HeyJaredDAS Z LETTER — Running, Culture & Self
Deep, honest weekly essays about running, culture, and the human condition — written with clarity and emotional accuracy by Chris Z, former hardcore-punk musician and founder of the running brand Willpower.
Part of Das Z Sprachnachricht. Follow the publication for all its platforms.
- Indexed issues, last 90 days
- 14
- Latest publication
- Sep 25, 2026
- Audience
- Checking…
- Earliest in this view
- Aug 9, 2026
Latest issues
The Book That Isn’t Mine Anymore (opens the original)
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Yesterday marked two years since the German version of my book, Hundert-Meilen-Herz, was published.<img alt="" class="sizing-normal" height="357.00892857142856" src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!mY9c!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Feb32b745-3180-429b-891a-6c1b7e11f4
I Don’t Have A Plan B (opens the original)
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I was asked in a podcast interview recently if I have a Plan B for running.We had been talking about my long injury period and what it did to me. How hard it was to lose running for such a long time. How quickly a physical problem turned into something much bigger because so much of my identity had become attached to this one thing.For the hosts (non-runners), the solution seemed pretty obvious. It would probably be good to have something else. Another thing I can care about deeply and put my ti
[+] I Have a Bib (opens the original)
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Can I tell you a secret?A proper one. Something I haven’t shared publicly yet and don’t plan to for now.I have a bib for a race, and I still don’t know whether using it is a good idea.<img alt="" class="siz
Knee Rehab Is Over!! …just kidding, it’s not (opens the original)
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For more than a year I had a super simple idea of how this knee story would end. At some point everything would be healed and I would be done with rehab.I never really thought about what that meant. I guess the knee would stop hurting, I would run normally again, as fast and as far as I wanted. Thus, strength and mobility training would become optional instead of mandatory, and all the other annoying little routines like keeping a knee diary and the most terrible mood swings would slowly disappe
Aus Chamonix zurück ins Leben (#169) (opens the original)
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Ich war in Chamonix. Wie alle. Trotz aller Kritik hatte ich aber eine entspannte und sehr inspirierende Woche. Trotzdem übe ich natürlich Kritik am UTMB bzw. dem ganzen Drumrum. Wie alle. Was ich merkwürdig finde. Darauf gehe ich ebenfalls ein. Das wichtigste ist aber, dass ihr ein Das Z [+] Bezahl-Abonnement abschließt und mir zum Status “Bestseller” auf Substack verhelft. LINKS ZUR FOLGE * Das Z [+] Abo 73% Off inkl. 10€ Willpower Gutschein & Burning Fight Fanzine * Das Z Letter zur Folge * De
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