

Citation: Ouyang, Y.; Cai, X.; Li, J.;
Gao, Q. Investigating the “Embodied
Spaces of Health” in Marathon
Running: The Roles of Embodiment,
Wearable Technology, and Affective
Atmospheres. Int. J. Environ. Res.
Public Health 2022, 19, 43. https://
doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010043
Academic Editor: Paul B. Tchounwou
Received: 12 November 2021
Accepted: 20 December 2021
Published: 21 December 2021
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International  Journal  of
Environmental Research
and Public Health
Article
Investigating the “Embodied Spaces of Health” in Marathon
Running: The Roles of Embodiment, Wearable Technology,
and Affective Atmospheres
Yi Ouyang 1, Xiaomei Cai 2, Jie Li 1 and Quan Gao 3,*
1
School of Geographical Sciences, Guangzhou University, Guangzhou 510006, China;
ouyangyi@gzhu.edu.cn (Y.O.); jieli@gzhu.edu.cn (J.L.)
2
School of Tourism Management, South China Normal University, Guangzhou 510006, China;
caixm@scnu.edu.cn
3
School of Geography and Planning, Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou 510006, China
*
Correspondence: gaoq59@mail.sysu.edu.cn
Abstract: This paper examines how spaces of health are produced through embodied and affective
practices in marathon running in China. While the social-cultural effects of distance running have
gained increasing attention among public health scholars and policymakers, there has been little
effort paid to the spatiality of running and its contributions to producing healthy spaces for the
general public. This paper therefore ﬁlls the lacuna through a qualitative study that was conducted
with 29 amateur marathon runners in China. Drawing on the Gioia Methodology in coding and
analyzing qualitative data, we highlight the interactive effects of body, wearable technology, and
affective atmospheres in producing what we call “embodied space of health.” We suggest that the
embodied space of health is not simply the bodily experience per se but rather a relational space
constituted through the co-production of body, non-human objects, and space/place. It is through
these relational spaces that the effects of health and well-being (e.g., self-exploration and therapeutic
feelings) emerge in marathon.
Keywords: running; bodily space; affective atmospheres; health
1. Introduction
Running has gradually become an important inquiry to public health researchers and
policymakers since the late 1970s given its health-promoted beneﬁts [1,2]. In particular, over
the past one decade or so, scholars have shown growing interests in exploring the cultures
of distance running and how they relate to the issues of health and wellbeing [3–7]. This
cultural approach to running studies pay attention to the ways in which healthy lifestyles
are produced and maintained through running cultures and practices [6,8]. They contend
that running is a form of embodied practice through which people’s health consciousness
and subjectivity are shaped. For example, distance running is increasingly perceived by
people as a way to attain self-realisation and a self-disciplined lifestyle [4]. However,
existing research in the cultural studies of running largely neglects the spatial dimension
of running and especially how the consequence of health emerges from the interaction be-
tween body, object, and space/place in running. Some scholars have noted that space/place
matters in health studies not only because some places (e.g., therapeutic landscape) have
health-promoted effects but because space conditions and mediates people’s practices of
health making [9,10]. This is particularly the case in running, an inherently spatial practice
that calls upon the body to move across/through spaces [4]. Nevertheless, the relationship
between running, space, and health warrants a closer examination.
This paper therefore ﬁlls the lacuna through elaborating on the idea of what we call
“embodied space of health” and through a qualitative study of marathon running in China.
Over the past decade, marathon running has become one of the most popular sports in
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19010043
https://www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43
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China. The number of marathon races held on the country has dramatically grown from 22
in 2011 to 1581 in 2018 [11]. During the same period, the number of participants has also
increased from 410 thousand to more than 7 million [11]. Marathons have gained much
attention from not only the public but also the policymakers. In 2017, the Chinese state
launched a Marathon Development Plan, which signiﬁed that the marathon was promoted
to a state-sanctioned program [11]. According to Ronkainen et al., the growing demands
and enthusiasm for marathon running in China is fueled by the country’s socio-political
reform and the dramatic economic growth over the past two decades [12]. The signiﬁcant
improvement on people’s life quality has led to “a rapidly growing, health-conscious, and
afﬂuent class” who have paid increasing attentions to their bodies and health [12] (p. 42). In
the ideological sphere, the market-oriented and neoliberal reforms in China have released
people from the constraints of collectivist ideologies, which instead enables individuals’
pursuit of self-enrichment and self-making [13]. In particular, health and health-making
are viewed as an important facet of desired citizenship and particularly individuals’ utility
in a market-oriented society [13]. The popularity of marathon in China has opened up new
spaces for health practices. These social contexts provide an important entry to examine
the social-cultural logics of marathon and especially the interaction of body, space, and
health in the marathon. Against this backdrop, this paper therefore aims to explore how
spaces of health are produced through the embodied and affective practices in running. It
is noteworthy that we utilise “space” rather “place” in this paper because space addresses
a more relational account of health-making, while place is often associated with particular
qualities of health (e.g., therapeutic landscape). Nevertheless, we suggest that space can
become place through embodied and affective practices in running. Drawing on Gioia
Methodology [14], we emphasise the interactive effects of body, wearable technology, and
affective atmospheres in producing the “embodied space of health.” This paper therefore
moves away from a biophysical study of health in running studies to an embodied and
relational account of running and health.
