Endurance Running: A Socio-Cultural Examination

273 Pages·2016·5 MB·English

by  William Bridel

Endurance Running
Running is a fundamental human activity and holds an important place in popular culture.
In recent decades it has exploded in popularity as a leisure pursuit, with marathons and
endurance challenges exerting a strong fascination.
Endurance Running is the first collection of original qualitative research to examine
distance running through a socio-cultural lens, with a general objective of understanding
the concept and meaning of endurance historically and in contemporary times. Adopting
diverse theoretical and methodological approaches to explore topics such as historical
conceptualizations of endurance, lived experiences of endurance running, and the
meaning of endurance in individual lives, the book reveals how the biological, historical,
psychological, and sociological converge to form contextually specific ideas about endur-
ance running and runners.
Endurance Running is an essential book for anybody researching across the entire
spectrum of endurance sports and fascinating reading for anybody working in the soci-
ology of sport or the body, cultural studies, or behavioral science.
William Bridel is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Kinesiology at the University
of Calgary, Canada. His teaching and research focus on socio-cultural aspects of the
body, sport, physical activity, and health. His research interests include: the emergence of
ultra-endurance sports as forms of leisure activities; social and political aspects of health;
sport-related pain and injury; and, gender, sexuality, and sport.
Jim Denison is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Physical Education and Rec-
reation at the University of Alberta, Canada. A sport sociologist and coach educator, his
research primarily examines the formation of endurance running coaches’ practices
through a Foucauldian lens. Along with numerous book chapters and referred articles, he
was co-editor of the Routledge Handbook of Sports Coaching (Routledge, 2013).
Pirkko Markula (Ph.D.) is a Professor of socio-cultural studies of physical activity at
the University of Alberta, Canada. Her research interests include social analyses of dance,
exercise, and sport in which she has employed several theoretical lenses ranging from
critical, cultural studies research to Foucault and Deleuze. She is the previous editor of
the Sociology of Sport Journal. She is the co-author, with Michael Silk, of Qualitative
Research for Physical Culture (Routledge, 2011), co-author with Richard Pringle, of
Foucault, Sport and Exercise: Power, Knowledge and Transforming the Self (Routledge,
2006), and co-editor with Eileen Kennedy of Women and Exercise: Body, Health and
Consumerism (Routledge, 2011).
Routledge research in sport, culture and society
1 Sport, Masculinities and the 8 Sport and Social Mobility
Body Crossing boundaries
Ian Wellard Ramón Spaaij
2 India and the Olympics 9 Critical Readings in
Boria Majumdar and Nalin Mehta Bodybuilding
Edited by Adam Locks and
3 Social Capital and Sport Niall Richardson
Governance in Europe
Edited by Margaret Groeneveld, 10 The Cultural Politics of
Barrie Houlihan and Fabien Ohl Post-9/11 American Sport
Power, pedagogy and the popular
4 Theology, Ethics and Michael Silk
Transcendence in Sports
Edited by Jim Parry, Mark Nesti 11 Ultimate Fighting and
and Nick Watson Embodiment
Violence, gender and mixed
5 Women and Exercise martial arts
The body, health and consumerism Dale C. Spencer
Edited by Eileen Kennedy and
Pirkko Markula 12 The Olympic Games and
Cultural Policy
6 Race, Ethnicity and Football Beatriz Garcia
Persisting debates and emergent
issues 13 The Urban Geography of Boxing
Edited by Daniel Burdsey Race, class, and gender in the ring
Benita Heiskanen
7 The Organisation and
Governance of Top Football 14 The Social Organization of
Across Europe Sports Medicine
An institutional perspective Critical socio-cultural perspectives
Edited by Hallgeir Gammelsæter Edited by Dominic Malcolm and
and Benoît Senaux Parissa Safai
15 Host Cities and the Olympics 24 The Global Horseracing Industry
An interactionist approach Social, economic, environmental
Harry Hiller and ethical perspectives
Phil McManus, Glenn Albrecht,
16 Sports Governance, Development and Raewyn Graham
and Corporate Responsibility
Edited by Barbara Segaert, 25 Sport, Public Broadcasting, and
Marc Theeboom, Cultural Citizenship
Christiane Timmerman and Signal lost?
Bart Vanreusel Edited by Jay Scherer and
David Rowe
17 Sport and Its Female Fans
Edited by Kim Toffoletti and 26 Sport and Body Politics in Japan
Peter Mewett Wolfram Manzenreiter
18 Sport Policy in Britain
27 The Fantasy Sport Industry
Barrie Houlihan and Iain Lindsey
