2008 State of the Sport Part II

Results from the National Runner Survey conducted for the first time in 2007 by Running USA with the help of RRCA clubs, race organizers and running specialty stores are now available. An email invitation was distributed by 30 organizations to their constituents around the country and more than 8,000 online surveys were completed. The surveyed group described in male and female runner snapshots below are the "core runners", i.e. the more active adult participants who tend to enter running events, buy 3 pairs of running shoes a year, run on the road or on trails, frequent specialty running stores and read Runner's World magazine. Running USA estimates that there were at least 10 million core runners in the U.S. in 2007.

Typical U.S. Female Long Distance Runner (52% of total)
Age: 39.4 years (median = 39)
Married (62% of females; 28% have never been married)
No children in the household (64%; 27.5% have at least 2 children in household)

2006 Individual Income was $50,000 or more (50% of females)
* 64% females had 2006 Household income of $75,000 or more
* 45% females had 2006 Household income of $100,000 or more

College educated (93% of females)
* 79% have college degree
* 42% have post-graduate degree

Running Patterns:
* Have run for 5 years or more (67%; 28% have run 15 years or more)
* Favorite Race Distances: Half-Marathon, 5K, 10K
* Run 4 or more days/week (65%) for total weekly mileage of 20 miles or more (52%)
* Have entered at least 10 running events as an adult (68%; 24% have entered 40 or more)
* Have completed 1 marathon (55%; 25% have completed 4 marathons)
* Would consider joining a Running Team in the future (65%; 16% are on a team now)

Product Preferences:
* Last running shoes purchased: ASICS (32%), Nike (14%), Saucony (13%)
* Shoes are purchased at Running Specialty Store (58%) [See bar graph below.]
* Favorite brands of Running Apparel: Nike (60%), Champion (37%), Under Armour (34.6%)
* Running Apparel also purchased at Running Specialty Stores (71%) or Sporting Goods Stores (68.5%)

Internet Usage:
* Internet is used at least 7 hours/week (63%)
* Internet is used for email (97.6%), research (86%), news (82%), making travel plans (78%) and shopping (76%)
* Favorite running related websites: Active.com (59.8%), RunnersWorld.com (58.5%), CoolRunning.com (24%)

Typical U.S. Male Long Distance Runner (48% of total)
Age: 45.1 years (median = 45)
Married (74% of total; 15% have never been married)
No children in the household (55%; 29% have at least 2 children in household)

2006 Individual income was $75,000 or more (50.6% of males)
* 76% males had 2006 Household income of $75,000 or more
* 57% males had 2006 Household income of $100,000 or more

College educated (94% of males)
* 80% have college degree
* 37% have post-graduate degree

Running Patterns:
* Have run for 10 years or more (60%; 47% have run 15 years or more)
* Favorite Race Distances: Half-Marathon, Marathon, 10K
* Run 4 or more days/week (67%) for total weekly mileage of 20 miles or more (64%)
* Have entered at least 20 running events as an adult (62%; 43% have entered 40 or more)
* Have completed 2 marathons (57%; 43% have completed 4 marathons)
* Would consider joining a Running Team in the future (60%; 15% are on a team now)

Product Preferences:
* Last running shoes purchased: ASICS (31%), Nike (14%) or Brooks (13%).
* Shoes are purchased at Running Specialty Store (56%) [See bar graph below.]
* Favorite brands of Running Apparel: Nike (51%), ASICS (34%), Under Armour (31%).
* Running Apparel also purchased at Running Specialty Stores (75%), Sporting Goods Stores (65%) or Online (46%)

Internet Usage:
* Internet used at least 7 hours/week (65%)
* Internet used for: email (97%), research (89%), news (87%), making travel plans (79%) and shopping (71%)
* Favorite running related websites: RunnersWorld.com (55.4%), Active.com (51%), MarathonGuide.com (26%)

Where Running Shoes were Purchased in 2007: Males vs. Females

Runner Types: Males vs. Females

Note that some of the gender differences in the Runner Snapshots above such as income and number of years running can be attributed in part to the 6 year difference in average age. As the pie charts below illustrate, there are also differences for each gender in the level of seriousness and competitiveness with which they identify.

Primary Motivators for Running

Both sexes agree on the primary benefits of running: weight loss, health maintenance and stress relief (see tables below).

Gender and age group demographics and trends associated with running events will be covered in Part III of this series.

Source for Part II
The National Runner Survey conducted by Running USA and RRCA was distributed via email lists to all adult constituents of the participating events, clubs and stores. A weighting procedure was used to ensure that the sample would be representative of all core runners in the U.S.

More complete Survey Results will be emailed to Running USA members in the next 2 weeks. For membership information, go to: RunningUSA.org

The participating organizations for 2007 received very valuable and timely data about their constituents and some customization was provided. Any event, club or store wanting to participate in the 2009 National Runner Survey or anyone with suggestions for questions to include should contact Running USA's Road Running Information Center at rric@runningusa.org.