2. Recreational Running and the Embodied Space of Health
2.1. Recreational Running, Space, and Health
Public health scholars in recent years have shown growing interest in exploring the role
of recreational running in shaping the practices and subjectivities of health [4]. Running is
perhaps one of the most popular form of sports that contributes to a healthy lifestyle [2]. In a
medical sense, running positively facilitates the achieving of healthy body through tackling
obesity, improving well-being and mental health status, inspiring individuals’ desires for
participating in sports activities, and increasing people’s capacity of self-management [15].
The popularity of running is not only due to its health-related beneﬁts but also the low
costs of entry that enable individuals to easily and inexpensively practice at ﬂexible space-
times [16,17]. Moreover, running as a widely participated sport is increasingly promoted
by the state to build up a “healthy society,” which is integral to the neoliberal health policy
that channels the accountability for health from state to individuals [18]. Therefore, running
is an important topic for public health policymakers around the world.
In particular, the cultural studies of recreational running has gained growing attentions
in recent years [3,6,7,19]. This line of research primarily focuses on how health practices
and subjectivities are constituted through social construction of running. For example,
Collinson and Hockey suggested that distance running can create subculture and collective
identity within runners in which particular values and dispositions, such as self-discipline,
stoicism, and sportsmanship, are valorized [3]. As they note, the “affective community of
friends and fellow runners” inﬂuences runners’ social-psychological capacity to manage
their bodies and especially injuries and restoration [3] (p. 394). Yet, the sociality of running
is not only shaped by the collective practices and interactions of runners but also the
spatial-temporal arrangements and the collective physical infrastructures that structures
runners’ health practices [20,21]. In general, running is argued to be a key element of
the self-realisation and identity-making of its practitioners who seek to demonstrate their
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43
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skills and afﬁrm their beliefs in healthy lifestyle: “this identity extends beyond immediate
beneﬁts, such as body tone, weight loss, and overall ﬁtness, and comes to include a more
intrinsic self-identiﬁcation as a runner” [7] (p. 338). Another strand of research relates
running to the production of healthism and health-related consciousness [6,14]. Runners’
health practices and desires for ﬁtness is also inﬂuenced by the discourses of healthism
constructed by society and media on the “internalized body-ideals—on what the healthy
and ﬁt body should look like, and how to gain body-satisfaction” [6] (p. 18). The promotion
of healthism in many societies has become a device to achieve social control and to produce
productive, healthy, and self-responsible citizens. In this sense, social and political contexts
are also crucial in shaping the health practices and subjectivities of runners, as running is a
site through which healthism is internalised into runners’ body.
Although existing scholarship has acknowledged the cultural signiﬁcance of running,
little attention has been paid to the spatiality of running and especially how running can
create health-promoting spaces [4]. In essence, running is an inherently spatial practice
because it calls upon the body to move across/through space, place, and landscape and
inﬂuences the way individuals make sense of the environments around them [18]. Some
research has revealed that space/place matters in eliciting running practices and public
health [22–24]. This primarily manifests in the studies that examine the signiﬁcance of
events (e.g., road runs and fun runs) and particular place/landscape (e.g., parks, forests,
and hill) in stimulating the health effects of running [22–24]. Nevertheless, a more nuanced
understanding of running, space, and health remains piecemeal [21]. Attending to the
spatiality of running and health should focus on not only the body as a site through which
health subjectivities are formed but also how the embodied practices of running may create
new spaces of health [4,21]. In other words, embodiment is not only a crucial dimension of
health but also inﬂuences the ways that runners make sense of the space and place around
them [4]. This paper therefore contributes to this inquiry by elaborating on what we call
the “embodied spaces of health” in recreational running.
2.2. Theorising the “Embodied Space of Health” in Running
It has been widely recognised that running is an embodied and mobile practice that
moves in/across space/place [4]; yet, how health subjects form and emerge from the
interaction between body and space is largely under-theorised. Some research has revealed
that health and well-being are not simply acquired through the management of medical
body but also cultivated through the encounters with particular space/place, for instance,
the therapeutic landscapes [10]. The importance of the concept of space/place in health
studies is further acknowledged by the relational approach to health studies that draws
upon the merits of actor-network theory [25]. This approach argues that effects of health
“emerge from relationalities, interactions and assemblages of body/self, social discourses,
more-than-human subjects, and the broader social-environmental setting” [26] (p. 1).
