WSJ: How Millennials have ended the running boom

My sentiments exactly.

I raced almost 40 times last year. It was obvious the numbers were down a lot. A couple race directors were really happy they stayed level. I also saw a handful of small races just cancel because nobody was registering. I saw results of races having between 5 and 15 finishers. Those won't be around next year.

Another trend I saw the last few years was runners going to trail races. I did a lot of trail racing in 2012 and a handful in 13 and 14. This year practically every trail race I looked at is sold out because they are only allowed small numbers (250) so as to not damage the trails. There haven't been many new races to supply the demand probably because the profit potential is small and it is hard to get permits, etc. With that occurring, you are left with a 5k every weekend or paying 75+ for a small half marathon.

Another trend I am seeing that is a real turnoff from a race is graduated fees where the cost may be $50 6 months ago but $100 the week of the race. I got 3 e-mails in one day telling me prices for their race was going up and the races were 4 to 6 months away. Rather than hurry to register, I crossed them off my list of races.

These trends all make running less appealing to everybody and younger runners more so because they don't have as much expendable income and tend not to plan activities far in advance.

The last point is that racing had a nice increase when the economy tanked. People still had money, more time to train and race and race fees hadn't spiked up yet. It still only cost a couple bucks more to register day of race. With the rebound in the economy and the sometimes extreme price hikes, it is no wonder a lot of races are getting smaller..

It's not a featured sport like it should be. America has some kind of Monday night sport. South Africa used to have something like that with athletics on Monday nights you could see all the greats the RSA had back then.

If the USA had running competitions on every week it would be better.

The number of kids that want to train but not race in HS is astonishing. They are afraid to lose. So they don't want to try.

One kid told me he never sets goals because then he won't feel bad.

But I blame the parents. I have multiple athletes miss our championship meet. Among the excuses:

1. My parents want me to help my sister move the next day (not sure why you can't run the day before).

2. It's my sister's birthday party and my parents want me there. It's really important.

3. I didn't think I'd make it so I made plans.

That's who we are dealing with in the workforce in 5 years.

Just another coach wrote:

The number of kids that want to train but not race in HS is astonishing. They are afraid to lose. So they don't want to try.

One kid told me he never sets goals because then he won't feel bad.

But I blame the parents. I have multiple athletes miss our championship meet. Among the excuses:

1. My parents want me to help my sister move the next day (not sure why you can't run the day before).

2. It's my sister's birthday party and my parents want me there. It's really important.

3. I didn't think I'd make it so I made plans.

That's who we are dealing with in the workforce in 5 years.

Fear of failure isn't always a bad thing. When a third of boomers defaulted on mortgages in the last crises we could probably agree that having some introspection and restraint would have benefited everyone. When many boomers chose not to go to college and now millennials have to foot the bill to support them as the economy evolves, we realize that fear of failure could have incentivized them to have a backup plan. It's easy to accuse others and not look at your own shortcomings. But I encourage boomers who assume all millennials are very very bad to take the more intellectually challenging path of introspection.

"Most millennials spend their free time hitting the bong, drinking beer, eating Pringles, and playing video games."

You say that like its a bad thing.

Anyone notice the inconsistency in blaming the boomers for giving us the millennials, but not blaming the so called "greatest generation" for giving us the boomers?

Its not like they could watch track and field for FREE like I did growing up.

Flotrack and Runnerspace have DESTROYED Track N Field.

What will the poor millennials do when Social Security goes bankrupt and the gov't cuts back on their welfare? Well, at least they'll have legal weed to rely on to escape to down in Mom's basement.

"Mom, the meatloaf. Where's the meatloaf?

I can't run anywhere in my neighborhood without black males ATTACKING ME.

http://www.newnation.org/NNN-Black-on-White.html

http://www.youtube.com/user/ColinFlaherty712

I agree with some of those things, but "almost pagan?" Are you kidding? It was the boomers who completely f*ckd the environment with no legislation and careless practices. Who remembers the Love canal which caused lasting health problems for thousands of people?I really hate the millenial vs boomers vs Gen x mindset everyone seems to have. Each generation has its problems and its great achievements. Right now, millenials are technology obsessed, increasingly more obese, and with a growing sense of entitlement (just look at the ivy league fiascos from the past two years). Things need to change but let's not act like boomers were model citizens

SortOfMillennial wrote:

Very interesting comment:

"Christopher La Mendola 20 minutes ago

@MARK SOWA @Patrick Rietschel Though I don't disagree with the observations, I would argue that my generation, the baby-boomers, is the "weakest generation". We're the ones who were handed America by the "greatest generation" and transformed it into the "millennials".

