Undoubtedly, unequivocally, unqualifiedly yes. And I have a diagram to prove it.
Here’s the deal…
Back when I was the International Editorial Director at Runner’s World, and was overseeing our 10 overseas editions, I had the privilege of traveling to those offices to meet with staffers.
I conferred with the RW editors to talk about their story mixes and cover selections, we discussed their local challenges, and I always took time to review our brand standards.
As part of that branding discussion, I explained that we at the Runner’s World “home office” in the U.S. saw the magazine and its hundreds of thousands of readers as belonging on a continuum. I actually had a diagram to help me explain this.
On one end of the continuum was the notion of a “club.” At the opposite end was the notion of “city.” In other words, a tight little group of like-minded folks on one end, and a large, amorphous group on the other.
In the middle, in the sweet spot if you will, was the notion of “community.” That’s where we and our readership resided.
That’s how we envisioned runners in the U.S.—as a community—and we aimed our magazine and website content at them accordingly.
From all the evidence I’ve seen, then and now, that notion of community as a way to describe distance runners is pretty darn perfect.
Versus, for example, “club-thinking,” which would have runners being more insular, more standoffish, and probably more prone to using lingo to describe their sport. And yes, there would probably be secret handshakes. Or legshakes?
At the other end of the spectrum—on the city side—would be an atomized mass of people who run, but with little sense of commonality, shared purpose, or sense of belonging. That doesn’t sound like us either.
To my mind, one of the great things about the community of runners is that it includes the best of the club and the city.
There’s definitely a sense of belonging—but within a large and diverse tent. There’s no secret handshakes or insider thinking, but nevertheless people in the running community get that there’s something communal going on. You can feel it—in specialty running stores, at races, and at city parks and trails frequented by runners. That’s a wonderful thing, especially in these days of social splintering.
Anyway, there you go, that’s a slightly long-winded way of saying you belong here. The running community is a welcoming, friendly place.
Postscript: The Runner’s World foreign editors always appreciated this way of understanding runners, and their readership. They used it to guide their editions to great success.