Bearing this in mind, running is better understood as an embodied encounter between
people and space/place [27]. In running, people and space are actually in “a mutually
reinforcing and reciprocal relationship” [27] (p. 1825). For example, Little’s study of
running in nature suggested that people’s intimacy with nature is integral to their project
of self-caring, while the running practices in turn produce an authentic natural space that is
emotionally perceived as health-promoted [4]. This paper therefore advances the relational
and spatial approach to running and health by introducing the concept of what we call
“embodied space of health.” There are at least three lines of insights that contribute to our
theorisation of the “embodied space of health.”
First, the “embodied space of health” recognises the role of bodies and bodily practices
at the centre of health making and the production of health-promoted space/place. The
health effects of running are not instinctive but rather learned and disciplined through
running bodies such that particular health subjectivities, consciousness, dispositions, and
lifestyles can become part of the self [4,28]. Hanold pointed out that the bodily experiences
of pain during marathon running provide a way for the runners to explore the capacity of
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43
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the body and to achieve self-realisation [29]. He also suggested that the desires for healthy
and disciplined bodies reproduce the social norms that associate marathon running with
middle-classness. Similarly, inspired by Lefebvre’s rhythm analysis, Edensor and Larsen
examined the bodily rhythms of marathon practitioners [5]. They argued that marathon
running is a rhythm that is collectively achieved by the spatial-temporal arrangements
of the body, place, environment, and various actors. Therefore, runners need to train
and manage their body in order to mobile to attain mobile rhythms and “experience
a collective eurhythmia with fellow runners” [5] (p. 731). In short, marathon running
involves management of the desires, capacity, pain, and rhythm of the body through which
the health subjects can emerge.
Second, existing literature of running has begun to acknowledge the role of wearable
technologies (e.g., smartwatch, self-tracking devices) in the production of health-promoting
places/spaces [4,30,31]. The literature on the “quantiﬁed self” has suggested that digital
technologies can help quantify bodies and their interaction with places to facilitate self-
betterment and self-reﬂection [32]. This is particularly the case in the wide utilisation of
wearable technologies, such as self-tracking devices in jogging and running. Esmonde’s
study of women’s use of ﬁtness tracking technologies indicated that digital technologies
can enhance, reframe, or even undermine the pleasure that runners derive from their body’s
movement through space. She further acknowledges the non-human agency of digital
technologies that data collection in turn disciplines individuals’ feelings of health [31].
Little [4], however, argued that some runners’ use of digital technology may inﬂuence
personal values of health that cannot be quantiﬁed, such as sociality and escape from
regular life patterns. Nevertheless, human, non-human, and other types of objects are
capable of acting and shaping the social-spatial relations of health. Wearable technologies
therefore can be considered as an important factor in shaping the “embodied space of
health” in running.
Third, the “embodied space of health” captures not only the bodily experiences per se
but also the diffused, ambiguous, and non-representational spaces of health. This is partic-
ularly the case in the studies of “atmospheres,” “affect,” and “moods” of running [33,34].
Atmosphere is often understood as the “spatially extended quality of feeling” and “some-
thing distributed yet palpable, a quality of environmental immersion that registers in and
through sensing bodies whilst also remaining diffuse, in the air, ethereal” [35] (p. 413).
Researchers often use the concept of “affective atmospheres” to understand this diffused
forms of spatiality. “Affective atmospheres” are not feelings and bodily experiences per se
but something formed through the interactions between bodies, objects, and environments,
which in turn have the capacity to shape and condition people’s behaviours and subjec-
tivities [36,37]. Lupton contended that affective atmospheres can profoundly inﬂuence
the ways in which people “sense the spaces they inhabit and through which they move
and the other actors in those spaces;” therefore, affective atmospheres also shape how
health is felt and performed in speciﬁc spaces [32] (p. 1). For example, Larsen and Jensen
considered weather as an important affective atmosphere in distance running [37]. They
contended that “concrete and situated weather conditions are felt in our multi-sensorial
embodied relations to the ‘outer environment’” so that the experiences of running bodies
can be animated [37].
In general, existing literature has indicated that body, technology, and atmospheres
are important in shaping the space of health. However, there is scant research that examine
how body, technology, and atmospheres mutually shape one another in a way that may
engender new subjectivities and spaces of health in running. This paper therefore aims
to explore how embodied spaces of health are produced through the interaction of body,
non-human actors, and environments.
