Welcome to another edition of the Runday Newsletter. Home of West Fargo, Fargo and Moorhead’s most elite community of AWESOME people who also happen to run, race and get together!

Speaking of getting together… Check out today’s newsletter sponsor, lululemon Run Club! 👇🏼 Enjoy Wednesday’s run and tacos!

Packed with motivation, a community member’s question on calf muscle health (and thanks to Dr. Sunde’s advice, my calves will benefit, too!), and some upcoming races to check out!

Thank YOU for being HERE!

Let’s get into it!

Faaaaargo!

The Run Club is coming back AGAIN!!

The community loved it so much and kept asking for the next one... so here it is!

Join us this Wednesday, August 19 at 6:30 PM for the Lululemon Run Club at Plaza Azteca 52nd Ave and enjoy an evening full of movement, community, and fun! And then stay for the tacos!

📅 Wednesday, August 19
⏰ 6:30 PM
📍 Plaza Azteca 52 AVE
5081 Charles Way S, Fargo, ND

Whether you're an experienced runner or just looking for a fun way to connect with the community, everyone is welcome! 💪

After the run, stop by Plaza Azteca and enjoy delicious Mexican food, refreshing drinks, and great company. 🌮🍹

Let's run together, support each other, and create another amazing evening in Fargo! 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♂️

Hit reply to this email and…

Brought to you by Lindsay! A fabulous race pacer, writer and community member! And our esteemed contributing author here at Runday.

Lindsay brings a thoughtful, practical approach to life, running, wellness, and real-life training. The kind that meets you where you’re at and helps you keep showing up. We’re thrilled to have her sharing her insights with the community.

By: Lindsay Paulson

I get the appeal of Lazy Sunday. Sleep late, relax all day, sounds nice - until reality sets in. The missed workout, a pile of laundry, and the realization there’s nothing good to eat in the entire house. Suddenly, you feel behind and stressed for the week ahead and the Sunday Scaries take over.

If this sounds familiar, not to worry. There’s a superpower in Sundays. Instead of a lazy day, use it to prepare for the week ahead.

Always scrambling to make healthy dinner? Sunday food prep. Worried about squeezing in a workout during the busy work week? Sunday sweat sesh. Tidying, errands, family moments? Take time for them on Sunday.

It can sound like a lot but it doesn’t have to be. Prioritize; even just a couple hours or a few things checked off the list will pay back big during the week. And, you can still relax with the added satisfaction of having things done - no Scaries in sight.

By: Dr. Lizette Sunde, PT,

A researched-backed approach to your rehab, recovery and wellness.

Runner: Hey Dr. Sunde, I get calf pain typically with any type of running and playing sports. Jumping or quick change in direction for sand volleyball will usually cause an issue if I push hard. If I go with medium effort I will usually be ok. But my mid calf will really start to hurt especially with certain movements like leaning forward and pushing, jumping or quick changes in direction. It only hurts during the activity because the next day I can usually walk normally with minimal discomfort. How can I train this to handle abnormal loads? How much recovery should I have after this pain before I start training it again? How much discomfort is healthy?

Dr. Sunde: Hello, all around sports athlete!

The calf is a mighty muscle when it comes to running or anything explosive like jumping out of sand, assuming there was no previous injury to the leg, let’s talk about healthy and unhealthy pain.

“How much discomfort is healthy” is a relatively important question, because when you’re talking about something like tendonitis (if it’s lower on the leg/calf), anywhere under a 4/10 pain is okay to work through (“under 4, work some more”). But, moving beyond that should trigger a red light and you should stop the activity if your pain goes higher.  I think a more important question is “how consistent is the pain?”  Pain is your body's way of telling you that something is wrong.  Occasional pain happens and is okay, but if you’re having the same pain, in the same area, with the same activity repeatedly, then your body might be trying to tell you something. Let’s take my usual approach for figuring out why someone has pain and talk about all the probabilities. 

First and foremost, ankle mobility is a must, especially when you’re playing on something unstable like sand or with jumping/changing direction as you would need for basketball.  All the muscles in the lower leg attach at the ankle and foot. So a lack of bend or rotation will directly effect the leg muscles.

Referring pain is a probability when it comes to the leg/foot.  Referring pain means having pain in one area (like the calf) but the cause of that pain is coming from somewhere else, like the low back or hip.  I commonly find the low back as a source of leg pain in my practice! The low back and the hips must be ruled out as a cause, even if you don’t regularly have low back pain. So if you do happen to go to a Physical Therapist for treatment, make sure they screen the low back. 

Let’s talk about stability. Your calf muscles are doing way more than just helping you push off! They are basically the shock absorbers, brakes, and power generators of your lower leg, so they require massive amounts of stability for the activity you’re demanding.

The soleus, one of the deeper calf muscles, can handle forces of about 6–8 times your body weight. Your gastrocnemius—the big, two-headed muscle that gives your calf its “bump”—can handle about 2–4 times your body weight during linear running.

But then you decide to jump, cut, or change direction…and your calves are like, “Oh, we’re doing THIS now?”  These movements create much larger and more complicated forces. The calf muscles and Achilles tendon may have to deal with force spikes reaching up to 12 times your body weight!

When You Change Direction, your body isn't just moving forward anymore. You are suddenly asking your calf to control side-to-side and twisting forces. The soleus acts like a brake, helping slow down and control your body so your ankle, knee, and leg don't get pushed around by all that rotational force.

Jumping requires your hip, knee, and ankle to straighten very quickly. Your calf muscles have to contract fast and hard to help push you off the ground.  At this time, your Achilles tendon acts like a spring. It stores some of the energy created when your foot hits the ground and then helps release that energy to help propel you upward and forward. 

And Then You Have to LAND! 😳Landing is another huge job for the calf. Instead of creating force, the calf now has to absorb and slow down your body. At the same time, your ankle needs to become stiff and stable enough to help protect the joints above it. 

So when you run, jump, and cut, your calf complex is doing a little bit of everything: Power generator, Brake system, Rotational stabilizer, Shock absorber, Energy-storage spring. And it needs help from your knees and hips to manage those forces, otherwise your calf may be managing too much. Phew! No wonder your calves sometimes need a little extra attention. They aren't just along for the ride—they're working overtime to keep you powerful, fast, and stable.

Building Tolerance is how you train “abnormal loads”: Here’s how you go from an irritable muscle to handling higher loads for jumping:

That was a lot! First it requires mobility and stability to manage all of the load that comes with force production, shear forces and slowing down followed by proper loading and training, not only from the calf but from its supporting cast like the hamstrings, quads and hips. 

Want an in depth assessment and other ways to manage this pain, I’d love to chat about it with you.  You can call me for a free consult at (701) 248-6689 or reach out to [email protected]

Hosted by various groups throughout the metro. Go meet up!

📅 Saturday, September 12, 2026
📍Detroit Lakes, MN

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📅 Saturday, September 19, 2026
📍Moorhead, MN

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📅 Saturday, September 26, 2026
📍Detroit Lakes, MN

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"How do you react when another runner waves?"

Turns out, Runday runners are a friendly bunch. 👋😂

58% of you are going all in with the big smile and wave, while another 26% are keeping it cool with the classic quick nod.

A few of you are clearly calculating pace, effort, and whether you have enough oxygen to acknowledge another human. And 2 of you? Full panic mode. 😂

But honestly, this is one of my favorite things about running. We may not know each other, but we’re all out there doing the same crazy thing.

So keep waving. Keep nodding. Keep saying “good morning” when you’re absolutely fighting for your life.

Runner etiquette: 10/10!

Keep on keepin’ on, folks!

Jeremy & James

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