Runnerville

If you haven’t checked out the feature story on Nike at Forbes.com, do so. Nike provides an interesting case study in choosing leaders who will allow companies and organizations to sell themselves to a broad and diverse audience. That’s exactly what the USATF must do in the wake of CEO Craig Masback’s departure for — who else? — Nike.

Nike decided they needed a “sports guy” (as opposed to a business guy) to take the helm and market to specific sports, not just paste the swoosh everywhere. I believe the USATF needs a “business guy” (or gal) who is not solely concerned about what’s best for the athletes, but wants to market the sport of running to the loads of potential fans out there. One person even suggested hiring the highest-ranking non-future-commissioner of the PGA Tour to come over to the USATF and reproduce its structure (amateur/pro tours) and national exposure. That’s so crazy, it might just work!

A note to the USATF: Please, for the sake of our sport, choose a leader who will think as much about the fans as he/she does about the athletes. Ideally, this would be primarily a business person. If they happen to lace up a pair of running shoes every once in a while, bonus.

Perhaps the biggest obstacle to spreading the gospel of our sport will be the un-ghettoization of the running community. Basically, we’ve created little running ghettos that support a conversation meant only for insiders. If we want people “out there” to realize the beauty of our sport and tune in, we’ve got stop being so proud of the exclusivity of our sport and begin to speak to them about it in a language they can understand.

It’s true, if you think about it. Runners and fans of running tend to be so enthralled with their identification in an elite and secretive sub-culture, that they relegate their conversations to insider Web-based communities and running / track clubs only accessible to, well, insiders. Not to knock these communities at all … they serve a great purpose and are a source of inspiration to many. My point here is not to bash the existence of a running sub-culture or the ensuing conversation, but to encourage a broadening of that conversation in order to increase visibility.  (this phenomenon isn’t exclusive to the running community, of course. every specialized group struggles with this)

Questions: How does the conversation broaden? How does change realistically occur within the machine that is running, and what role does Runnerville play in that? How does Runnerville avoid the pitfall of being another insular venue for the running community to talk to itself?

Well?

On Friday, I built my fantasy “team” for Saturday’s Reebok Boston Indoor Games.

On Thursday, the USATF announced its new Pick-N-Win Fantasy Game, track’s first dive into a fantasy world dominated by the Big Four (sports leagues, not accounting firms).  The format is pretty simple: Before each meet in the Visa Championship Series, fans can pick their winners for each event, and after the meet is over, the team scores are tallied up using traditional track and field scoring: 10 points for first place, 8 points for second, 6 points for third, and so on.  Weekly winners receive prize packages including cash and Nike/USATF gear.  Not too shabby.

I don’t expect men in cubicles to be organizing fantasy track leagues anytime soon, but I am hopeful that the Pick-N-Win is one small way the USATF can stimulate its base.  From the looks of the game’s standings board, participation was high for Week One — and the standings board only lists the top 500.  Considering that fans only had about 48 hours from the USATF’s announcement to the Boston Indoor Games to register and punch in their picks, I’d say the turnout was phenomenal.

How did I fare in week 1?  Well, I managed to squeak out 103 points (the winners scored 128), good enough for 135th place in the overall standings.  Watch out, Bullets, Ultimate High TC, and LoopyNed — I’m hot on your tail going into Millrose.

I went to Abilene Christian University.

Running enthusiasts will recognize the name of the Division II Texas school immediately because it is one of — if not the – most storied track and field programs in America, regardless of division. A combined 55 men’s and women’s Division II National Titles. Texas Monthly’s “Sports Dynasty of the Century.” Training ground for Olympians. You get the picture.

But in my six years — four undergraduate and two graduate — as a student reporter covering Wildcat running, I only recall one home meet at which I wasn’t more or less alone in the stands. (the 2005 National Championship meet) The rest of them were downright lonely. Roughly 5,000 students were walking around our West Read more…

Could 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong be distance running’s biggest ambassador?

LiveStrong himself plans to follow up his sub-2:50 performance at the ING New York Marathon by running the Boston Marathon on April 21. This is Lance’s first Boston, and he will again run to benefit his foundation, which supports cancer research.

Armstrong might just possess the celebrity and drive to give the sport of running the shot-in-the-arm it deserves. He proved in New York that he’s no slouch when he laces up his Nikes, and his global recognition and appeal is much greater than anyone named Haile or Hall. What’s more, Lance clearly draws new subsets of fans — including cyclists and general sports fans — into the sport of distance running.

The point? After defeating cancer and scores of bikers in the hills of France, Lance Armstrong will look to make Heartbreak Hill his next victim. He’ll have more than a few cameras on him while he does this. This is not a bad thing.