Every morning as I drink my coffee, I go through my email, mostly weeding through the endless spam. Along with the news briefs from
The Skimm, The New York Times, and
CNN, I read the daily news brief from
Runner's World. The messages usually contain about 5 links to articles ranging from scientific, to informative, and humorous. One of the articles is usually clickbait, linking to something
Runner's World is selling. There's also always an ad for some running related product. Quite often I'll click on one of the articles.
Last week, I clicked on an article about a runner with Crohn's disease. "
I had flares that lasted two weeks and flares that lasted two years", claimed the quote beneath the photo of a smiling female runner. She was holding a finisher's medal from NYCM. Of course, I was interested! I have rheumatoid arthritis and I am a medical professional. These are the kind of real world stories I enjoy. I clicked on the picture and my browser opened, the photo on the article blurred, and a message appeared.
"Uh oh! Looks like you hit the wall! Bust through it with Runner's World +"
Runner's World +? What the heck? As I read the fine print, I learned that if I wanted to click through the ad to the article, I'd have to sign up for a subscription service that would allow me to read unlimited articles each month. Seriously, Runner's World?