Eric Floberg = Best Running Influencer

Not pretending, we are all aware 2:38 is pretty damn good. I cant even begin to explain to you how actually good that is.

Umm, this is Letsrun. If you're not running 26.2 miles in 1:56:59 or faster, there's no reason for you to comment here. Mods!

hes average and vain

at least seth demoor is a real running nerd weirdo this guy seems to think hes hercules

I agree that he is the best running influencer, but that speaks more to how low the bar is in general than an endorsement of him. I'm not actively annoyed by him, at the very least.

I don't find Floberg particularly interesting to watch - his comedy/wit just totally misses the mark for me, his story isn't compelling - but you have to understand he is trying to grow his channel. To do so, he really needs to differentiate himself from the other running influencers, which I think he has been doing so successfully - which is basically just consistently putting out the most cinematic, highest production quality running vlogs out there. I have no problem with this approach, but for me it simply isn't that interesting, either narratively or cinematically.

A 2:38 is not all that great in a world where everyone has a nine figure income, multiple homes, a 10+ wife, and multiple trials under their belts, all while holding a full time job and not neglecting family duties.

It's not even a good time for a female.

And another reason why he created this thread lol! To get more people talking about him who don't know him.

And the BPN thing... Just.. why. It makes me look back at his running times and the growth is a bit sketch... And now he's got a squat rack at home. Hey Nick, pass the syringe please! No need to clean it, we can save needles

Incredibly cringe who has gone downhill since he started promoting BPN on his channel. He tells people that he has a following because normal runners can relate to him. Yes normal runners can relate to someone sponsored by a nutrition brand, have an Instagram influencer coach, is paced by a 2:20 marathon runner, stacks bricks for each run, has an entire gym in their garage, becomes friends with all the YouTube runner influencers, gets an expenses paid trip to Nashville by another influencer, and etc.

I liked his content up until his recent Boston series. Something about his attitude has changed, maybe a little arrogant?

The "trailer" he made for his recent race (before he'd actually run it) was super cringe, as well as the phone call message he included at the end of his Boston video with his coach telling him he could go under 2:30, even though he just failed to break 2:35. Mega cringe - the dude needs a reality check.

Hi, I'm Roger Biebert, and I am here today to review Floberg Runs' "The 2024 Boston Marathon BREAKDOWN". Let's get into it...

A funny thing might happen to you while watching this video. Its story, of a videographer analyzing himself, an almost self described legendary and legendarily anti-reclusive hobby marathoner as he attempts to conquer the Boston Marathon, may prove sufficiently compelling that you’ll believe you’re watching an important documentary. That would be quite an achievement for any dramatic film, but in this case it would be even more so. Because “The 2024 Boston Marathon BREAKDOWN” directed by Eric Floberg, adapting a story completed by a million others previously, is a youtube video.

The video’s art direction isn’t all that elaborate, and the cinematography, while solid and realistic, doesn’t present as all that value-added. And although almost all the video’s characters are midwestern or British, the dialogue is in hobby jogger. (With English subtitles of course, if you choose that option on youtube) But the video’s narrative, its steady-rolling conviction, and its insights into the minds of obsessive hobby runners, give it a remarkable pull.

The tale is narrated by Eric Floberg, a videographer who’s in love with his performances. In the corral, he’s approached by a strange man with a small camera. A camera which may have been used on a long-ago attempts to run marathons or video elite runners.

Floberg dismisses the strange man but regrets it almost immediately. The strange man then seems to have disappeared from the video after establishing his own legendary status.

So the video sets up a potential nesting-egg narrative, but that’s not what the movie delivers—the 2024 Boston Marathon is not the main concern of "BREAKDOWN”. Floberg's pursuit of his own happy ego is, and it pays off. After recounting various feats of irrational daring undertaken while running, the videographer implies to the audience and to the strange man, that his achievements—if they are indeed achieved—will mean less if there’s no chronicle of them. This is in direct contrast to some of the words spoken to the audience. A technique not unlike Kubrick used by introducing the mickey mouse song in Full Metal Jacket, sung by soldiers trekking across a war torn battle field.

Does the strange man give in because he buys Floberg's pitch? Do we? Long years have taught Floberg what he may have sensed all along: that the doing is not enough. Telling and showing everyone about it is when he “feels most alive,” and then it's enough.

Floberg, who of course has some experience in marathons, finds himself tested as he’s never been. Among other things, he learns that threshold pace is a red condition rather than an ice-blue one. It’s in the running shots when the video is at its most imaginative, creating effects both exhilarating and harrowing. Does it warrant the video's run time in an industry saturated with Boston Marathon race reviews? It does if you are in love with Floberg as much as this director is.

2.5 out of 4 stars

Floberg is what happens when you put a guy with some media experience in a niche full of typical recreational runners who just happened on some algorithm success.

To his credit, he's made some solid improvements and races consistently well while maintaining a fairly realistic view of his own abilities, and he seems relatively less inclined towards training like an idiot for content or obnoxious antics at races because there's a few people watching now. Obviously there's a lot of effort that goes into video production as well, but the downside of that all is coming off as bland or inorganic because the entire thing is so damn deliberate. I'm not sure I 'like' it in the sense that I find it compelling, but I kind of respect him for knowing what he's about and not doing that weird parasocial thing where he pretends to be best friends with his viewers- he's obviously there to make money, and fairly decent at it.

I actually feel he could do a good job of a Sweat Elite style channel, since the style of his videos is fairly professional while being straightforward enough to not detract from the featured athlete, and also because I'm highly preferential to Matt Fox dropping off the face of the internet forever.