Alex Casablancas: Running as a promotional tool for mental wellbeing

Some people crash on the hotel bed when arriving in a new city, others look for a restaurant. Alex Casablancas laces up his running shoes and heads out the door, if time allows, and goes to explore the area in search of kilometres, new memories, and maybe a coffee at the end of it.

A city reveals itself differently when you move through it on foot, says Casablancas. “Sometimes I run for kilometres out in one direction and take the metro back. This way I feel like I can get to connect to a city in the best way.”

Running everywhere he goes has taken him through many places. In China, for instance, Casablancas discovered a running culture that surprised him at first. Large cities with wide streets, electric cars and parks full of people moving early in the morning.

“Running there is huge,” he says. “Many global brands have their largest stores in Chinese cities, and public races attract enormous participation. Older generations are often very active and focused on health. Running there also showed how many Western stereotypes about China are simply wrong.”

Well-being

Casablancas grew up between cultures. His father is from Barcelona and his mother is English, but his childhood unfolded mostly between Spain and Japan. Sport entered his life early through swimming which he practised in his mid-teens, then triathlon in his later teens. Later running slowly became the main focus.

“At first,” he recalls, “like for many young athletes, it revolved around performance and competition.”

That path eventually became complicated. At one point he had to step away from the sport because of physical and mental struggles.

“Competitive environments can create pressure, and I experienced how easily that pressure can turn into unhealthy patterns,” Casablancas says. “Weight issues, obsessive thinking and the constant demand to perform left a mark. Taking distance from competition helped me over time to look at running differently.”

Today his relationship with running is calmer and more intentional. The emphasis is no longer on results, but on well-being. That change is one of the reasons he started organising events and founded run clubs. What began as a simple idea slowly grew into a network of groups worldwide and collaborations, always with the goal to create a space where movement, health and social life meet.

The social side of running is what interests Casablancas most.

“When people run together, what seemed barriers beforehand tend to swiftly disappear,” the founder of Mild Activity (run club in Dublin) and Itinerari Mvt (Barcelona-based) says. “A run becomes an easy way to meet new people, especially in a city like Barcelona where distances are manageable and the weather invites people outside.”

Worldwide trend

Cafés have become a natural extension of the running culture.

“Sometimes the coffee is the excuse to meet and the run comes first, and sometimes it is the other way around. Either way, the combination works well because it turns a training session into a shared experience.”

This idea of connection also shaped his work with Nomad, a coffee roaster in Poblenou, Barcelona, with multiple cafés around the city. His first meeting with the company’s founder happened in the most natural way possible: during a run. Regularly the company meetings take place through activities like running.

Casablancas’ involvement goes further than simply organising group runs. Over time he has built connections with many clubs, organisers and individuals in the worldwide running community. He has seen the sport grow, with races selling out faster.

“Trends may come and go, but running has one advantage that few sports share: almost anyone can do it, anywhere, and more and more people do.”

When his father moved to Barcelona before the 1992 Olympic Games and used to run wearing Olympic shorts, people seeing him on La Avenida Diagonal mocked him for it, calling him a clown. Today that attitude has completely disappeared, and running has become a normal part of daily life in many cities worldwide.

Also in China, where he will be travelling for seven weeks straight. With little equipment, and a pair of shoes in his suitcase, there will be plenty to explore again.