Erin Azar, known as Mrs. Space Cadet on TikTok, began documenting her runs two years ago. She invited followers to join her, “a slightly overweight person who drinks too much beer,” as she trained for a marathon. But she didn’t anticipate that millions would respond.
“One of the first times I posted a run on TikTok it got over a million views, and I was like, ‘That’s weird,’” she said. “Everything I saw on TikTok, Instagram and YouTube were skinny runners with really cute outfits and really cute shoes, running seven- or eight-minute miles.