Games within games
Andrew C. Billings and
19 Sports and Christianity
Brody J. Ruihley
Historical and contemporary
perspectives
28 Sport in Prison
Edited by Nick J. Watson and
Exploring the role of physical
Andrew Parker
activity in penal practices
Rosie Meek
20 Sports Coaching Research
Context, consequences, and
29 Sport and Nationalism in China
consciousness
Lu Zhouxiang and Fan Hong
Anthony Bush, Michael Silk,
David Andrews and Hugh Lauder
30 Rethinking Drug Use in Sport
21 Sport Across Asia Why the war will never be won
Politics, cultures, and identities Bob Stewart and Aaron Smith
Edited by Katrin Bromber,
Birgit Krawietz, and 31 Sport, Animals, and Society
Joseph Maguire Edited by James Gillett and
Michelle Gilbert
22 Athletes, Sexual Assault, and
“Trials by Media” 32 Sport Development in the
Narrative immunity United States
Deb Waterhouse-Watson Edited by Peter Smolianov,
Dwight Zakus and Joseph Gallo
23 Youth Sport, Physical Activity
and Play 33 Youth Olympic Games
Policy, interventions and Edited by Dag Vidar Hanstad,
participation Barrie Houlihan and
Andrew Parker and Don Vinson Milena Parent
34 Safeguarding, Child Protection 42 Sport and the Social Significance
and Abuse in Sport of Pleasure
International perspectives in Richard Pringle,
research, policy and practice Robert E. Rinehart and
Edited by Melanie Lang and Jayne Caudwell
Mike Hartill
43 A Sociology of Football in a
35 Touch in Sports Coaching and Global Context
Physical Education Jamie Cleland
Fear, risk, and moral panic
Edited by Heather Piper 44 Gambling with the Myth of the
American Dream
36 Sport, Racism and Social Aaron M. Duncan
Media
Neil Farrington, Lee Hall,
45 Inclusion and Exclusion in
Daniel Kilvington, John Price
Competitive Sport
and Amir Saeed
Socio-legal and regulatory
perspectives
37 Football and Migration
Seema Patel
Perspectives, places, players
Edited by Richard Elliott and
46 Asia and the Future of
John Harris
Football
The role of the Asian Football
38 Health and Elite Sport
Confederation
Is high performance sport a
Ben Weinberg
healthy pursuit?
Edited by Joe Baker, Parissa Safai
47 Football and Accelerated
and Jessica Fraser-Thomas
Culture
This modern sporting life
39 Asian American Athletes in
Steve Redhead
Sport and Society
Edited by C. Richard King
48 Researching Embodied Sport
40 Pierre Bourdieu and Physical Exploring movement cultures
Culture Edited by Ian Wellard
Edited by lisahunter, Wayne Smith
and elke emerald 49 Female Fans of the NFL
Taking their place in the stands
41 Reframing Disability? Anne Cunnningham Osborne and
Media, (dis)empowerment, and Danielle Sarver Coombs
voice in the 2012 Paralympics
Edited by Daniel Jackson, 50 Sport in Islam and in Muslim
Caroline E. M. Hodges, Communities
Mike Molesworth and Edited by Alberto Testa and
Richard Scullion Mahfoud Amara
51 Endurance Running 54 Ethics and Governance in Sport
A socio-cultural examination The future of sport imagined
Edited by William Bridel, Edited by Yves Vanden Auweele,
Pirkko Markula and Jim Denison Elaine Cook and Jim Parry
52 Mega Events and Globalization 55 Skateboarding
Capital, cultures and spectacle in a Subcultures, sites and shifts
changing world order Edited by Kara-Jane Lombard
Edited by Richard Gruneau and
John Horne
53 Beyond Sport for Development
and Peace
Transnational perspectives on
theory, policy and practice
Edited by Lyndsay Hayhurst,
Tess Kay and Megan Chawansky
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Endurance Running
A socio-cultural examination
Edited by William Bridel,
Pirkko Markula, and Jim Denison
First published 2016
by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
and by Routledge
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2016 W. Bridel, P. Markula & J. Denison
The right of W. Bridel, P. Markula & J. Denison to be identified as the
authors of the editorial material, and of the authors for their individual
chapters, has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now
known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in
any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or
registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Endurance running : a socio-cultural examination / edited by William
Bridel, Pirkko Markula and Jim Denison.
pages cm
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Running–Social aspects. 2. Marathon running. I. Bridel, William.
GV1062.E64 2016
796.42'4–dc23 2015017272
ISBN: 978-1-138-81042-6 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-74951-8 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
by Wearset Ltd, Boldon, Tyne and Wear
In memory of my grandmother, Barbara Wallace: a strong,
caring, passionate, compassionate, and talented woman who
instilled in me a love for the written word. Thanks, Gram.
William