TikTok runner Nat takes requests

Natalie Long of NatRuns will run until she finds a dog in clothes, if a commenter tells her to.

Embedded is your essential guide to what’s good on the internet, written by Kate Lindsay and edited by Nick Catucci.

I once made a video of myself running, watched it back, and will never do that again. —Kate

---

If it exists, there’s a digital community for it. But I was still surprised when I discovered “running content creators.” Not because the content isn’t interesting, but because, as a runner myself, I couldn’t—and still can’t—fathom talking to my phone while six miles deep into a half-marathon. 

But ultrarunners like Natalie Long are up to the task. The U.K.-based athlete has 754,000 followers on TikTok, where she shares running tips and documents her runs on her phone, mainly through her popular “run until you see” series. Commenters leave suggestions for people, places, or things that Nat must then run and find—the more obscure, the better. “Run until you see a dog in clothes” a recent suggestion reads. She did.

“I've been running for literally probably as long as I can remember,” Nat tells me over Zoom. Now 30 years old, she completed her first marathon in 2017, and has since leveled up not just to ultramarathons, but also to sharing it all online. 

While making the videos sounds impossible to an amateur like me, watching them is mesmerizing and inspiring. To see a seaside run sped up into one long, gliding POV shot makes the accomplishment seem attainable. I can do that, I think from my couch. Later. But then later comes, and I head out for a jog around the neighborhood that, unfortunately, is far less beautiful than Nat’s seaside jaunts. 

@nat_runs_Replying to @Tượng-san 🦉🥰 I really love autumn running 🍂 🏃‍♀️ #natruns #rununtil #rununtilyousee #run

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

“My followers, they get a lot from it and it's just a really nice feeling,” she says. “Like when they get something motivational from it, it motivates me.”

In this interview for paid subscribers, Nat and I chat about the logistics of being a runner and a content creator and how she hopes to use her platform to help athletes in the future, despite some of the unexpected challenges it has brought with it.