Happy Birthday Colorado Runner!
Welcome to our 8th anniversary issue! It’s been a remarkable eight years at Colorado Runner, both for me personally and as a part of an industry that has experienced phenomenal growth. Road race participation is at an all-time record high, and there are more races than ever. Despite a lagging economy, there were an estimated 13 million road race finishers in the U.S. in 2010; they were competing in more than 22,000 events. Experts predict that the number of races and runners will once again top estimates this year. As Running USA’s National Runner Survey recently reported, today’s runners are motivated to run because they want to stay in shape, stay healthy, have fun and relieve stress.
Women are on the front line in fueling our sport’s growth. Female athletes now represent 53% of running event finishers, a number that has doubled in the past two decades. As recently as 1990, only 25% of runners crossing the finish line in local races were female. There has also been a tremendous growth in women-only events, with the largest eventtaking the cake at the Nike Women’s Half-Marathon in California with 15,556 finishers.
As we settle into autumn, my very favorite time of year, many of us are setting our sights on big goals. An online survey of Colorado Runner readers revealed that more than half of us are training to compete in a fall marathon or half marathon. The weeks leading up to race day can be exciting, yet nerve-racking. On page 18, author Roy Stevenson will walk you through your final training phase before the big race to help you understand how to taper your training and peak for your best performance. Also in our online survey, some readers said they are running to lose weight this fall. In this month’s nutrition column, we reveal strategies to help shed those unwanted pounds. The article examines the reasons why it is easy to gain weight in today’s society and how to change some of those influences.
Happy trails!
Derek