To Those Who Wait

Hello! Welcome back to Footprint – and happy Friday.

The best thing about being a journalist is the people you get to talk to. It’s one of the reasons I fell into running, too: there’s no way I’d have trained for a marathon, or run through the New York winter, without meeting so many interesting, smart, inspiring people along the way.

It’s why I enjoy writing this newsletter. It gives me the chance to speak to a bunch of runners, who — from breaking records and directing races to volunteering inside prisons and publishing research — are helping build this sport.

This edition, featuring one of Britain’s brightest marathoners and the founder of a brand making waves on the trails, is more of the same – albeit with a fresh design. And from now on, Footprint will be published every other Friday.

As ever, let me know what you think: just hit ‘reply,’ or email me.

EDITION #20

💨 Olympian Eilish McColgan on what she learned running April’s London Marathon, after organizers drew the ballot for next year’s race

💰️ Is running too expensive? Alex King, founder of Terignōta, and Cole Townsend, who writes the Running Supply newsletter, talk to Footprint

⭐ How running pioneer Nina Kuscsik, who died this month, changed the game

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1 👀 HOPES OF FAITH

Faith Kipyegon will try next week to become the first woman to run a mile in under four minutes – a bid she hopes will inspire a generation of young women. “You have to dream, and just be patient for it,” she said • Read

2 😮‍💨 TRACKING TRAINING

Watches and wearables are good at monitoring your workouts – but listening to your body is still better, Alex Hutchinson writes in Outside • Read

3 ✏️ NOT NAPPING

Distance runner Drew Hunter wrote an interesting essay about chasing big goals while navigating the “beautiful chaos” of family life, and what fatherhood has given and taken from his running • Read

4 ⏱️ EVEN STEEPER

From 2027, the Boston Marathon will adjust qualifying times from races with at least 1,500ft of net elevation drop between the start and finish, Theo Kahler reports in Runner’s World • Read

5 🙄 SHOWDOWN SHUTDOWN

For months, Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles and Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill have been hyping up a sprint showdown. It’s been canceled • Read

INTERVIEW • EILISH MCCOLGAN

To Those Who Wait

The London Marathon was a long time coming for Eilish McColgan.

Over two and a half hours this spring, thousands lining the streets of the UK capital cheered as the four-time Olympian made her debut in the marathon. What they didn’t see was the two and half years it took to get there.

McColgan, 34, was set to run the marathon in 2023, only for a knee problem to force her to withdraw days before the race.

Finally getting to the start line “felt that little bit more special,” she told Footprint, but also intensified the pressure. “I almost felt like had to be there, I had to be on the start line, and I had to finish it one piece – just for my own piece of mind, to be honest, just knowing how difficult it had been, leading up to that.”

Marathoning runs in the family: McColgan’s mum, Liz, is one of Scotland’s greatest ever distance athletes, and a former New York City and London Marathon champion. (“It’s really difficult to stand and watch,” she told Footprint earlier this year.)

When race day arrived in April, it fell on an unseasonably warm day in London. “I found it tough a lot earlier on than I was hoping,” said McColgan.

Feeling “pretty rough” from the gun, she quickly found herself alone, and ended up running some 25 miles solo. “Mentally, that’s probably what I’m most proud of: just the fact that I slogged it out, and didn’t give up,” she said. “I didn’t stop. I didn’t quit. I still put one foot in front of the other, even when I knew my time goals had slipped away from what I was hoping for.”

“Over the past few years, with the injury and stuff, you start to maybe doubt yourself a little bit,” added McColgan. “You lose a little bit of confidence in your ability.”

But as she crossed the line in 2:24:25, finishing eighth overall, there was no doubt as to what she could do. She was a marathoner, at last.

“It was a tough experience, but I don’t think there’ll be anything tougher than that now,” said McColgan. “I’m definitely prepared for whatever my next marathon throws at me.”

Although disappointed with her time – and confident she can run “much faster” – she was the first British woman to finish, and broke the Scottish record previously held by her mum.

“She used to have pretty much all the British records, and then they’ve been broken. I’ve managed to move a lot of them back into our family name again,” said McColgan, who holds British records in the 5,000m and 10,000m.

She is tentatively eyeing Paula Radcliffe’s longstanding British (and former world) record in the marathon, although under no illusions as to just how fast 2:15:25 is. “There’s gonna have to be a hell of a lot of work to try and get that one back into the family name,” she said.

McColgan, who got engaged to her partner, fellow Olympian Michael Rimmer, in the days after finishing London, is now back to training. But before confirming her next race, she’s still thinking about the last one.

She grew up watching some of Britain’s greatest athletes, from her mum to Radcliffe, turning right in front of Buckingham Palace and running the final stretch of the London Marathon along the Mall.

“It’s such an iconic finish,” she said. “So it was a pretty special moment to be running down there myself.”

