Growing to avoid death

“Life is growth. You grow or you die.” - Phil Knight

This is one of my favorite quotes. If we don’t grow, we will die. The running industry has been growing - as shown below (you may remember it from when I wrote the brief history of races).

I have a bold prediction: the growth of the running industry is only getting started. 50 years from now, this chart will look tiny compared to where we’ll be.

Why?

1. Comfort – Life has gotten so easy that we no longer need to run to survive. We live in temperature-controlled buildings and don’t have to hunt or forage. That means we need new challenges. Running pushes us, keeps us healthy, and connects us with our communities. If you don’t believe me, just look at ultramarathons — 80 years ago, who would have dreamed of paying hundreds of dollars to run hundreds of miles?

2. Social media – Let’s be honest: running is not the most thrilling sport to watch. If you enjoy watching it on TV, good for you. But you’re in the minority. For example, the World Athletics Championships in Eugene averaged 834,000 viewers on NBC. This year’s Super Bowl? 127 million viewers—more than 150× more.

   But social media is changing everything. Our phones are now our source for communication and entertainment. We don’t need to watch a full track meet or marathon—we can watch short, shareable clips, get inspired, sign up for a race, and post our own accomplishments online. (That’s exactly what I did last weekend—you can click here to see it or simply go to the bottom of the newsletter).

3. My experience – Being at races every week, I hear runners’ gratitude, feel the energy, and see the numbers growing. To celebrate the growth, I’ve included an image displaying the growth of 4 races that we work with.

Onwards and upwards!

-Ian

Sometimes I run