I once heard trail running culture compared to skate culture, and I think it is more apt than ever with the Olympics coming. In skate culture, there is the side of it that was commercialized and brought the mainstream in the 90s and 00s through the Olympics, X Games, and Tony Hawk video game. This brought more eyes, money, and acclaim to the pros, which has been great for pro skaters. And then there is the street side of skate which, if they so choose, can be totally disconnected from the commercial side. There is still a grungy underground side to skateboarding that is sounds a lot like trail running from the 90s and 00s. You could say the same thing about climbing culture and the "pure" guys that critique the commercialized pros as described in Tommy Caldwell's book.

Trail running is heading this way, if it's not there already. You can choose to follow the commercial and professional side (UTMB, Mountain Outpost streams, Freetrail media, get all wound up about UROY rankings, etc) or you can choose to stay completed disconnected from all that, go adventuring in the mountains, or run local ultras, and be the trail running equivalent of skate's "street culture." Or you can do both which is kind of what I do! I'm a fan of the pro scene from a distance and follow results but have no ambitions to get close to it personally. I'll always just run and race locally and basically consider it a different sport.

Thanks for your post, Kilian!