For endurance athletes at the 5Cs, Strava feels almost inescapable. In conversations with devoted runners, hide your Hokas or they’ll ask for your Strava handle — then it’ll be over for you. They’ll see your pitiful 9:45 mile pace, your pathetic weekly average distance and how few “Kudos” you receive.
Strava, launched in 2009, is a GPS-based app used to track workout performance, particularly in endurance sports like running and cycling. It allows users to log their fastest times on road segments, compare their performance with friends and connect with fellow athletes.
“Since I’ve started doing [ultra marathons], I found these strange people who are going out on a Saturday and running like 100 miles,” Oscar Ponteri CM ’27, a runner who logged over 400 miles last month, said. “People are so creative on Strava, they really are.”
Ponteri is well known by Strava users at the 5Cs for his creative and strange routes around Claremont McKenna (CMC), especially on Parents Field, where a mystery admirer even named a segment after him.
“It’s the only really authentic social media,” Ponteri said.
However, for many, the competitive nature of the app can cross into toxic territory.
Social media has given us constant exposure to the hyper-curated world of the rich, famous and fit. According to Surgeon General Vivek Murthy, our happiness and self-esteem have taken a hit. Today, nearly half of young people say social media makes them feel worse about their bodies. But does Strava belong among the social media platforms increasingly seen as scourges of our mental health?
Misha Logan PZ ’27, who can often be seen running north of Pitzer’s campus, said it does not.
“[Strava] does feel different. My Instagram, I’m not proud of. I wish I wasn’t on there. I’m more proud of my Strava. It’s not curated like Instagram, because stats don’t lie… Nobody really posts their off days on other social media, but on Strava… there’s a lot of off days,” Logan said.
For some, like Logan, Strava’s lack of algorithms, strangers and ads feels like a breath of fresh air compared to other social media apps. Yet, though users can’t Facetune their mile time, Strava’s built-in competition still has drawbacks.
According to Ponteri, Strava wasn’t always idyllic. As a competitive high school athlete, he often dreaded using the app.
“I tended not to be a great racer… I just remember after bad races being like, ‘Oh gosh. I don’t want to post this,’” Ponteri said. “Here, kind of doing my own thing, I’ve been able to recapture the joy and just take it lightly.”
Many runners, like Ponteri, use Strava for fun and personal accountability, but competitive instincts are common at the 5Cs. Some students find themselves caught in the app’s more competitive side.
“In an ideal world, I wouldn’t have Strava,” Logan said. “This is not an ideal world. I am competitive, and I want to see my statistics, and sometimes it’s not good enough to run. I need to run fast and struggle.”
Other users’ workouts, habits and pace operate as training tools. However, this competitive atmosphere tips into obsession.
“I think people, including myself, get obsessed about the numbers and sometimes I’ll even find myself being like, ‘Oh well, I’m feeling kind of hurt, but I want to hit this number or keep my graph looking nice, so I better go,’” Ponteri said.
For Logan and Ponteri, Strava’s value lies more in the connections it maintains and fosters.
“I get to [stay connected with] my old cross-country team,” Logan said. “One of my friends just took first place in a race yesterday, and he fucking rocked it. It was awesome. I was looking at the results [and commented], ‘Holy shit, this guy’s so fast’ and everything. And, you know, ‘Kudos,’ fire emoji.”
The 5C Running Club uses Strava as their central platform to host group runs, post workouts and notify members about upcoming events. Pedro Arellano CM ’25, a captain of the club, expressed his love for the app, though he didn’t think of it as a necessity.
“We definitely don’t pressure anyone to upload their runs. We try to be as inclusive of a club as possible, and asking people to upload their runs on Strava sometimes clashes against that goal,” Arellano said.
Strava’s dual nature as both a motivational tool and a source of comparison forces users to weigh its benefits and challenges.
“Like any other social media app, Strava has its downsides, but I enjoy being able to share my runs with others and seeing other people giving their best in their activities,” Arellano said.
The next time you open Strava, ask yourself: does it help you improve both your health and your relationships, at the detriment of neither? If not, maybe it’s time to reconsider. Who regrets missing out on the latest social media app trend anyways?
Parker DeVore PZ ’27 is from Seattle, WA. He hopes that readers will delete Strava so he can have their spot on the Mudd Straightaway KOM leaderboard.
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