The Monday Media Diet with Lee Glandorf

On Diadora, Blogsnark, and We Loved to Run

Lee Glandorf is a writer, marketer, and endurance athlete. She writes The Sweat Lookbook.

Tell us about yourself.

Where to begin? I’m a writer, marketer, and endurance athlete. I write the newsletter, The Sweat Lookbook, which examines the intersection of women’s sports and fashion, and work with brands like Diadora, PYNRS, and more, on copy and editorial projects.

I’ve managed to carve out a niche in sports and fashion, but it’s been a bit of trial and error getting there. I studied history in college, and outside of a doctorate or consulting, I had zero idea what I could do with that degree. I stumbled into fashion PR and worked in communications for most of my twenties, all the while wondering if I should dust off my GRE scores and go back to grad school.

I started to get some clarity while I worked for a PR agency. Managing a range of clients across tech and consumer helped me get clear on where I wanted to be, and I realized I liked my job when it overlapped with sports. Around the same time, Tracksmith launched, and a few different people sent the brand to me because they thought it aligned so closely with my interests. A year later, they got funding, and I sent a LinkedIn love letter to the founder, Matt Taylor, telling him to fire his agency and hire me instead. It worked! I was there for seven years before leaving to consult on some new brand strategy and editorial projects. I’m always looking to capture the magic of some of those years at Tracksmith, where I got to work with a tight, passionate, and talented team to help redefine how running was presented.

Outside of work, I’m a lifelong Bostonian, mom to a 14-month-old named Casper, and a twin who is married to another twin. Our household is all earth signs: Aquarius (me), Libra (husband), and Gemini (baby), which makes me happy, even if I don’t fully understand the astrological significance.

Describe your media diet.

In one word: voracious.

I am addicted to reading. I have been since I was little. I was just with my twin sister, and we were reminiscing about how our parents would punish us by taking away our books when we misbehaved. Still, we were so desperate for content that we’d hide and read old encyclopedias just to have something to consume. Before I had a baby, I could (and often did) read a book in a day.

As a result, I am happiest when I have a book going on the Kindle app on my phone. It doesn’t even have to be a new one. I re-read old favorites pretty consistently. I’m trying to get better about going to the library and checking out hard copies, but it’s so convenient to have something on my phone. Plus, then I can read it in one hand during the 30-45 minute process of petting my son’s head until he falls asleep with the other.

I like having a book because otherwise, I’ll be scrolling way too much. I devour Substacks, especially ones with a point of view on fashion or marketing, alongside a sprinkling of running ones. My go-to’s are As Seen On by Ochuko, Link In Bio, Mom Friend, Fashion Soup, Long Live, Sportsverse, Running Supply, Running Wylder, Fast Women, and Running Sucks.

Thanks to my crossword-mad husband, we get the New York Times delivered every day. I try to read the front page as often as possible, but the combination of the Trump administration and a baby means I do it less often than I should. If I get to read any of it, it’s at the very end of the day when I am sick of my phone.

I’m also addicted to podcasts because I hate being alone with my thoughts. The Rest is History gets played immediately, either on a run or in the car, along with Ringer Dish, Fashion People, and Articles of Interest. I also really like The Shit No One Tells You About Writing, though it makes me feel bad when I am not writing.

I have a soft spot for Reddit. I usually lurk on Blogsnark and Running Fashion, and sub-reddits for infertility and IVF made a huge difference in my life when I was in the process of having my son.

What’s the last great book you read?

We Loved to Run is a debut novel from Stephanie Reents. It’s basically Once a Runner (a canonical running novel), but about women at a western MA college in the early 90s and 100% more literary. I read a lot of fiction and am always on the lookout for sports novels written by women, but they are few and far between! I also recommend Quan Barry’s We Ride Upon Sticks, Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Carrie Soto is Back, and Layne Fargo’s The Favorites if you’re on the hunt for nuanced depictions of female athletes.

What are you reading now?

I picked up Long Island by Colm Tóibín at the library. I’ve never read Brooklyn, the novel that precedes this one, but I have seen the movie multiple times. I haven’t read Brooklyn in part because I don’t like how the movie ends, so I haven’t been interested in revisiting it in text, but Long Island returns to the central love triangle, and I’m hopeful for a better outcome! I’ll probably read Brooklyn next, though.

Culturally, I’m a Boston Irish Catholic. I always enjoy books that mirror some of the quirks of that experience back at me. Maine by J. Courtney Sullivan captured the messiness of big Irish Catholic families so perfectly, I am still convinced we’re related. Long Island scratches some of the same itch.

I rarely read books without a female protagonist. It’s a preference that has become a policy.

What’s your reading strategy when you pick up a print copy of your favorite publication?

