This paper examines how interviews with outdoor recreational runners can help us understand how urban air pollution insinuates itself into the consciousness of those who may be breathing more polluted air than most. It begins by making the case for why studies of air pollution perception might turn to the subjectivities associated with taking part in relevant social practices. Then, with reference to debate about the extent to which groups of exercisers are thinking about certain aspects of what is physically happening during their exercise, we examine how outdoor recreational runners in London talk about the air that they breathe when running. We might imagine that this group would be particularly alive to urban air pollution in view of a presumed interest in physical performance and a personal history of running through various bodies of city air. However, through close scrutiny of their running talk, this paper documents how and why the suggestion of breathing polluted air is often placed beyond the realm of conscious thought for them during their runs. These findings point to particular strategies for encouraging healthy urban lifestyles and illustrate the potential of further studies on how social practices shape pollution perceptions.
As part of an argument about the value of a geographical approach to the connection between local weather and physical exercise, this paper begins with how that connection features in four areas of scholarship that have been at the forefront of exploring it so far. By comparing how each of them commonly imagines 'the human' and 'the weather' in their studies, we particularly highlight how different bodies of work illuminate different facets of the weather-exercise connection. This, we suggest, represents an opportunity for geographers to explore how these facets combine in context with a view to tackling the complex public health challenges associated with increasing human inactivity and a warming world. Building on that, we end with three promising cross-cutting themes that we think could usefully guide these endeavours: adaptation, decision-making and place.
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