support groups, for everyone who has found themselves with a good reason to run, to be seen by other people who Know. For many runners I know, it's impossible to hate them anymore than they used to hate themselves. So, bring on the jokes.