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3. Materials and Methods
3.1. Data Collection
The materials of this paper are based on a project that explores the embodied prac-
tices of marathon runners in China. Our data were collected through a qualitative study
conducted from September 2019 to January 2020. The methods utilised in this study in-
cluded participant observation and in-depth interviews. We also collected four runners’
dairies that recorded their experience during marathons. The dairies were copied, with
respondents’ permission, and analysed as important data sources of this research project.
The interviews were conducted with 29 amateur marathon runners, including 20 men and
9 women, with ages varying from 22 to 55 (see Table 1). All respondents had participated
in at least two marathons in one year. Most respondents were well-educated university
students, managers, or professionals who can be roughly categorised as middle class in
China. The interviews were largely unstructured to encourage participants to freely narrate
their experiences of running and how they make sense of the environments around them
during running. Interviews lasted from 30 min to 2 h and were recorded and transcribed in
full. Pseudonyms are utilised to protect the anonymity of respondents.
Table 1. Demographic information of participants.
Number
Gender
Age
Occupation
Number
Gender
Age
Occupation
M1
Male
30
Manager
M16
Male
27
Freelancer
M2
Male
30
IT developer *
M17
Male
41
Doctor
M3
Male
28
Architect
M18
Male
30
Company staff
M4
Male
40
Teacher
M19
Male
50
Constructor
M5
Male
22
Student
M20
Male
28
Entrepreneur
M6
Male
25
Student
F1
Female
40
Manager
M7
Male
40
Teacher
F2
Female
28
Company staff
M8
Male
23
Student
F3
Female
50
Accountant
M9
Male
38
Manager
F4
Female
35
Manager
M10
Male
48
Manager
F5
Female
34
Banker
M11
Male
25
Company staff
F6
Female
26
Banker
M12
Male
24
Student
F7
Female
23
Teacher
M13
Male
29
Company staff
F8
Female
29
Researcher
M14
Male
34
Manager
F9
Female
28
Company staff
M15
Male
28
Teacher
* Note: IT refers to information technology.
3.2. Data Coding and Analysis
This paper engages the Gioia Methodology to analyse and interpret interview and
dairies data so as to increase the “qualitative rigor” in inductive research [14]. This method-
ology is a modiﬁed version of grounded theory that aims to reveal the structure and
connection of qualitative data through conceptualisation and coding. There are some basic
steps of this method. First, researcher should “start looking for similarities and differences
among emerging categories” and “bend over backward to give those categories labels that
retain informants’ terms” [38] (p. 286). Second, we consider the constellation of 1st-order
codes, which should adhere faithfully to the terms ustilised by the informants. Third, if
there are some deeper process or structures underlying the 1st-order codes, we then can
proceed to 2nd-order themes and aggregate dimensions that form the basis for building a
data structure [14]. The interview and dairies data were coded with the assistance of the
qualitative data analysis software NVivo 11. As a result, we generated 522 codes that relate
to “body, space, and health” in marathon running. Based on these 522 codes, we conducted
1st-order analysis, which resulted in eleven 1st-order concepts and six 2nd-order themes.
An overview of the coding is presented below in Table 2.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43
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Table 2. The data coding of marathon running.
Aggregate
Dimensions
2nd-Order Concepts
1st-Order Concepts
Examples of Illustrative Quote
Bodily experience of
health
Capacity of the body
Pursuing the healthy and
desired body
“I have hyperlipidaemia and fatty
liver. So, I decided to change by
running marathon.”
Exploring the potentials and
limits of the running body
“That felt like riding a roller coaster,
which made you addicted and kept
you pushing the limits of your body.”
Autonomy of the body
Cultivating self-disciplined
bodies
“You paid more attention to manage
your body and time and stopped
staying up late.”
Resisting social norms
“Running has enabled me to break up
this patterned life trajectory.”
Digitally-mediated
experience of health
Self-betterment through
wearable technology
Establishing quantiﬁed self
“I can see the number and intensity of
trainings that I have done and I
intend to reach.”
Self-monitoring
“After training, these devices can
help you monitor your body.”
Negotiation of digital agency
Constraints of the wearable
technology
“Without the device, I can’t ensure
whether I was leading a scientiﬁc
running. It made me uncomfortable”.
Atmospheric
experience of health
Affective atmosphere
Sense of ritual
“You feel validated because of this
sense of ritual.”
Interaction of the bodies
“We would encourage and take care
each other on the road.”
Aesthetic place and landscape
“When you are running, you can
experience different beautiful
landscapes across China”.
Therapeutic environments
Nature, urban environment,
and weather
“This [environment] somewhat
puriﬁed me and brought me
peacefulness at that comment.”
4. Results
4.1. Marathon Running and the Bodily Experience of Health
The perception and exploration of the body is central to the health effects of marathon
running. Our coding processes show that the bodily experience of health can be divided
into two conceptulisations of the body: First, runners attempt to build up the capacity of
the body by cultivating healthy body and exploring the potentials of their body; second,
through marathon running, practitioners reclaim the autonomy of the body that was
thwarted by the programmatic lifestyles and social norms in the city. In general, the body is
a crucial site through which not only the biophysical presence of health but also the health
subjectivities are formed.
