Comedy Hangover
Seeing Ali Wong was as revolutionary as I had imagined
There are comedy shows that make you laugh for an evening, and you go home feeling amused. Then there is Ali Wong, who makes your jaws hurt from laughing, repulses you with idiosyncratic descriptions of sexual acts, and leaves you wonder your life's choices.
A comedy hangover feels like negotiating with thrills of amusement to not leave your body, without the dehydrating effects of alcohol. In her latest show at the Wiltern theater, Ali calls herself "a kind six". Her post-divorce sexual escapades aren't just revolutionary in depicting Asian American women as bold, thirsty and brilliant; they're also a reminder of the limit of my talents. There were this 6'5-feet Japanese American drummer who broke her heart; the 60-year-old former daily surfer who lied about his age; the 25-year-old half Vietnamese man with pecs who mispronounces Monet. After giving men pleasure on her knees with a messed-up top bun, Ali Wong didn't forget to remind them of her Emmy and Golden Globe.
Seeing her dazzling talent reminded me how mediocre my work has been: My career, mediocre. My running, mediocre. My writing, mediocre. My parenting, good efforts at best. While I definitely can use more self-love, it is definitely fun to try to keep up with a towering 5-feet woman of my age who delivers ninety minutes of non-stop hard-hitting jokes without a single look at any scripts in her pajamas.
So long, Ali Wong, for this Sunday musing.
May is AAPI Heritage Month. I wrote this story on Asian Trail Mix, a running group based in New York City, back in January. Sharing it below. Originally published on Outside Run.
Asian Trail Mix Is Mixing It Up
Through its welcoming vibe and vivacious founder, this Asian-American-centered trail running group is creating a pipeline for new trail runners in New York City and beyond
(Photo: Daniel Huie)
Early in 2022, Samantha Dong came up with an idea: create an Asian-American-centered trail running group for runners around New York City. Bolstered by the success of Asian-American road running groups around the city, along with encouragement from the community, she put herself out there. In May, she organized Asian Trail Mix’s first run in Central Park.
Still, she had no idea how many people would show up.
“When I announced our first run on Instagram, I had no graphic design skills. I didn’t know how many people would be interested,” she says.
People showed up—35 of them. And Asian Trail Mix took off.
Now, Asian Trail Mix (ATM) is on a mission to increase the inclusion of people of color, specifically the Asian American and Pacific Islander communities, in the running community via monthly trail runs, as well as at road running events in New York City.
From Van Cortlandt Park, South Mountain Fairy, Staten Island, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, Forest Park in Queens, Mt. Beacon, Millburn in New Jersey, Rockefeller State Park Preserve, to Cold Spring, Orchard Beach in the Bronx, and the Palisades in New Jersey, ATM takes its growing member base to places both inside the city and well beyond. The club has also hosted plogging (litter pickup while running) and yoga sessions. A Lunar New Year run in February, drew nearly 200 runners.
“Now our monthly runs average about 75 runners. It takes runners about 45 minutes of train ride to get to our trail locations. I’m so grateful that people show up in such large numbers,” Dong says. Many of the runners also credit ATM for introducing them to trails and signing up for their first trail races.
Trails for Urbanites
Dong only started running as the pandemic was subsiding in 2021. When she began imagining an inclusive running club, she modeled ATM after established run groups such as Run for Chinatown and Chinatown Runners, two clubs with a social mission to highlight Asian American runners and businesses in New York City. Her unique focus: introducing members to the trails. As a Manhattan resident, Dong discovered first-hand the joy and freedom of being in nature.
“There are so many benefits of running in nature, including mental health boosts and being in community with each other,” she says. “This is what I discovered after getting tired of riding my Peloton at home all the time. A trail run with friends got me hooked.”
Others got hooked, too, including Annabel Yuen, a physician who served as a front-line first responder during the spring of 2020, when New York City was the epicenter of the Covid-19 pandemic. She discovered Asian Trail Mix through Dong’s personal Instagram.
“I thought, how can this person be so happy and running around all the time? I want to be like that!” she said. “After a couple of years of this intensive and emotionally-draining work, I felt like a hamster on the wheel. I took care of my patients, but realized I wasn’t taking care of myself. One day, I realized I was depressed over seeing other people’s grief all the time. That’s when I started to run. I wanted to feel better.”
Yuen first joined ATM in May 2023 for its one-year anniversary run in Cold Springs, New York, about a 90-minute drive north of the city.
