Dawn breaks and the parks begin to fill with runners. The alarm clock has rang early, it’s time to lace up your sneakers and go out to add kilometers. At the end of the route, still with heavy breathing and sweat on the forehead, the modern ritual demands to open the phone. But the goal is no longer to swipe profiles on a dating app from the comfort of the couch, but to upload the workout to Strava accompanied by a selfie or a clever title.
Those who do it know perfectly well that there is someone on the other side paying attention. As a young runner confessed In a report published by the magazine ellethe intention to be seen is undeniable: “One hundred percent. Whether it’s a long run or a pretty outfit, there have been times when I’ve thought: he’s going to see this.”
This scene, which is repeated every morning and afternoon in any city in the world, illustrates a massive paradigm shift. In a world where love seemed to have been trapped in algorithms, paywalls and cold screens, Generation Z has decided to return to the streets, the asphalt and the sports clubs.
At first glance, Strava is a tool purely technical: GPS maps, average paces and gradients. However, the data confirm a sociological phenomenon. According to the Year in Sport: Trend Report from 2025 issued by Strava itselfone in five Gen Z respondents said they have gone on a date with someone they met through a club running. The same document reveals that the creation of new clubs on the platform multiplied by 3.5 in the last year.
The transition from miles to romance has its own mechanics. As the German edition of Runners Globalgive a Kudo (the equivalent of a “like” on Strava) has become the new super-like. Tyler Swartz, founder of the Endorphins running club, points out that “Having multiple points of contact with someone is a great way to build trust.” After a group run, following each other on the app allows you to stay on each other’s radar without the pressure of an exchange of phones.
The platform itself has witnessed (and facilitated) this shift. When Strava introduced direct messages (DMs) at the end of 2023 Intended to “coordinate flings,” it took younger users just a couple of hours to turn it into a new avenue for flirting, coining icebreakers like, “At your pace or mine?” Unlike Tinder’s visual catalog, seduction here is behavioral. A report from Trail Info highlights that in this network “People observe before they speak.” Knowing that someone runs four times a week at 6 in the morning says much more about their lifestyle, their discipline and their perseverance than an empty 150-character biography.
The collapse of dating apps and the search for the authentic
This exodus towards asphalt cannot be understood without analyzing the collapse of the previous model. Young people are tired of swiping profiles. According to a survey of Forbesmore than 75% of Generation Z suffer from burnout by using dating apps, feeling like they are not making genuine connections. Even Spencer Rascoff, CEO of Match Group (parent of Tinder and Hinge), admitted that these applications They are perceived today as a “numbers game” that prioritizes metrics over experience.
The financial consequences are palpable. Tinder has experienced a decline sustained in its paying users, falling below the 10 million barrier, dragging Match Group shares into a free fall from their 2021 highs. The exception to the rule, paradoxically, It’s Facebook Datingwhich is gaining traction among 18- to 29-year-olds, primarily because it is completely free compared to its competitors’ subscription models.
In contrast, the social sports business is flourishing. A report of Financial Times details how Stravawhich closed the year with 180 million users worldwide, is preparing its IPO on Wall Street under the leadership of its new CEO, Michael Martin, with a valuation that already exceeded $2.2 billion in previous rounds.
The British media Guardian frame this phenomenon in the rise of calls Hobby Apps (hobby apps). Platforms like Letterboxd (for movie buffs), Goodreads (for readers) or Strava itself are absorbing users who are fleeing the toxic public square of X (formerly Twitter) or TikTok. They are friendly spaces, strongly moderated by their own common interests, where the debate focuses on passions and not on cultural wars.
All this has changed the rules of seduction. Today, asking for a face-to-face date terrifies a generation paralyzed by the fear of rejection. We live in what is defined as the “paradox of preparation”: 80% of Gen Z want to find true love, but only 55% feel ready for a relationship. They are terrified of “public failure”, preferring the eternal groping on Instagram or the soft launch (announce a couple ambiguously on social networks to avoid giving explanations if they break up).