Pursuing a healthy body or desired body shape is often one of the main motivations
for participating into marathon running. However, marathon is nevertheless an intensive
endurance sport that may not be suitable for those who are not ready for a full marathon.
Therefore, many practitioners would engage in normal running ﬁrst as pre-marathon
training and consider participating into marathon as the impetus to push them to build up
a healthy lifestyle and disciplined body. For example, M4, a 40-year-old teacher who was
troubled by obesity, told us:
You know, medically speaking, running is the best cure for illness. I have hyper-
lipidaemia and fatty liver. So, I decided to change by running marathon. But I am
not ready for a full marathon. I just ran around in the playground and hopefully
I will be ready to participate one day. Despite this, I can see signiﬁcant change
that took place on myself. I became more self-disciplined. To prepare for the
marathon, I have a morning jog and regular diet every day.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43
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When we re-interviewed M4 four months later, he had completed his ﬁrst marathon
attempt. However, we suggest that people’s engagements with marathon often goes
beyond concerns for the biophysical sense of health but also contributes to the construction
of a running body through which to achieve self-exploration. Many runners highlight
that marathon is a journey of self-exploration and transformation in which you can truly
experience the potentials and limits of your body. For example, M3, a 28-year-old architect,
recorded his experience of one marathon race in his diary:
Marathon is normally considered as a boring and physically-intensive sport in
outsiders’ eyes. But after you have participated in it, you would know that it’s a
process of communication between you and your body. While your body was
extremely tired, it persuaded you to give up. But simultaneously, your brain
would generate endorphin that made you excited and joyful. Gradually, you
would be addicted to these complex feelings . . . I think marathon has changed
me from within, which manifested in not only the body shape but also the spirit
and the energetic state of life. It is a systematic transformation of the self.
M3’s experience is consistent with Shipway and Holloway’s argument [6] that running
provides people a source of meaning and a life-changing experience that enable runners to
cultivate a conﬁdent self. Yet, we further suggest that running as a project of self-exploration
is animated by the situated bodily experience in particular “moments.” For example, the
bodily experience of “tiredness” and “painfulness” frequently appears in the interviews
and dairies. In particular, the negotiation of painfulness during marathon describes the
bodily experience of most practitioners. F5, a 34-year-old banker, contended that the painful
experience offered her a way to explore the limits of her body, through which she can attain
a new understanding of painfulness and the self:
When I reached the last 10 km in my ﬁrst marathon attempt, I intensively felt
that I had pushed my body to its limits. I heavily and slowly moved my legs
that went into convulsions. I could clearly hear my breaths and heartbeats. It
was deﬁnitely painful . . . But, when I came back from it, I couldn’t help having a
second attempt of marathon, to continue experiencing this kind of pain. I realised
that pain was just a part of my experience that I didn’t need to avoid. I learned to
attain happiness from being in pain during a marathon.
Apart from self-exploration, M14, a 34-year-old manager, explains that the embodied
experience of marathon enabled him to reclaim the autonomy of the body and to escape
from the patterned lifestyle in the city. For M14, marathon running helped him to rediscover
the “true potential” of his body and attain an state of transcendence, in which he detached
from the patterned and ordinary self:
After a few years into the job, I had led an increasingly patterned and program-
matic lifestyle, nothing had changed. I couldn’t ﬁnd any passion until I took
up marathon running. Running has enabled me to break up this patterned life
trajectory that may constrain me in the expected future . . . Running a marathon
felt like riding a roller coaster; it is painful yet exciting while you keep pushing
the limits of your body. It seemed masochistic, but If you didn’t do this, you
would never know your true potential.
Although marathon is a sport that requires the management and discipline of the body,
many correspondents report that self-discipline instead enabled them to reclaim control of
their body/life. For example, F9, a 28-year-old company staff member, told us that it helped
her attain higher degree of freedom by leading an ordered and self-disciplined lifestyle:
“When you engage in marathon, your life becomes more ordered because you pay more
attention to managing your body and time and stop staying up late. To maintain a healthy
lifestyle, I also had courage to reject many unnecessary parties.” In general, the running
body is an important site through which they can transform themselves to attain a certain
state of freedom, control, and self-realisation that form the basis for a healthy lifestyle.