“It was so magical running in the mountains,” Yuen says. “ATM has taken me to places I wouldn’t imagine myself going by myself. Even though I live in upstate New York, I didn’t know about these trails at all. I would’ve never discovered them on my own.”
Yuen says her immersion into trail running has improved her mental health, easing her battle with depression.
“Now I have something to look forward to every month,” she says. “I’m a much happier person. Even my patients ask me, ‘Doctor Yuen, how’s your running going?’ I feel like I’m living my life as the person I was before Covid.”
Welcoming to All
When Dong first started trail running, she often felt like an outlier. “Not only was I often one of the few women of color, I also often felt that I was not fast enough, not good enough,” she says. “Everyone had more experiences than me.”
With ATM, Dong’s intention was to create a very inclusive group.
“We are an Asian-American-centered group, but we welcome everyone. The group has runners of all ages, ethnic backgrounds, and abilities. Diversity has been our core focus.”
Nancy Wahl, a school teacher in New York City, credits ATM for introducing her to the trails and for making her feel like she belongs as a new trail runner.
“I never ran on the trails before ATM. This is such an incredibly welcoming club,” she says. “I’m probably one of the oldest runners in the group, but never once did I feel I did not belong because of my age or ability. I remember the first time when I came to run with the group, I was feeling a little shy. Sam called my name, came to me, and instantly made me feel like we’ve been friends all along.”
Wahl remembers having a “why not me?” moment when signing up for a trail race. She signed up for the NYC Trail Fest 50K on May 31 at the Palisades Interstate Park.
“At ATM, there are always people doing extraordinary things like running 100 miles. You can’t help but get inspired,” she says. “Being around other trail runners from ATM makes me feel like I can do anything, with no excuses such as age, the rain or snow, the cold. I might not be the fastest runner out there, but I’m stoked about completing this 50K.”
Welcoming runners of all ages, ethnicities, and abilities is not the only way ATM embraces diversity. The club also hosts annual Pride runs. In June 2022 and June 2023, ATM organized trail Pride Runs and invited LGBTQ+ run clubs.
“We wanted to show that we are a safe space for all runners, no matter your color or sexual orientation,” Dong says. “And Pride Month is not just June, it’s every month.”
To the Trails and Beyond
In October 2023, ATM became an official New York Road Runners (NYRR) team in an effort to expand its reach in the running community and further increase participation and representation of AAPI individuals in running, Dong says. That relationship ATM members can represent the club at all NYRR’s road running races, including the New York City Marathon. In November, ATM had a cheer zone at mile 20 in the Bronx to encourage the roughly 50 ATM members and other runners in the race.
ATM also volunteered at the NYC Trail Fest two years ago by crewing an aid station.
“We always want to give back to our community. There was a need for an aid station, so we manned the station and gave out water, food, and gels. We also manually recorded runners’ bib numbers and stayed until the last runner came in. We look forward to continuing this partnership with the Trail Fest this year,” says Dong.
David Kilgore, Global Head of Athlete Strategy at On and local runner, remembers meeting Dong at a running event at the New York Running Company in 2019.
“Sam is a larger-than-life personality,” Kilgore says. “If she’s at an event, you can’t miss her. She brings the hype and the energy.”
When Dong was starting ATM, Kilgore offered support for the club right away with On shoes and apparel. But, Kilgore says, it’s evolved into a partnership.
“ATM has brought an astronomical impact to the trail running community. Sam has created such an open and welcoming space for AAPI runners and others. Over the past couple of years, I have seen such growth with the numbers of runners it’s brought along, with the frequency and variety of its events and various partnerships ATM has struck with brands,” says Kilgore. “With most of its members based in New York City, ATM has exposed them to so many locations such as the Rockefeller State Park Preserve, the Palisades, and Long Island. Dong has answered to the needs of many city-living runners who long for an escape to the outdoors.”
Kilgore is looking forward to seeing many of ATM’s runners at the Cirque Series from late June to September, a series that ON has sponsored for the past several years. One of the events in Snowbird, Utah, is doubling as the 2024 USATF Mountain Running Championships. “ATM has been in the trail scene in New York, and we’re excited to have its members come out to Utah for this epic mountain race. It will be one of the best trail parties out there.”
Dong is also excited for the future of ATM.
“We would like to continue to introduce more people to trail running,” Dong says. “Our members are Chinese, Indian, Hong Kongese, Filipino, Black, Mexican, Malaysian, and more. We want to continue to bring diversity into the world of trail running.”