Running Podcasts - My local billion-member running club

Running Podcasts - My local billion-member running club
Running Podcasts -The new running community phenomenon – coming to an ear bud near you.
A couple years back I spoke to you about the explosion of the iPod trend in running. Now I bring you tidings of a new iPod related wave sweeping our sport. In an amazing outgrowth of communalism the worldwide running community has become sentient and it wants to run with you. As usual I thought I was doing something unique with my own efforts in this new venue only to find out I was joining a grand new community that is open to us all and growing fast!
The other day I ran with a gentleman named Krister as he took me on his favorite 8k loop along the farms and narrow paths of Sweden. We chatted about his wife and kids and his dreams. We were joined by a young married couple from Fall River MA, an engineer from Oxford MA, mutual friend from Staffordshire UK, another friend from the small island of Tiree off the Scottish Coast, a volunteer firefighter from BC Canada and a semi-mystic from Florida.
We all ran together.
We run together often. We share our personal stories. We converse together about the wondrous pain, mystery and revelation that is running. We commiserate. We share tips and tactics. We plan races and events. We know each other intimately. We are comforted by each other’s acts and voices. Our conversation encompasses everything that a good running club brings to the table.
We’ve never met.
This is the phenomena of running podcasts that is sweeping the running community. Like most things that our community births, it is inclusive and nurturing. This running club opens its arms to new comers and welcomes new voices to sit around the running club table and jump in to the conversation. It is a club vibrant, active and enthusiastic.
What the heck am I talking about? How can I run with these folks and share the intimacies of their lives without ever meeting them? For that matter, you may ask, “What is a running podcast?” and “Why is it a phenomenon?”
In the simplest terms it is runners, of every stripe projecting themselves audibly into the universe. In the grander sense it is the coalescence of a running mastermind.
Here’s a quick definition from the new media encyclopedia Wikipedia…
A podcast is a series of digital-media files, which are distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on portable media players and computers. The term podcast, like broadcast, can refer either to the series of content itself or to the method by which it is syndicated; the latter is also called podcasting. The host or author of a podcast is often called a podcaster.
Mechanically it manifests as a runner recording their thoughts in audio, perhaps in a ‘radio show’ format and setting those shows free on the internet. Many use iTunes in particular and spread the love through syndication.
Podcasts were made available by the great success of the Apple iPod and the now ubiquitous MP3 players. Whether you love or hate the entrance of personal digital audio players into our sport – they are here to stay. Tens of millions of runners all around the world strap on their MP3 listening device every day the same way they strap on their shoes.
Why this is important is that running uniquely lends itself to podcasting. Running has both an opportunity and ‘fit’ with podcasting. Running has advantages in both the listening and the creation of podcast content.
On the listening side we already know what the fit is. We’ve seen iPods for the last 3-4 years take over the mid-pack of the sport. The simple fact of being a mid-pack marathoner is that you will spend hours and hours of time alone with yourself on the road and trails training. From the beginning of the iPod introduction runners have filled these long hours with the audio distractions available to their ear buds. It’s a custom-made opportunity for undisturbed listening. We are a fertile field because there is so much dead space to be filled.
At first we filled these long hours with our favorite music. Soon we became jaded with our old music files. How many times can you listen to the White Album? The medium began to naturally produce books on tape and spoken audio.
At some point lightening struck. Some technically savvy running geek (of which there are many for some reason) decided to take a digital recorder with them on their run. They thought it might be cool to try and capture those wisps of perfect thoughts and inspiration that come to us on our runs. A new genre was born and with it a community.
As runners we have long known that inspiration and epiphany come to us while we are out on our runs. What if we could share this inspiration and epiphany? What if we could record our thoughts in situ, in the moment they take fanciful flight from our subconscious as those happy running chemicals sauté our brains?
What if you could take someone with you on your lonely long runs? Someone who really knows the great joys of running? Someone who shares your passions, shares your challenges and can counsel you in your hour of need? The combination of these attributes has made running podcasts (or “runcasts”) a run-away success.
What makes this generation of technology-enabled long distance community different? Haven’t runners been building remote communities on the internet for years?
Yes it is true that this is an extension of the internet enabled worldwide running community. The main difference is the intimacy. It is intimate because you are hearing that person’s voice and all the emotive content in that voice. It is different when that voice comes to you while you are running and was recorded when they were running. It is a perfect storm of running intimacy.
You know from your experience as a runner that going for a run with someone makes them an instant friend. This thing you share on that run creates a strong bond. You may otherwise never have met or befriended this person but through running together you have become linked in your shared humanity. That is what the running podcast brings.
At this point in its development the wave is driven by amateurs. They record and publish because they love the sport and the people in it. This gives the running podcasts that fresh authenticity that is so lacking in our world. It’s real – in a good way. The charm is the way they laugh with you – at themselves.
These podcasters are just having fun, but they are changing the world one new runner at a time. They chide and inspire non-runners to leave the couch. They support those new to the sport and keep them with it. They inspire through deed, thought and spoken word. They leave a trail of hope in the wake of their disembodied voices.
The reach of this good news; this ministry of the mid-pack is global. The internet knows no bounds. Recently a few of the podcasters put together a series of virtual races. So far there are over 700 people signed up from 33 different countries. They have signed up to run a race that only exists in our minds! (and on the internet) the tag line is “Think Global, Run Local”.
I’m sure it won’t be long before our favorite behemoth running shoe company or running magazine publishers seizes control of this phenomenon and injects it with corporate blandness. Until that time go check out a running podcast and join the new revolution or pick up your might and jump in. We’re all here and we’d love to have you.
My Podcast is available by searching on RunRunLive in the iTunes store or go browse www.runningpodcasts.org for the whole basket of fruitful flavors!
See you out there,
Chris,
Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy. Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack. Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com. Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners. ChrisRunner@runrunlive.com

