Sure

I went from never seeing any of the Cars movies this time last year to forming a grand theory about how Cars 1 & 3 are pretty much just films about an endurance runner who happens to be a car (cars 2 is its own thing. I don't love it but find it more fun than critics make it out to be.)

I watch 1 & 3 at least 7 times a week for the last several months. My 2 and a half year old cannot get enough of it.

Hear me out.

If the cars all live in a world without people, as is strongly suggested by the lack of people even though all the buildings etc are architecturally designed for foot traffic, then no one is driving these cars (obviously.) If no one is driving the cars, then the racing that Lightning does would be akin to self-propelled foot racing if the anthropomorphic cars were humans. Hence, the running. Cars OG is all about the counter-intuitive nature that a lot of distance coaches use to train their runners. "turn right to go left" might as well be the "run slow to go fast" mantra of 80/20 running for example. Cars 3 gets realllly into the crutch of training data like GPS watches and Strava used by so many runners when all you really need to do is go out on a trail run around Thunder Hollow or a nice barefoot sprint on the beach. Cars even hints at the idea that driving (running) is something a Car can do their entire life, which is illustrated by Doc going on his little fun rides when no one is looking or when Sally and Lightning go on their long drive (long run) for the hell of it, not worrying about pace or time.

Anyway it's been a very long year and I'm watching the Cars trilogy far too many times and thinking about running way too much. Send help.