I had never run more than 3 miles in my life when I signed up for my first half-marathon. It was the month after I turned 25, and all my friends were signing up. On social media, people in their 20s were describing marathon training as their “quarter-life crisis.”
“To all the type A perfectionists who are no longer getting validation from good grades in school… how’s marathon training going?” one Instagram reel with 9 million views says.
While I didn’t venture as far as running a full marathon, an increasing number of my peers have. Turnout of 20-somethings in the New York City Marathon jumped by more than 50% from 2019 to 2024, from about 8,000 runners to more than 12,500. At the Los Angeles Marathon, the share of 20-something runners surged to 28% in 2023 from 21% in 2019. Strava — LinkedIn for runners — reported a 9% increase in 2024 in people logging marathons, races longer than a marathon, and century rides (a bike ride of at least 100 miles).
Whither go this stampede in Nike shorts? During pandemic lockdowns, with gyms closed and nothing else to do but run circles around the nearest park, running took off. Four years on, we’re reaching peak running mania. Running USA says it has found in surveys that the number of people in running clubs in the US increased by 25% over the past five years. People are even adding their marathon times to their résumés. Those who used to roll their eyes at people waking up before sunrise or turning down social plans to accommodate their Sunday long run are now pounding the pavement and splurging on expensive running vests and gels. And people aren’t just running marathons — they’re pursuing increasingly intense competitions and challenges.
The website iRunFar found that in the US, the number of longer-than-a-marathon races, called ultras, increased to 2,033 in 2023 from 233 in 2000. The company behind the Ironman triathlon — which consists of a 2.4-mile swim, a 112-mile bike ride, and a full marathon — says that in 2024 there was a 24% global increase in people under 30 registering for the races. Online, influencers like Russ Cook, who spent 352 days running the length of Africa, and Jonny Davies, who ran 960 kilometers in 11 days, are seeking out increasingly arduous stunts to accomplish and share with their followers, while inspiring more people to follow in their footsteps. It all raises the question: why now?
After graduating from college in 2020, Rylee Jade Ollearis needed something to do. She had wanted to be a runner but never carved out the time. Now she had plenty. “I laced up a pair of eighth-grade track shoes and started trying to run to my grandma’s house,” the 27-year-old tells me.
At first, the 2-mile run through Chicago was a challenge. But gradually Ollearis built up to a half-marathon. After completing the half, she challenged herself to run a full marathon on her 23rd birthday — the ambitious goal gave her a sense of purpose, something to work toward. Since official races were still canceled, she completed the 26.2 miles on her own. “My mom parked up in the park and just hung out all day, and I just ran circles around the park,” she says.
I don’t know what happened in the last three years — companies caught on and they made things cool.
A cyclist in college, Ollearis was used to training for a race — the clear objective helped her stay focused and motivated to work out. She also realized that running was about more than the physical challenge. “It was about discovering what I’m capable of and constantly pushing my limits,” she says. Ollearis has since run two official marathons, three Ironmans, and three ultramarathons.
Women especially are taking to the streets in droves. In the most recent New York City Marathon, women between 25 and 29 outnumbered every other age and gender segment — a major reversal from the years when men in their 40s were dominant. In fact, when the first marathons were held in the late 19th century, they were thought to be safe only for young, fit men; people thought running would make women infertile or overly masculine. Now, Gen Z women in the US are joining Strava twice as fast as they did in 2023, making them the app’s fastest-growing demographic. Women “are constantly being told to shrink and slow down,” Ollearis says. “I wanted to be that woman who shows up and is strong.”
For those watching from the comfort of their couch, it might seem masochistic to train for and run a marathon, let alone an ultramarathon. But Kevin Masters, a clinical psychologist who teaches at the University of Colorado, says participating in extreme fitness challenges can help people find a sense of purpose. It sets a goal that is attainable but not easy. For young people who graduated into an uncertain and shifting world, purpose was a hot commodity. In a 2023 Gallup survey, between 43% and 49% of Gen Zers said they didn’t feel like what they did each day was interesting, important, or motivating. “Running was one of the few things people could do,” says Adharanand Finn, the 50-year-old author of “The Rise of The Ultra Runners.” He noticed a lot of people get into running during the pandemic lockdowns.
