As the action from the first day of the USA Track and Field Championships drew to a close, athletes, coaches, and spectators exited Hayward Field and leaked into the surrounding neighborhood. Most of the college students are still home for the summer, and Eugene is taken over by the dedicated fans of the sport. In the lingering summer daylight, the chit-chat, in line at Prince Puckler’s Ice Cream and over patio beers, is all about the news of the meet.
Everyone is on their phones, refreshing their feeds, because even though they’ve been privy to a world-class event IRL, the action from the running world extends beyond the bleachers to far digital reaches.
I’m walking away from the stadium with a young man known by his alias, nocontextxctrack—or No Context, as he’s often called. As we move through crowds of bright running shoes and toned calves, I’m exhausted from the day, but No Context is reenergized by the races and the buzz in the air. Tonight, the hardcore fans will listen to the top podcasts recapping the action and read every word of the athletes’ post-race captions, but they’re still hungry for more running content. No Context is ready to deliver to nearly 80,000 of them.
The responsibility of managing the social account, which curates humorous clips, photos, and memes from running events around the world, comes in waves. But tonight, with the attention of a high-caliber meet, the expectation is also high to share the humor from the day. With multiple events happening around the track and fans engaging or disengaging from the stands, there are plenty of odd moments to be captured.
The “race face” photos, the Jumbotron technical difficulties, commentator mix-ups, and of course, lap counter malfunctions. When you take a good look around a track meet, the No Context moments start popping out at you.
Most of the content for the account comes from direct messages, either from viewers watching the meet on the internet live stream or from various POVs in the stadiums.
“67 DMs,” he sighs as we get to the house. He goes to the couch, plugs his phone into a charger, and gets to work sorting through the messages he’s received during the day’s action. Excitement around the sport, as well as incoming messages, always spikes at the end of the day during major meets.
“I’m a naturally funny person, so humor is a part of most things I do. Even if it’s not outwardly funny, there’s often irony or subliminal messages in the things I post,” No Context said.
Nearly every message sent to the account is seen, and some draw audible laughs as he scrolls through, but only a select few will be posted to the curated feed. It’s tough to tell what’s coming next on a nocontextxctrack post, but a typical carousel dump often includes pixelated screenshots of athletes, typos on race pages, clips from podcasts, and sarcastic Strava screenshots…all of which are taken out of context and reposted…without context.
The account primarily features crowdsourced content, which drives high audience engagement. It creates a space for layered IYKYK humor alongside the kind of jokes you’d hear in a high school locker room. Short, snarky sayings fill the comment section and often rack up likes. To get some of these comments, you need to know the secret handshake, but uncomplicated comedy, like split shorts slip-ups, appear often enough to give even casual followers a way in to the club.
“There’s a sense of community because anyone has the chance to submit something and have it posted.”
One time, No Context was in the stands at a race, and the massive screen in Hayward held a frame of an athlete sticking his tongue out at the camera. From behind him, he heard someone say, ‘That’s going on, No Context!’” Real-life kudos.
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No Context himself checks the stereotypical runner boxes: tall, skinny, and a science major. He has an encyclopedic knowledge of athletes’ times and personal stories, and he can rattle off race performances and team histories without missing a beat. Throughout the meet, I peppered him with questions—Where did she go to college? Didn’t they get canceled for something last year?—and without hesitation, or even glancing away from the track, he answered every one of them correctly.
From starting as a place to post humorous photos of his teammates and running memes, nocontextxctrack grew to accept submissions from other collegiate runners and their friends. Other teams began sending in their photos, and then the pros started sending in theirs.
“When I started, I just wanted to keep posting funny stuff,” he said. “Now, I’ve built relationships with athletes and other notable figures that give me content I couldn’t get elsewhere.”
Olympic gold medalist Noah Lyles, one of the most prominent figures in track and field, boasts 1.5 million followers on Instagram. Among the select 1,200 accounts he follows back is No Context. “He’s liked three posts but hasn’t sent me anything yet,” the account’s manager said. He holds out hope that the superstar will one day DM him.
Typical account followers include college runners and other top professionals from the sport. A handful interact regularly, sending in funny photos of their teammates or asking sarcastic questions. Some pros know who he is and have high-fived him at meets. Others have no clue and walk right past him in the stands, unaware that the guy they’ve been messaging is just a few feet away.
No Context isn’t the first, nor the only, anonymous account to celebrate running by mocking it. Internet “elders” (read: 30-somethings) might remember DumbFlotrack, an account whose name parodied one of the sport’s leading media outlets. It filled Twitter with recurring jokes, including the admin’s obsession with beating his stepdad in local 5Ks, critiques of bad broadcast practices, and sarcastic race-day advice. (No Context cites DumbFlotrack as an early inspiration.)
To my knowledge, the account admin has remained anonymous since they began posting in 2014.
Much like its track counterparts, Yaboyscottjurek has established itself as a meme leader in the trail running space. With nearly 80,000 followers, the account posts almost daily, turning announcements (like race results or breaking news) into meme graphics within hours. The content ranges from likening race series to a Pyramid scheme, mocking expensive running attire, or just running itself.
No brand, athlete, or celebrity is safe when it comes to being the punchline of a joke.
These accounts, deeply embedded in the running world, serve as a mirror, posing that no matter how trendy or popular the sport becomes, it should never lose its playful spirit.
“It’s easy to find humor in running because most of us were the weird kids growing up,” No Context told me.
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Four consecutive days of track and field action can be tiring, but for track and field social media, it’s a holiday weekend that never seems long enough.
Still, No Context is satisfied with the highly engaged posts he’s shared, and the content keeps rolling in from meet attendees and those who watched from home.
At the Eugene airport, looking up from his phone, he sees familiar athletes headed to one of the six gates to for their departures. Some of them are active followers of the account, and a few have even sent content in. Instead of striking up a conversation and revealing himself, No Context chooses anonymity. Besides, there’s a lot of content to vet before the World Championship in Tokyo.
images via nocontextxctrack
Eli Stillman 
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