Before my son was born, and I could enjoy the Sunday issue of the New York Times in peace, I had a very specific process. I like to ease myself in, starting with the Styles section. Then I’ll do Business, with an eye for Work Friend and the occasional CEO interview. Then Arts, but mostly for the “My Ten” celebrity Q&A. Only then do I attempt the front page. I’ll skim whatever’s interesting on the cover, and then flip through from page 1, and finish each story as I go along. Last, I’ll do the Book Review, but not cover-to-cover. I’m there for the “By the Book” author interview and any Romance or Historical Fiction round-ups. Later, when my husband is done with the crossword, I’ll pick up the magazine if the cover story catches my eye.

Who should everyone be reading that they’re not?

I forgot how and where I found out about her, but Eva Ibbotson has written some of the most soothing novels I’ve ever read. She was born in Vienna in 1925 and fled the Nazis for England, where she wrote a slate of modern fairy tales set against the backdrop of WWII: The Morning Gift, A Song for Summer, Magic Flutes, and The Secret Countess. They’re slyly funny, evocative, romantic, and go down easy like an episode of The Great British Bake Off. I said I like to re-read books, and I am delighted every time I remember these are still on my Kindle.

What is the best non-famous app you love on your phone?

Since they got bought by Strava, I’m not sure they count as non-famous, but I’ve trained for my last two half marathons with Runna, the training plan app. If I’m really serious about a goal, I’ll work with a professional coach. But for my last two half marathons, I’ve just been trying to get back into the swing of things after pregnancy. As a people-pleaser, I like having some accountability, but I don’t need the anxiety of having to explain to my coach why I only ran 8 miles of a 12-mile run. It’s a great middle-ground tool if you’re looking to start training, but not ready to go all out.

Plane or train?

The cafe car on the Northeast Regional between Boston and NYC is my idea of travel perfection. Sit on the left from Boston and on the right out of Manhattan, and you’ll get picture-perfect views of the Connecticut shoreline, and maybe an interesting conversation with a tablemate fueled by a concession-stand mini-bottle of chardonnay. You have to board at South Station to have a chance at a cafe car seat from Boston, but in NYC you can get the jump by watching the arrivals board in Moynihan and heading to the track before everyone else. I get an insane amount of satisfaction when I pull this off.

I’m a nervous flier because I don’t like being out of control. I feel much better when I can see or hear the pilot, so I actually enjoy a rinky-dink Cape Air flight. I am also sneaky good at identifying East Coast landmarks from the sky.

What is one place everyone should visit?

The everyone part of this question really stumped me, but here’s where I landed.

I think everyone would be happier if they had a local swimming hole to visit. My husband’s and mine is in the Stony Brook Reservation at the edge of Boston. He introduced it to me when we first started dating. I’d grown up only a mile away, but never explored the woods or swum in its pond. Technically, it’s not allowed, but there’s a community of swimmers there who all band together to keep it clean and safe. There’s nothing better than splitting up a summer long run with a dive off the dock into the pond’s chilly waters. I love that I can be in the city, but immersed in nature at the same time. In London, we always go to the Mixed Bathing Pond at Hampstead Heath for the same reasons, though it’s much more civilized.

I guess what I’m getting at is: these kinds of spots are everywhere if you’re willing to look for them and to be in community with the people who already swim there. I think we’d be in a much better place as a society if people sought out these spaces where they already live vs. feeling like they have to fly around the world to find them.

Tell us the story of a rabbit hole you fell deep into.

I understand the irony of this story given my previous comment, but I was in Vienna this summer with my husband and son. We stayed outside of the Ringstrasse at an Airbnb in Heitzing near the Schonbrunn Palace, and towards the end of the trip, I took my son for a walk up a very steep hill in search of an American Western-themed playground while my husband did some shopping in town.

On the way back down the hill, we found ourselves in a neighborhood of Baroque villas. I really wanted to understand the history behind these buildings, so when we met my husband for lunch, I started googling. One villa we’d passed turned out to be the home of Emperor Franz Joseph’s mistress Kathi Schratt, with whom his infamous wife Sisi set him up. The other was the villa of Elsa Koditschek, a Jewish woman who hid under (or I guess over) the noses of the Nazi’s who’d requisitioned her home. There’s also a crazy sub-plot related to the Egon Schiele painting Dammernde Stadt. Basically, Elsa hid in her home while SS officers lived downstairs, thanks to the protection of a former tenant named Sylvia. Sadly, Sylvia’s motives may not have been entirely altruistic. She kept Elsa’s secret but also made her cook and clean, and sold all of Elsa’s possessions, including Dammernde Stadt, pocketing the proceeds. The story resurfaced when the painting went up for auction at Sotheby’s. It’s worth reading the whole thing if you, like me, are fascinated by the razor-thin margin between life and death during the Holocaust.

I am always looking up the history of things I see while walking around. There’s a story in nearly every building and street corner, if you’re willing to go looking for it.