{"id":854804,"date":"2026-03-27T22:56:19","date_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:56:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/854804\/"},"modified":"2026-03-27T22:56:19","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:56:19","slug":"running-influencers-are-making-big-money-and-inspiring-many-to-get-active-but-there-are-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/854804\/","title":{"rendered":"Running influencers are making big money and inspiring many to get active \u2014 but there are risks"},"content":{"rendered":"

A woman checks in with her phone at various intervals along her 30-kilometre run route.<\/p>\n

As the video flashes back it shows her getting ready, putting on her running belt and shoes.<\/p>\n

On another account, a man speaks directly to the camera explaining what his next race will be. He’s training for an ultramarathon where he’ll try run for days around a loop course, until there’s no one left standing.<\/p>\n

“In\u00a0life, all the things you want are on the other side of doing the hard work,” he says.<\/p>\n

He’s tagged a popular exercise gear brand in the post.<\/p>\n

They’re both part of the online runfluencer community that finds engagement promoting exercise, but has also sparked debate about injury risk and the quality of advice offered.<\/p>\n

Ending the ‘doomscroll’<\/p>\n

Brisbane-based run coach and personal trainer Katie Dall has had a front row seat to the explosion of running’s popularity both in-person and online.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Katie Dall is a run coach and personal trainer based in Brisbane. (ABC News: Lottie Twyford)<\/p>\n

One of the weekly run clubs she hosts now attracts crowds in the hundreds. It’s so popular they’ve had to get marshals involved.<\/p>\n

Runners at another of the clubs she hosts said consuming content online, as well as posting it themselves, helped with motivation and inspiration.<\/p>\n

“Anything that helps get young women out and about and gives them confidence and gets them healthy, I think that’s always a good thing,” one said.<\/p>\n

“It’s when you’re sitting about lazy, doomscrolling on the phone and then come across a video of somebody running and you’re like \u2026 ah, just get my shoes on,” another added.<\/p>\n

“I get a lot of inspiration from others as well \u2026 and use that for my own motivation and drive,” a third said.<\/p>\n

\"collage<\/p>\n

The run clubs hosted by Ms Dall attract big numbers. (Supplied: Club KT)<\/p>\n

But in recent months, discussion online has turned to conversations about injuries \u2013 particularly those related to stress or overuse \u2013 after some high-profile influencers shared injury news and started posting about recovery.<\/p>\n

Ms Dall said running influencers were mostly having a positive impact, but admitted she was “definitely” aware of a lack of education about over-training and how to structure a weekly running plan, as well as how to know how many events to sign up to each year.<\/p>\n

“I see people coming to every single run club, signing up for every single race, trying to get a PB at every Parkrun on a Saturday or even some of the 5km run clubs that I host,” she explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘Doing too much’<\/p>\n

Even with her years of experience in the industry, Ms Dall concedes it is “easy to be influenced and to get caught up in what other people are doing”, although said that is something she no longer struggles with herself anymore.<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

UK-based Mary McCarthy is a running influencer whose recent stress fracture sparked intense online debate. (Supplied: Instagram)<\/p>\n

“A lot of people get FOMO, so I can definitely see how people are getting injured \u2026 and how physios are becoming a lot busier than they used to be,” she laughed.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, she said she could understand influencers themselves would feel the pressure from brands to enter more events than she would recommend, and to perform well in them.<\/p>\n

“With Hyrox and all these new running events popping up \u2026 people are definitely doing too much,” Ms Dall explained.<\/p>\n

“It’s quality over quantity \u2026 just stay in your lane.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Dr Becca Salmon is another UK-based influencer who has spoken about being diagnosed with a stress injury. She’s said she underestimated the level of rest and fuelling she required. (Supplied: Instagram)<\/p>\n

Stress injuries not a ‘badge of honour’<\/p>\n

Brisbane-based exercise physiologist and dietician Cam McDonald agreed promoting exercise and running was “a great thing”, given how many people still did not exercise enough.<\/p>\n

But he was concerned by running influencers promoting “overtraining” or wearing injuries like a stress fracture like “a badge of honour”.<\/p>\n

“It’s the worst thing that we could possibly be doing for people,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The way to think about exercise \u2026 is that it’s stress on your system.<\/p>\n

“The only time you get stronger from running, stronger from the gym, or the only time you benefit is when you rest afterwards.”<\/p>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Dr Cam McDonald runs Precision Health Alliance in Brisbane. (ABC News: Luke Bowden)<\/p>\n

Dr McDonald said a stress fracture could be interpreted as a sign of “lots of stress but no recovery”.<\/p>\n

He understood where some of the pressure on influencers to perform and keep “pushing forward” would be coming from.<\/p>\n

‘Go slow’: How to become a runner<\/a><\/p>\n

We spoke with running coaches who said running isn’t something you should rush.<\/p>\n

“It’s hard to commercialise sleeping, or videos of sleeping,” he said.<\/p>\n

“[They show] working really hard all of the time \u2026 at race pace all of the time, and it’s a great example, but it needs moderation and it needs a lot of recommendation around the right recovery.”<\/p>\n

Dr McDonald said he would be concerned to see runners training for anything more than three marathons a year, and wanted to see more conversations about fuelling properly and taking rest days.<\/p>\n

“It is unrealistic \u2026 the elites don’t do that kind of training, they actually have a whole lot more rest.”<\/p>\n

“There’s an imbalance there and we can do something [to make] this great message \u2026 a little better.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"a<\/p>\n

Dr Crystal Abidin is a is a digital anthropologist and professor of internet studies at Curtin University. (ABC News: Aran Hart)<\/p>\n

Digital anthropologist Crystal Abidin said the promotion of lifestyles that seemed unattainable or unrealistic \u00a0was not an issue unique to running influencers.<\/p>\n

“We need to remember the origin story of lots of influencers is that they’re pedestrian, everyday ordinary civilians just like you,” the Curtin University professor of internet studies said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“They’re not celebrities, they’re not experts and therefore what they promote to us feels attainable.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A woman checks in with her phone at various intervals along her 30-kilometre run route. As the video…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":854805,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4322],"tags":[243738,243735,1630,105,459,243737,43374,13691,20362,160971,243736,4712,243734,35253,182,449,16,15,127,416],"class_list":["post-854804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-fitness","tag-cameron-mcdonald","tag-club-kt","tag-fitness","tag-health","tag-instagram","tag-katie-dall","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-race","tag-reels","tag-run-club","tag-running","tag-running-influencers","tag-shoes","tag-social-media","tag-tiktok","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-videos","tag-viral"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116303612752633806","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=854804"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/854804\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/854805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=854804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=854804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=854804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}