Serena Kerrigan, content creator, sums it up perfectly: the apps dating dan cringe (grima) because they feel “like a job interview.” In real life, traditional flirting is mutating into absolute pragmatism. In fact, a trend on the rise is the choremancing (the union of chore —task— and romance). New dates no longer consist of going to a candlelit dinner, but rather going to the supermarket together or assembling an Ikea piece of furniture. It’s the ultimate filter: seeing how the other person manages stress, logistics, and teamwork in the real world.
In this context, running clubs fit perfectly. As one attendee relates for the magazine MensXPshowing up sweaty and out of breath instantly breaks the ice. There are no Instagram filters to help when you’re trying to catch your breath; the façade disappears and authenticity takes over.
Wellbeing as a new rebellion: the natural ecosystem of Gen Z
It is quite complex to decipher Generation Z (and even more so from the perspective of an editor millennial), but there is a common thread that explains everything: well-being has replaced the culture of the night.
Strava’s annual report sheds devastating information for the traditional leisure industry: 64% of Generation Z young people prefer to spend their money on sports equipment than on a date, and 46% say a resounding “yes” to having a first date while exercising. This explains phenomena such as the one reported by Reuters: The New York Marathon attracted a record of more than 200,000 applicants, and the London Marathon surpassed 1.1 million applicants.
This radical turn towards healthy completely redefines where and how young people meet. Gen Z is changing clubs for the coffee raves: morning parties fueled by coffee and electronic music, completely alcohol freewhich integrate yoga sessions and sound healing. Rebellion is no longer about destroying yourself on the weekend, but about staying lucid. In the same way, tobacco has been relegated to a mere retro aesthetic accessory on social networks, but is firmly rejected in privacy: studies of dating applications show that profiles that show smokers receive up to 52% less matches.
If alcohol, smoke and early mornings are no longer the scene of courtship, it is pure logic that clubs running have taken over.
Added to this search for well-being is a suffocating reality: the tyranny of the clock and hyperproductivity. Young people face impossible agendas. In Silicon Valley, founders of startups They adopt “conscious celibacy”seeing relationships as a waste of time or evaluating their partners for the “return on investment” to their business. Even for those who have a partner, modern life gives no respite, pushing towards a “sexual recession” that forces thousands to resort to the “scheduled sex” in Google Calendar so that routine does not devour your privacy.
Given this panorama where time is an unattainable luxury, and knowing that prolonged singleness after 25 years emotional well-being plummetskilling two birds with one stone has become the hack perfect vitality: you do sports to take care of your physical health and you socialize naturally in a club running to take care of your mental and emotional health. All in the same time slot.
The shadows of romanticizing the asphalt
Even so, turning sports into the new Tinder has its detractors and its shadows. in the magazine Triathletecolumnist Abby Levene raise your voice asking May Strava not lose its essence. For her and many veterans, the platform was “the last refuge of sincerity on the internet”, a place to suffer against the wind and not to publish. thirst traps (provocative photos).
This complaint is accompanied by much more serious privacy concerns. The New York Times collected the testimony of women who were considering deactivating their direct messages for fear of harassment. The fact that a stranger can analyze your daily routes, know where you live and send you a message raises obvious and justified security alarms.
There is no need to be categorical; simply the ecosystem has changed where it blooms Dating apps sold the illusion that an algorithm could decipher human chemistry, but ended up creating an epidemic of hyperconnected loneliness.
Strava, Letterboxd or Goodreads were not created to find a partner, but the social nature of human beings has ended up converting them. In the end, young people have discovered that the best way to know if someone is compatible for the long and complex marathon of life is not by reading a clever biography on a screen, but by literally going out and sweating next to them.
From there, everyone can use the application as best suits them, as long as mutual respect, common sense prevail and the lines of other people’s privacy are not crossed. The tools are on the table. For my part, after thoroughly reviewing the platform to write these lines, I am clear about my own verdict: this editor will use it solely and exclusively to discover hiking routes… As soon as the blessed bone edema that I suffer from decides to give me a break.
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