The Trials and Tribulations of Running YouTubers

I noticed his emotions. I suspect somethings happened in his private life that he understandably doesn't want to mention publicly.

OR he was just incredibly tired.

As said above, he's not offensive in the great scale of shoetubers. He's not pooping out 8 sub standard videos a week to "stay relevant"

He just makes his occasional video, flogs his hats, says hello when people greet him and seems normal.

So at this time, I'll cut him some slack

This is where he loses many people.

I wont task you with going back and checking various previous videos but I would just point out he cries in race vlogs very regularly, regardless of the performance. I completely get it for when he ran 2:25 PB in Valencia, but otherwise it's just weird. Crying because he's running over Tower Bridge 20K into a Marathon he's done numerous times? It's not some mystery about his personal life. He even cried watching people finish Brighton 10K in 60+mins, a while back or crying before even starting UTMB.

He may think it's motivational, but indulging yourself running a (relative to his PB) very soft time whilst arm out-stretched to film, edit, add emotive music and upload yourself crying, is what turns so many people off these personalities. There are literally thousands of people out on the road going through the same challenges, serious injuries, many with more responsibilities in life, and they are not being as self-indulgent. I wouldn't mind if Cole is overcome with emotion after that monster race performance but this is just silly.

I agree with the forced drama. Phily's inspirational voice-over whilst grinding it out and everyone clapping when she walks into the pub is straight out of Rocky.

I may be missing something, but all her splits seemed between 2.24 and 2.30ish pace. The huge risk and a big swing seem more like a cheap narrative device.

The above being said, kudos for finishing the race. Also, she oddly resonates with lots of people on YouTube. Loads of engagement and comments along the lines of:

"The fact that my husband and I waited for this video like it was the last episode of Game of Thrones… With teary eyes and all. I really hope you are as proud of yourself as we are!"

For some reason, I picture adults wearing Disney-themed PJs.

The carry-on online about Phily's video has been a bit mad.

In all honesty the entire thing has post-London. She had a crack at a goal but fell short for a number of reasons, and she hasn't just immediately gone down the "woe is me it was hot" route like many that made no effort to adjust plans. But still, there's definitely been an oversaturation of "took a swing" narrative.

I've seen comments about how authentic she's been, but she also went to Greece for an influencer holiday straight after?

It's obviously not aimed at me or most of us here - but it still seems quite fake/vapid.

Phillys just a glorified sub-elite. needs a massive performance in her next race on the sponsors will ditch her again. if i were her, id spend the rest of the summer/autumn sorting out her 10km and half marathons times as they are mediocre if she ever thinks shes going to run 2:23. they need to be <32 and v.low/sub 70 to start a chance of much improvement.

the months spent in altitude camp have not been worthwhile and pointless when the place she stayed was snowed in. why not go to Kenya, for shorter spells, race more regularly and target Valencia with the other ego strokers

Where is Ben is Beggings video?! Can't stand the guy but will give him a rare view to see how he spins the 13 mile death march into being definitely capable of sub 2:20 in his next one

The Philly video was as dramatic as expected.

"Took a swing" x 20. Despite slowing pretty quickly.

She's a 2:28/2:29 runner who had one incredible day in perfect conditions with a great pacer taking her all the way.

Probably won't run sub 2:28 again

Ben Parkes is an emotional guy. I can imagine him crying watching Friends or something. Sad that he threw his race away to sell merchandise, by gotta make that bank.

Only one I'm invested in at all is Cole, who will be itching to get back into it. Wouldn't mind betting he has a crack at Berlin or something. He won't sit on his laurels too long.

I quite enjoyed the Phily video but my god, the jump cuts in that initial scene sitting on the couch with her coach was just so excessive. We're talking about 15-20 cuts per minute and it's incredibly annoying to watch. If you really want to be authentic then actually let us hear you speak the way you speak. I've heard her speak on other media outlets where she's being interviewed and she does just fine - I have no idea why Phily and Daniel feel the need to edit it in this way on their own channel.

Because that's the way it's done these days for the low attention span social media generation. Preferably with karaoke stlyle captions like we're all retarded and need to read what the person is saying.

I imagine they needed to shoehorn this conversation into the shape of Phily taking the big swing. As the title of the video puts it, "the biggest risk of [her] career".

Nothing suggests she went out at a heroic pace; however, her rabid fans seem to swallow the brave warrior going out taking the ultimate risk to achieve glory. In all honesty, it's been a PR win for her!

not watched yet but has she said anywhere why she bothered doing London? has she said how much she was paid? poor decision to spend 4 months training for a race which you know will just be a lonely trot and much slower than Berlin. she could have done Seville or Hamburg as a proper race and just used London as a glorified training run/been a pacemaker. after all, holly archer was on the "elite" start and plodded round in 2:39

With Hamburg being on the same day, that would be quite the achievement. I'd certainly click on the video recap if she did it.

Thomas says in his review of the Pro EVO 2 that he ran a marathon in the Pro EVO 1, but it took him half an hour longer than the shoe was optimized for, because it was such a hot day. Yeah, right. I think these Adidas shoes are actually designed for marathons that are nearly 2 hours faster. Apparently, Thomas considers himself a sub-3-hour runner.

In 2024, he totally flunked Boston, flying back to the UK that very evening. Then he set up the expo stand and somehow managed a 2:48 marathon on Sunday in London.

Compared to London 2025, when he casually squeezed in Paris just two weeks prior (which was obviously not smartest choice ever), 2024’s preparation was a disaster, yet he miraculously ran a way better time. Truly baffling.

lol Thomas is a 4:30 marathoner. Every time there’s a BITR video on a shoe and he’s loud mouthing through the whole thing I just turn it off because he’s completely clueless and has zero to contribute to any discussion of running.

What I would like to hear him talk about is the dumpster fire that is his personal life.

I think both Phily and Ben Felton need to stop doing the altitude training. More time training at the actual paces they need to run for the races they are racing is more important.

He ran 3:54, sub 9 minute (8:58) pace! He actually blew up the least of the YouTubers who ran it. It is ridiculous and everything that is wrong with running culture that he's running 9 minute miles in $500 shoes. He'd be better off with a Brooks Ghost.

I looked up his marathon times from 2022 to 2025, and his average time is 4:09:32. Not a bad result for someone over 50, but can he really afford to call others slow and engage in pace shaming… and all this while wearing Pro EVO 1 shoes?

2022–2025:
4:25:06
3:54:32
5:05:02
3:52:23
3:48:41
4:28:47
3:32:17

It's bizarre to me that these elite and sub elite runners purposely train at altitude. It is well understood one should sleep at altitude (to get the blood gains) but train low (to work harder).

This is the consensus in academia and in every other endurance sport. Kenyan doping really confused the running community.