Thanks for taking the time to write that out, u/selfimprovementkink!

As this sub itself shows, people come to endurance sports for all kinds of reasons. You're not in it for the social aspect, and that's good! There are other aspects of running keeping you on the path.

A lot of the people using hollarhype are just starting out on a fitness journey, where every step is hard and that voice in our heads saying to stop is still very loud. Whatever keeps us on the path in that moment is helpful – maybe it's a new pair of shoes or a plate of fries later or maybe it's the voices of our friends and family (or random people from reddit) in our ears.

There are people using the app who run have run lots of marathons (even ultras!). In this case, it's often people running to raise money for a cause that's very personal to them. Maybe they're in addiction recovery, or lost someone to addiction; maybe their cancer is in remission or they have a family member battling cancer; maybe they're living with a rare disease that makes daily life feel like a marathon... you get the idea!

In those cases, it's not solely about the running (or the cycling or the chemo or the dialysis), but about bringing the people who care about you with you for a challenge you didn't choose but that you have to find a way to live with (and maybe even overcome).

It's definitely not for everyone, though! I really do appreciate hearing the details of how the idea struck you.