It's hardly their fault that they were given trophies for participating and taught to have a virtually pagan religious belief in the sanctity of the earth. We taught them that it's ok to be non-productive and to still expect to make a living. We taught them that diversity is more important than merit, and that the foundation upon which our country was built was racist and oppressive. We taught them that it is worth sacrificing liberty to achieve equality.

We made the millennials."

H.E. Pennypacker wrote:

I set lots of goals back in my competitive running days, and I failed at more of them than I met. Guess what? I got over it, and a life lesson was learned.

I don't remember who said this, but if you are meeting your goals (time, place, etc.) in every race, you are setting your goals too easily. If you meet them half of the time, you are at the right level.

Love Canal was around long before the Boomers were in charge. It was 100% the work of the so called greatest generation.

in a nutshell

“They’re pushing back on that, in a sense saying, ‘Don’t classify me that way,’” he says. “‘I don’t run 5Ks because I’m a runner. I run 5Ks because I like to be fit.’”

A group of people that find the same value in a video of the countryside attached to a treadmill as they do a run in the countryside soon come to prefer a fantasy world video game on the treadmill I-gaming device.

The man device interface is at the verge of going to implantation. No need to look for that stupid cellphone I have a minicomputer in my forearm.

As a young millennial, many of my friends like to run but hate the competition aspect. Another subset likes racing but hates training. Few enjoy both. Plus lots of people view races as a "one and done" kinda thing, like finishing a marathon one time or doing a Tough Mudder one time. They don't aspire to be excellent just to participate.

doot doot wrote:

JoanSamuelZen wrote:

Millennials ARE sedentary. Just look around you or go to a Walmart on a Saturday night, preferably the beer aisle

Stop talking out of your ass, grandpa. Who goes to Wal Mart, let alone on a Saturday?

.

Walmart is a great place to pick up single big bottomed chicks.

As one poster noted Millennials are sedimentary which means stupid ..I'm into Goth chicks now. They clash with my white robes.

There are a lot of reasons why road races, other than the biggies, are struggling to hit registration numbers at the same level they did a few years ago. But when I read this article, I didn't buy the premise the article was trying to sell, which seemed to be that Millennials are doing other things because they aren't interested in being competitive runners. I know this is a smaller scale, but look at NCAA participation rates for XC + Indoor + Outdoor:

• 1981-1982 59,995

• 1991-1992 72,788

• 2001-2002 95,480

• 2011-2012 129,972

• 2014-2015 139,161

Most researchers say this generation began in the early 1980's, which means the first 2 numbers above are pre-Millennial and the last 3 are that generation. Now, I know some of the inflation noted above is the result of schools adding Track and/or XC programs, notably women's teams to help meet Title IX compliance, but I can't believe that a lot of the ~100% growth 91-92 to 14-15 is a result of more people being interested in being part of a team in this sport.

jjjjjjj wrote:

another part of the annoying part of races today is that the everyone gets an award idea means that if you get one, usually something junky even for race winners and top three or masters' winners, you have to stand around for hours waiting, instead of getting back home, changing, eating breakfast, taking a nap, etc. It is a pain and I don't like to subject my family to that so they don't come watch these races. Cut way down on the junk bags and junk awards outside, say, top three and master's, and it would become a more enjoyable experience, and much cheaper.

There is an easy solution for this. Give the overall awards first, then masters awards, then age group awards after that. (Many races already do this.) Real runners like yourself can pick up your award and go home, while hobby joggers like myself can wait to get our age groups awards, after applauding your great achievement, of course. That's a win-win situation. Honestly, I am too old to compete with people in early 40s for the Masters awards, and I am glad that I can still compete for some awards even though my time is much slower.

Of course, if you think the very idea of awarding old people for their slow time is anathema, that's a different stroy.

Hi, I am a runner and reporter for a Japanese newspaper Nikkei and working on an article similar to WSJ story. I found your comment during my research and thinks it's a great comment. Is it possible for me to quote you in my article? If it is OK, could you tell me your first name?

I am 46 and find 40-something runners (especially women) are very serious and competitive and spend tons of money for gear and races...I'm guilty as charged as well.

Tomoko