Run-enomics

Government spending, deficit, home values, jobs; what do they all have in common? Besides the fact they suck right now and impact all of us one way or another; I believe they have all helped lead the way to a running society.

If money's tight, gym memberships at $35 a month are less affordable. Yoga and zumba classes at $100 become too much on the budget. People have had to reduce or eliminate discretionary spending due to lost or frozen wages or to supplement a $55 full tank of gas, but still there is a need and want to stay fit. Running has a low cost of entry. Most people have a pair of shoes laying around that they either used to wear to the gym or have run in before. I know when I started running I grabbed some shoes out of my closet that resembled running shoes and off I went. I ran for months that way. I got hooked running that way.

This correlation between crap economy and people running is supported here . The link is to Running USA's 2010 Marathon and Half-Marathon statistics. Since 2007 an additional 50,000 people have completed marathons. 2009 had the biggest jump in marathon completion increase at almost 10% from 2008. The only thing that's better is the increase in half-marathon finishers: in 2007 just under 800,000 people crossed the finish line of a half-marathon, 2009 - 1.1 million. Each year since 2002 there have been an additional 20 inaugural half-marathons. The participation in half-marathons has outpaced the growth of 5k races. That's great news. Of course races have a cost of entry, but if money's tight and we make the commitment to spend $50 on a race entry fee, it makes the training and running of the race that much more important.

With economics there's ebs, flows, and bubbles. Running may be reaching bubble status, but if you talk to runners and are a runner, the economy doesn't matter; running matters. The economy may have indirectly got you in to running but as we run more and more we find more and more reasons to keep running, usually to keep our mind off the crap news that surrounds us.