🎧️ OFF THE RAILS

In the first episode of their new podcast, Eric Jenkins and Aisha Praught-Leer discuss why Grand Slam Track’s shutdown statement felt like a text from an unreliable boyfriend • Apple | Spotify

📺️ THE LONDON DETOUR

Olympic triathlon champion Alex Yee documents his London Marathon weekend, from start line nerves to his support crew’s scramble across town • YouTube

🎧 HURDLE

Diljeet Taylor, head of BYU’s women’s track and field program and coach at Nike, on deviating from the roadmap, recharging, and learning from setbacks • Apple | Spotify

FEATURE • COST OF RUNNING

Pushing Back On Prices

Running’s chief selling point is accessibility. You can head out when, where, and for however long you want. And you don’t need to own a boat, rent a tennis court, or pay dues to join a team.

It’s cheap, in theory: all it takes is shoes and workout clothes.

But performance footwear and apparel – much of it made by the omnipresent brands that help drive this sport – is anything but cheap. Right now, the price of everything from shoes and shorts to tees and socks is expected to climb.

Trail runner Alex King grew frustrated with this reality. “The premise of trail running is that it’s an incredibly simple sport that is easy to get into,” he said. “You just need a pair of shorts and shoes, and you can do it.

“But the reality of it is, at this point, those shorts and shoes and shirts have gotten so expensive – all the other gear, as well, has gotten so expensive – that it doesn’t feel like that simple of a sport any more.”

When asked about the significant prices they charge for their products, industry executives often stress that high quality and performance products come at a higher price. Cutting prices would risk cutting corners, they say.

The arrival of ultra high-end running brands shifted the market. Until relatively recently, “I don’t think there were premium brands, so I think we’re seeing more room,” said Cole Townsend, who writes Running Supply, a newsletter about running and fashion. “Pricing lower doesn’t necessarily serve them.”

Runners who can afford to pay more are prepared to do so, he added. “I do think the premium factor plays in. People who have money to spend have the power to choose, the ability to choose, the way they look.”

Last October, King set out to challenge the suggestion that higher quality requires higher prices by launching Terignōta, a brand selling performance products for less.

Performance trail running shorts from a leading brand can typically cost anything over around $60 in the US. Terignōta’s shorts are priced at $29, before shipping – just over twice what it paid to get them made.

“If you think me buying a pair of shorts for $11, $12 and selling them for $29 is a massive rip-off, that’s fine,” said King, who publicly broke down his venture’s financials last month. “I’ll give you the information, and you can make your decision on it.”

After speaking with former workers at some of running’s biggest brands, he reckons what he pays to make each product is on par with what they pay. He’s just charging customers less.

“I’m not spending a bunch of money on marketing,” said King. “I’m not spending a bunch of money paying bosses of bosses of bosses who just slow things down and increase prices. I’m not paying money to have some big headquarters. I’m not paying a bunch of money to, I don’t know, hire consultants.”

Some major brands spend north of $1 billion on marketing every six months: more than 10% of their total sales, if not higher. “I’m at 1%,” said King. “I don’t plan to make that any higher.”

King is not just wary of advertising because it drives up prices: he also thinks it’s unnecessary. “An incredibly high value product, you don’t need to try to sell it,” in his view. Word of mouth has been Terignōta’s biggest sales driver so far.

But for many brands, marketing is essential. The dominant players have used it to tower over the running industry for decades; the significant number of challenger brands disrupting the market use it to fuel their growth.

“That’s the one area where I disagree with his point,” said Townsend. Marketing might be expensive, but it’s “pretty critical” for most firms looking to boost awareness of their products and brands among runners, he added. “That isn’t free. It’s not necessarily an evil thing to do.”

Terignōta is not yet profitable, and King – who has yet to take a salary – is eager for its sales to overtake the costs.

“Obviously I hope to have this business be able to pay me and make money someday, hopefully sooner rather than later,” he said. “The business is not going to exist all that long if it doesn’t make money at some point.

“But the reason I started the business was not to make money. It was to bring value to the trail running community, in offering quality gear at affordable and accessible prices.”

Edition 19 • Paralympian Richard Whitehead is running 20 marathons in 2025 – and not holding back • Read

Edition 18 • Calli Hauger-Thackery is not content, after stepping up a level at April’s Boston Marathon • Read 

Edition 17 • NFL veteran Justin Britt’s career ended abruptly. Then he found running • Read

ONE LAST THING…

Nina Kuscsik, who died this month aged 86, was a running pioneer: the first woman to enter the New York City Marathon, and first official female winner of the Boston Marathon.

This line jumped out of her New York Times obituary this week:

She encountered strong resistance from the sport’s male-dominated establishment. It was suggested at the time that women risked losing their uteruses if they ran a marathon.

“I proved it over and over — my uterus didn’t fall out; I’m fine,” Kuscsik often said, her daughter told the Times. She ran more than 80 marathons.

In a 2016 interview with Runner’s World, Kuscsik said she couldn’t be happier that millions of women now finish road races every year. “Seeing how many women are running marathons today,” she said, “it just makes you realize you can change things.”