High Tones contributor, Sam Lohse did the NYC Marathon Scene and found himself in the mix of a Paris Fashion Week-like week of activiations from some of the world’s most beautiful running brands.
It’s 5:30am and I’m waking up to my alarm in the hotel on Halloween.
I’m in New York City for the Marathon, a weekend packed full of run community and culture. I’m getting ready to attend the first of two shakeout runs I’m participating in for the day, at the Soar Running pop up on Prince Street.
Photos courtesty of Soar + taken by Dave Hashim.
In typical Soar fashion, this run is early: 6:30am start time. It’s a 10k progression, focused on working down the pace to a quick 6:10 min/mile.
Soar’s community is a speedy one; they’re focused on performance, and most group activities preserve that ethos with workouts that will test you. This shakeout is supposed to be fast, as Soar wants you to feel the brand embodied.
Quick and bright colors move throughout the NYC streets, and soon we’re all back to the pop-up and it’s over.
After the run, the high-caliber mood immediately settles, as we all congregate and chat over some Cadence electrolytes. Where focused faces dominated the run, relaxed smiles now preside, and the emphasis is on being together to connect over running.
After the Soar run I head over to a pop-up in the Lower East Side hosted by Minor Planet and housing several other run-endemic brands. The gathering is eclectic, underground, organic. We’re all gathered around the tiny storefront to run through the city with Mike Kratzer, one of the community’s blossoming figureheads. If you told Mike he was a figurehead he’d probably humbly disagree with you, and simply states that he loves to run, and he needs it.
We head out across the Williamsburg bridge; the pace is slower, and the focus is on chatting with the runner next to you. I spend some time chatting with Malcom from Can’t Buy Cool Studios, another young brand growing amongst the community, and I’m stoked to get to know him. We stop to admire Mike’s billboard and for a group picture, then leisurely make our way back to the pop-up to share some coffee, oatmeal, and shop some goods.
The group runs and brands hosting them are different. Soar’s run is about speed, effort, performance. The Soar pieces donned are clean, technical, sleek. Mike’s run is about shared movement and company. The pieces at the pop-up are low tech, cotton, graphic-heavy. On paper, it couldn’t be more different.
But in practice, in culture, in community, the two runs are the same. While the physical aspects may differ slightly, the purpose is consistent: movement, and movement together. Regardless of the pace or length, the energy lies in getting out with others seeking the same thing.