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43
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4.2. Wearable Technology and Digitally-Mediated Body
As Esmonde [31] (p. 809) noted, “the practice of self-tracking can inﬂuence a person’s
movement through the world while running or walking in important ways.” In particular,
self-tracking and wearable technologies can reconﬁgure the ways runners make sense of
the relationship between space and self through a quantitative lens. In this section, we
reveal more complex ways of how running body and space are digitally mediated and
negotiated. We suggest that running bodies are also shaped by wearable technologies that
facilitate, condition, and even structure the ways in which marathon runners manage their
own bodies, conduct, and ways of being and extent to which they exercise their agency.
According to the interviews and dairies, wearable technologies, such as self-tracking
devices, GPS, and running-oriented apps, are widely used among runners. Twenty-ﬁve
of 29 participants reported that they frequently used wearable devices or other running-
oriented apps in running.
On the one hand, for most runners, the use of self-tracking and wearable digital
devices is a crucial requirement of scientiﬁc running. That is, it is through the digital
quantiﬁcation of the body that runners can scientiﬁcally monitor their bodies, avoid risks,
and achieve self-betterment. As F1, a 40-year-old manager, noted:
I must use the watch from which I can see the indexes of my body because I think
I am a scientiﬁc runner. It can help me more efﬁciently set up my own training
plans. I can see the number and intensity of trainings that I have done and I intend
to reach. After training, these devices can help you monitor your body—whether
your body has re-energised or whether it is ready for the next race.
Wearable technology not only provides an quantitative account of runners’ body but
also shapes the ways and rhythms that they interact with the space/place around them
while they are running. The word “rhythms” (jiezhou, 节奏) were frequently mentioned
by many marathon runners. For them, wearable technology can help them signiﬁcantly
build up the rhythms of running. Edensor and Larsen [5] note that running rhythms is
a body’s harmonious relation with the situated environments and the spatial-temporal
arrangements in marathon running. These include but are not limited to the control of
the speed, breathing, and pulse in accordance with particular phases/environments in
marathon [34]. In this sense, wearable technology plays a crucial role in establishing the
rhythms. For example, M5, a 23-year-old college student, explained to us the importance of
the digitally-mediated rhythms in marathon running:
Sometimes losing your rhythms (jiezhou, 节奏) of running would really affect
your mood and lead to frustration . . . You need to know where you can speed
up and where you should preserve your strength. You may face topographies
during marathon, so you need to adjust your paces accordingly. The running
watch can help you achieve this by offering you in-situ data.
On the other hand, the construction of a quantiﬁed body also means that data and dig-
ital technologies are not simply “tools” but rather an extension of the body. In other words,
digital technologies have homeostatic autonomy that in turn conditions and disciplines
human affective capacities [39]. To a certain extent, the digital normalises the disciplined
bodies by quantitively guiding runners to overcome or be cautious of the whims (and
basically laziness) of the self. As M15, a 28-year-old teacher, suggested, the data becomes
an integral part of his body:
I rely on the data stored in my watch. If I forget to wear it, I feel anxious when I
am running, because the device can tell you the locations, track your footprints,
and record your heartbeat. They are very important for a runner. Without these
data, you may be in a dangerous condition that you don’t realise. So, mastering
this information is also being responsible to your own body.
Similarly, F4, a 35-year-old manager, highlighted her reliance on the wearable running
devices and what counts as “scientiﬁc” running:
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43
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If you run without the device, you can’t ﬁnd the problems that may harm you.
It’s unscientiﬁc. For example, you cannot know whether the strength from your
two legs are equal. This may harm your legs if you don’t realise . . . Without the
device, I will feel uncomfortable.
M15 and F4’s running practices indicate that reliance on digital technologies may
also lead to an emphasis on data over feelings, conﬁdence, and corporeal sensations. In
this sense, wearable technologies can offer a scientiﬁc approach to running but also simul-
taneously structure and limit individuals’ perception and imagination of the embodied
potential of the body. In a few situations, digital technologies may decrease the pleasure of
running, as data do not always follow runners’ desires [31,32]. As a few correspondents
noted, failing to achieve the expectations they set up (e.g., the amount of training) would
always upset them. For example, F6 told us that unsatisﬁed data leads to a feeling of loss
and frustration because it inﬂuences her conﬁdence and rhythms in marathon running:
“When the data shows that you didn’t ﬁnish the ﬁrst half in the expected time, it will
deﬁnitely thwart your conﬁdence because the second half will be more challenging.” In
this sense, the stress imposed by the data also took their focus away from the pleasure
in running.
Overall, the embodied and digital practices of marathon running are important “tech-
nologies of the self” through which runners constitute a desired and scientiﬁc way of health.
However, the relationship between body and wearable technology are always mutually
constitutive: on the one hand, wearable technology can enhance the potential of the body
that help runners to achieve self-betterment and self-exploration; on the other hand, the
running body is also shaped and structured by both technological forces that may limit
its agency. In what follows, we further elaborate on the collective running body and the
formation of embodied atmospheres of health.
