This thesis examines the performative pleasures of competitive distance running, including its aesthetic, physical, social, and moral rewards. I take an ethnographic and auto-ethnographic approach to women’s collegiate distance running focusing on the elements that comprise the identity of runner, and the demands intertwined with this identity. I explore running as a technique of the body that places value on a less gendered body ideal. Through the disciplinary regimes of training, individuals perform self-care while gaining authenticity to the identity of runner.