Running a temperature: distance running, heat and ‘temperature work’

What is it about?

Research-based chapter in edited collection: A C Sparkes (ed). Seeking the Senses in Physical Cultures. Drawing on theoretical and conceptual tools relating to ‘sensory work’ within sociology and sociological phenomenology, in this chapter we address the under-researched sense of thermoception, the lived experience of temperature perception. We explore this particular sensory modality as experienced within our own chosen sporting domain of distance running. Drawing on the findings from two automethodological research projects, we describe some of the complex sensuosities of our ‘intensely embodied’ experiences of heat and cold (Allen-Collinson & Leledaki, 2015). In exploring thermoception, we seek to remedy the relative lack of social science research into this important dimension of the sensorium and, commensurate with the purposes of this edited collection, to challenge received notions of the ‘classic five senses’ as traditionally conceptualised within ‘Western’ science.

Featured Image

Photo by Giorgio Parravicini on Unsplash

Photo by Giorgio Parravicini on Unsplash