4.3. Atmospheric Experience of Health
Marathon running is not an isolating sport but rather an atmospheric space in which
different bodies, objects, and environments co-produce runners’ situated experience. Many
marathon runners highlight that the “atmosphere” (qifen, 气氛) is an important source
of their enjoyment that enables them to participate repeatedly. Drawing on the episte-
mology of actor-network theory, we therefore reveal how the atmospheric space of health
is constructed through runners’ interaction with other human bodies (e.g., runners and
audiences), non-human objects, and situated environments/landscape (e.g., nature and
weather). These atmospheres in turn shape runners’ embodied practices of health. Ac-
cording to our coding, we particularly emphasise the ritualistic, aesthetic, and therapeutic
nature of place/nature and how it contributes to generating the “affective atmosphere”
of marathons.
The affective atmospheres of marathons are co-produced by, for example, the opening
ceremony, the chants and cheers from the audiences, the particular place/landscape that
people run across, and the interactions of different runners. These collectively create a sense
of ritual that distinguishes marathons from the ordinary. For example, M2, a 30-year-old IT
developer, explained how he attains a strong sense of ritual in marathons:
I think the atmosphere of a marathon is something that really puts you in motion.
It make you excited immediately. This is quite different from the situations that
you ran individually because you can’t feel these atmospheres and especially the
sense of ritual—you feel like you are participating in a very especial event.
Similarly, M5, a 22-year-old college student, recorded his accounts of the ritualised
atmospheres in a marathon staged in Beijing:
I have been to Beijing three times, but this time is quite different. The starting
point of marathon was set up at Tiananmen Square. That really gave me a sense
of spectacle and ritual. It made you felt that this particular moments and the
spectacular architectures were exclusively designed for you . . .
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As Collins [40] (p. 340) notes, ritualised atmospheres or spaces are generated from the
assemblage of the collective bodies in a physical attunement: “When human bodies are
together in the same place, there is a physical attunement: currents of feeling, a sense of
wariness or interest, a palpable change in the atmosphere.” This is particularly the case in
marathons in which different bodies are immerged into a collective affective atmosphere.
For example, F9, a 28-year-old company staff, described how this atmosphere serves as an
affective force that pushes her body:
When you went to that mood and atmosphere, you would never easily quit
even though you were extremely tired. There were quite a lot people around
you. Not matter how fast and slow you ran, there were always people that
accompanied you. We called each other running fellows regardless of age and
gender. We would encourage and take care each other on the road. So, there was
an atmosphere there.
The atmospheres of marathons are also formed through runners’ embodied encounter/
interaction with particular place, nature, landscape, and environmental conditions. When
participants run across/through spaces, they also experience and attach meanings to the
situated space/place around them. For example, M4, a 40-year-old teacher, considered
marathon as a journey in which he can view the aesthetic landscape in different places
across China. Yet, For M4, marathon is not simply a journey because it enables him to
interact with the place in a mobile way that he cannot experience in normal tourism:
Marathon is like a journey in that you can view different landscape and experi-
ence different cultures in different places of China. But the difference [between
marathon and travel] is that you are embracing the landscape while you are run-
ning, you are using your foot to measure the land you ran through. For example,
I participated a marathon in Yangzhou. That was in March, as the Chinese ancient
poetry says: “In the mist and ﬂowers of spring, I journeyed south to Yangzhou”
(烟花三月下扬州). When I ran along the West Lake, I can feel the connection with
this place. This experience was quite different from that of tourism visitors.
M4’s experiences suggest that marathon running can be seem as the embodied encoun-
ters with places. On the one hand, we acknowledge the body’s crucial roles in generating
aesthetic experience of place [33]. Yet, on the other hand, the embodied encounter in
marathon running is not simply a sensual and visionary “tourist gaze” [41] but rather a mo-
bile practice that can engender new atmospheric and aesthetic perception of space/place.
Many runners also emphasis the role of situated natural environments and especially
weather in creating different atmospheric feelings in marathons. As Larsen and Jensen [37]
(p. 1) argued, the atmospheres of running is also “mediated by the material sensations
of what Ingold [42] terms ‘weather-worlds,’” as “people move in and through the air,
sunshine, heat, rain, wind, snow, fog, or icy roads.” For example, M1, a 30-year-old
manager, described in his diary how he attained a sense of puriﬁcation and a therapeutic
feeling when he was running in cold and rainy environments:
It was a cold and rainy morning, around nine degrees Celsius. My body hadn’t
warmed up even though I had ran away from the starting point for 20 min. When
I ran across the city centre, it’s strange that I didn’t see the streets thronged with
people and trafﬁcs as I expected. At this moment, the city hadn’t yet revived from
the night time, peaceful and cool. This somewhat puriﬁed me and brought me
peacefulness at that moment.
