Strava asked 25,000 runners around the world why they run. They responded. Among these could be you if you use this app, who knows. The interesting thing about this research is that it involved runners from anywhere in the world and thus returns an interesting picture of why humanity runs.
Strava released the results of the research summarizing them in 3 main chapters/motifs: health, routine and community. Let’s see them in detail and who knows if you recognize yourself with them.
1. Health
Eighty percent of survey respondents say the main reason is health, but with different declinations: some do it to take care of themselves, some to become stronger, and some to lose weight. Brazilians for example at 22 percent say they started running after getting a health scare and thus following an awareness of the need to do something for themselves.
Thirty percent globally say they run to stay fit, and among all countries the one that is most motivated to do so for fitness is Germany, with 47 percent of runners citing this as the main reason.
In the U.S., however, it is more important to run to fortify the physique: 48 percent of respondents believe this, and among them the majority (54 percent) are women.
Japan, on the other hand, seems to have found running to be a solution to their existential anxieties: with their 15 percent response in this regard they lead the list of countries that run to combat anxiety and depression, followed by Great Britain, the U.S. and Canada at 11 percent.
2. Routine
Okay, you decided to run, great. However, we all know that part of the experience is continuity: doing it consistently, on a schedule, knowing how to motivate yourself. What motivates runners around the world to do it?
The main reason is undoubtedly having an important goal (running a race, losing weight) and it is for 41% of respondents.
In second place is habit: it is for 39% of global respondents.
Curious 3rd place, reserved for guilt: this is in fact the main motivating force for 15% globally, with peaks of 23% for Spain, followed by France. In Brazil, on the other hand, only 4 percent run for that.
What about when runners around the world run? 48% do so in the morning, 28% in the afternoon, and 24% in the evening. The same data but on weekends are distributed on the following percentages, respectively: 67% in the morning, 25% in the afternoon, and 8% in the evening (understandably, at least on weekends in the evening we do other things!).
At what stages of life has running helped those who practice it? More than 30 percent of those who participated say they have had major (sometimes traumatic) life changes in the past six months. Running helped them regain balance under various adverse conditions: for 78 percent to overcome the fact that their children had left home since they had become adults and independent, 70 percent to overcome a loss or death, and 65 percent to regain balance after an injury or illness.
3. Community
Is running a solitary sport? This is not the case for more than half of the respondents who said they run with others. Particularly with friends (most of them), with running clubs followed by work colleagues. When asked “Do you like running?” 63 percent of “group” runners answered “Definitely yes,” while only 52 percent of solo runners were convinced. Running on the team are, predictably, teenagers while as you get older you stop doing it with colleagues (over 55) for obvious reasons: many retire after that age. And it is no accident that most solo runners are over 55.
Running in groups are, perhaps (and unfortunately) for safety reasons, mostly women. Instead, Japan is home to the largest percentage of solo runners.
A photograph
What comes out of the Strava search is a picture of world running in which many can recognize themselves. Running is a global demographic, demographic and social phenomenon and, involving so many people, an overall description of it can only have indefinite and shifting contours: so many can recognize themselves in this image, at least as many as equally do not. Perhaps we need to imagine it as a group photo: if you look at it carefully, you are in the middle there.
(Photo by Candra Winata on Unsplash)