But even without a pandemic, navigating your mid-20s is tricky. As the traditional goalposts of homeownership, marriage, and parenthood get pushed further back, many young people are looking for other ways to measure their progress and regain a sense of control. Some are calling it their quarter-life crisis.
Plus, there’s the influencer effect. As more people got into running, more people posted about it, which influenced more people to get into running, which led to more running influencers. In many ways, running has become cool; in a recent video about the running boom, Keltie O’Connor, a college basketball player turned fitness YouTuber, said that was one reason more people were doing it. “I don’t know what happened in the last three years — companies caught on and they made things cool: like On Cloud, and then Oakley sunglasses,” she said, adding, “Running suddenly got a cool factor, and brands jumped on it.”
Between TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, and Strava, it’s now easy to find inspiration to push yourself — a different reality from when Finn was running ultramarathons in 2017. Back then, he says, ultra running was a niche sport. Now budding racers can open TikTok and follow someone’s training plan from day one to race day. “Once you get sucked in, you start following people on Instagram, meeting other runners, buying the kit,” he says, “and before you know it, you are running a marathon.”
The running world has become a robust community for young people. “It’s a music-festival vibe,” O’Connor said. “With more people turning to sober living and wanting to meet people outside the club and not feeling like they have to have a drink just to meet someone, they can sign up to a race or join a run club and meet people.”
And once you’ve got a marathon under your belt, you can either go faster or farther.
After completing her first marathon, Ollearis decided to sign up for an Ironman. For six months she trained every day. “I was swimming on Monday, Wednesday, Friday. I was running on Tuesday, Saturday, and I was biking on Thursday, Sunday,” she says. Training took over her life for a few years — she often turned down social events, prioritizing recovery over late nights out. She has no regrets.
“It gave me a lot of purpose. It gave me a reason to show up every day,” she says. “While it was a challenge at times, I don’t feel like I missed out — I feel like I built something I’m really proud of.”
Ollearis began documenting her Ironman journey on TikTok, and her following grew by 100,000. The more she posted, the more her follower count grew.
I got kind of addicted to that feeling of having a really hard goal and finding a way to get it done.
“It became an experiment of how far can this go and can I turn this into something bigger than just the race?” she says. This year Ollearis was able to quit her full-time job and focus on online coaching and content creation. In October she ran the Chicago Marathon — which had a record number of runners — with a sponsorship from the brand Biofreeze. She hit a personal record. “I am nowhere near the professional level, but I am still getting paid to work out,” she says. It’s the dream.
She’s part of the flood of new running influencers who have gained traction by posting about their running journey or training routines. To stand out, creators have to up the stakes. When Chase Bandolik, a 28-year-old gym owner from Chicago, was trying to get colleagues to donate to his first marathon in 2019, he told them that if he raised $1,800 for charity he would run wearing a weighted vest. “I ended up running a marathon with a weighted vest before I ever ran a marathon without one,” he tells me. “From there I got kind of addicted to that feeling of having a really hard goal and finding a way to get it done.”
Two years later, he ran his first 100-mile ultramarathon — he ran on a treadmill for 17 hours, briefly slowing to a walk every five miles to eat or drink. Then he signed up for an Ironman. Bandolik enjoyed the accountability that came with posting his progress online. “A lot of times at these races there are people who sign up and don’t even show up or give up early,” he says. But when you’re sharing everything with your followers, “there’s extra pressure to finish it and get the job done.”
Bandolik’s goal for this year is to qualify for the Backyard Ultra championships — a race where competitors run a 4-mile loop every hour until only one runner is left. “The cool thing about the endurance world is there’s so many directions to take it,” he says. “They’re creating longer and longer and harder and harder races.”
For young people who might feel like traditional life benchmarks are out of reach, competing means there’s always another milestone to hit.
Eve Upton-Clark is a features writer covering culture and society.
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