As Schusterman [43] (p. 8) argued, “to focus on feeling one’s body is to foreground it
against its environmental background, which must be somehow felt in order to constitute
that experienced background.” It is through the situated environments that “an essentially
situated, relational, and symbolic self” can be animated and felt. In this case, it is through
the ritualistic, atmospheric, and environmental atmospheres from which the marathon, as a
journey of self-exploration, is affectively engendered and constituted. The experience and
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subjectivity of health therefore emerge from these embodied encounters between body and
space/place in marathon running.
5. Discussion
In general, this paper suggests that the embodied space of health in marathons emerges
through interaction of body, non-human objects (wearable technology), and atmospheres.
As we see in Figure 1, the construction of running body provides marathon participants a
way to build up the capacity of the body and to reclaim the autonomy of the body. This
bodily capacity including not only the biophysical presence of health but also individuals’
project of self-exploration and self-realisation, which are achieved through mobile and
disciplined running practice. Running also helps participants to escape from or resist to
the patterned and programmatic “social body” so as to reclaim the autonomy of their
bodies. Overall, the body can be viewed as a basic spatial unit through individuals act on
themselves to attain healthy or desired being of the body.
Figure 1. The model of the embodied space of health in marathon running.
The qualitative data also show the ways that wearable technology interacts with
body and space. Given the intimacy between body and technology, the self-tracking
devices can be considered as the extended body of runners. These wearable technologies
enhance runners’ bodily capacity by establishing a “quantiﬁed self” and by reﬁguring the
ways they make sense of the spaces around them. Yet, wearable technology also in turn
constrains runners’ bodily autonomy, as they heavily rely on data and technology to achieve
self-betterment. Digital technology, as Esmonde noted, can induce runners to particular
assumptions and expectations of their own: “that running should have a purpose beyond
pleasure in movement that one can shape their body through data collection and the type
of body towards which people aspire, and that improving one’s numbers by running faster
and longer is a common-sense goal” [31] (p. 814). This is particularly the case in this paper:
that these assumptions instead distract runner away from the pleasure in running.
This paper also offers an account of the diffused and atmospheric spaces of health.
We outline the ritualistic, aesthetic, and therapeutic atmospheres that emerge from the
interactions between different bodies and between the body and situated environments in
marathons. In this sense, we therefore argue that health experience is not simply constructed
through biophysical (e.g., the medical deﬁnition of health) and discursive processes (e.g.,
healthism) but also can be captured through the lens of atmospheres. In general, drawing
Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2022, 19, 43
12 of 13
on an actor-network theory and the relational accounts of health, we suggest that the
embodied space of health in marathon running is not simply bodily experience per se but
rather is the relational space constituted through the interactive effects of body, technology,
and atmospheres.
6. Conclusions
In this paper, we have shown what is the “embodied space of health” in marathon
running and how it is formed through the interactions between body, wearable technology,
and space (especially the atmospheres). This paper advances the research of public and
environmental health studies by offering a relational and non-representational approach to
capturing the spatiality of health experiences. We argue that the effects of health emerges
from the bodily, digitally mediated, and atmospheric experiences of running. Different
from the research on health and place that tends to associate health with particular qualities
of place, the “embodied space of health” highlights the relational and non-representational
nature of health that emerges from the relationalities of different bodies and objects. We
also note that through particular atmospheres in running, space becomes meaningful
places such that the therapeutic effects of places are engendered. Yet, the limitations of this
research are also noticeable. Our study cannot fully capture and understand the bodily and
atmospheric experiences in running due to the limitation of interviews. Therefore, future
studies can use innovative methods, such as mobile methods and qualitative GIS [44], to
explore the more complex spatiality of health experience.
Author Contributions: Conceptualization, Q.G., Y.O., and X.C.; methodology, Q.G. and J.L.; formal
analysis, Y.O. and Q.G.; investigation, Y.O., J.L., and Q.G.; resources, Q.G.; writing—original draft
preparation, Y.O.; writing—review and editing, Y.O. and X.C.; supervision, Q.G. and X.C.; project
administration, Q.G.; funding acquisition, Q.G. All authors have read and agreed to the published
version of the manuscript.
Funding: This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, grant
number 42071191 and 41829101.
Institutional Review Board Statement: The study was conducted according to the guidelines of the
Declaration of Helsinki and approved by the Ethics Committee of Newcastle University (protocol
code 14813, 7 September 2017).
Informed Consent Statement: Informed consent was obtained from all subjects involved in the study.
Conﬂicts of Interest: The authors declare no conﬂict of interest.
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Investigating the "Embodied Spaces of Health" in Marathon Running: The Roles of Embodiment, Wearable Technology, and Affective Atmospheres.
Ouyang, Yi,Cai, Xiaomei,Li, Jie,Gao, Quan