Running the long tail

Running the long tail
Or – Why Google is so dang interesting…
I started my running podcast, (RunRunLive), for fun and created a running themed website to host it. I never dreamed I’d get the interesting, hilarious and troubling insight into the human brain that has cropped up. The internet is so cool in what it reveals about people and even more fascinating in what it hints at. So how did my little running podcast experiment give me insight this week?
Apparently there are naked runners with achy quads running the beaches of Cape Cod, swatting at green head flies. They are worried about whether taking a couple ibuprofen for their aches will ruin their sex life. That’s a slice of humanity for you!
I’ve always been interested in the fractal nature of the web’s logic. How it grew organically to represent the way our brains actually work. Random connections of thoughts and phrases produce associations that you might not have made, but when you see them you think, “OK, that’s strange but interesting…”
I was futzing around on my hosting service (seekdotnet) and saw a link in my control panel called “Website Statistics”. First I looked at the file downloads. I figured the number of people who downloaded my podcast would be interesting. I was curious to see how many and also which episode was most popular after one month.
The funny thing here is that we, the creators of the content, think we know what our best work is. In my experience writing for coolrunning, I’ve discovered that my opinion is entirely useless as an indicator. I would put up an article that I had really poured my heart into and thought was fantastic, and I would get low interest. Alternatively I would slap up something that I thought was mediocre and it would really pull. There was no telling what the readers would grab onto.
Of course I learned there are some common elements to a story that ‘pulls’. The readers tend to latch on to emotional issues and specific quick fixes. My biggest feedback articles were on running with an iPod, Running with my dog, the 2004 Boston Marathon (miserable hot year), running so you can eat more and training for a marathon on 3 days a week, in that order.
For my new running podcast, and this is only after a month, the most downloads were for episode 8 where I interview a friend of mine Gary who went from new runner to back-to-back sub-3 hour marathons in about 3 years. My suspicion is that the phrase “new runner to back-to-back sub-3 hour marathons in 3 years” in the title caught people’s attention. The triumph of the yellow press!
So I guess I’ll go change all the titles to “Free Sex Beer Now” or something…
The second thing about the downloads that I thought was interesting was that almost 200 people are already subscribing to my podcast. That’s crazy in only about a month of production. This shows you that the internet is just beginning to blossom in its ability to connect random like thinkers.
I also looked at the page views. Those boys over at Google sure are busy beavers. They hit my brand new site with their indexer 1000-2000 times a week. It looks like their servers are based in Virginia and California. Either that or the CIA is on to me.
I’ve got fans in Canada and the UK – which is cool. I think those places are ahead of the curve when it comes to podcasting. There were also hits from Eastern Europe that were probably hackers looking for someone to rob or extort. When you open the door, anyone can come through.
The really interesting stuff was what people typed into search boxes to get to my fledgling site. Below is the list. Just from looking at this I can tell you that the search engines all but ignore the tags you bake into the website itself, but they really care about the ‘content’ in the form of text and words and phrases. I’m going to collect all these and create a frequently asked questions section on RunRunLive.
Running Blogs and Running Podcasts search phrases:
First there were a bunch of what you would expect – people searching for running podcasts and blogs. In this case the search engines worked. Go to my website RunRunLive to see how to get my running podcast and running blog. Also visit Nigel’s website www.runningpodcasts.org for a wider assortment and search Blogger for the best in blogs.
runrunlive, run run live, podcast runner, runnerati, podcast running, running “side of the trail” “another runner”, running+podcast, run run long podcast, run & podcast
Running Questions
Then, believe it or not, there were other runners who searched for help with a specific running question and got directed to me because of my content. Again I’d say this was what the engines were designed for. I’ll answer those questions here…
how far is a running track around
Answer: 98% will be 400 Meters but you may find some really old one’s that are 440 yards or ¼ mile.
running; chemicals
Answer: natural ones produced by your body – cool. The unnatural one’s introduced into their bodies by cheaters – bad.
achy quads running
Answer: Yeah, that happens sometimes, it’s ok – try an ice bath after your next hard work out or long run…
how far before long run should you eat
Answer: Depends on what you’re eating. I’ve gotten to the point where I can run after eating almost anything and eat while I’m running. For races or hard workoutsI try to get a power bar down 90 minutes before the gun and a caffeinated Gu 30 minutes before the gun.
Cape Cod
It seems that there are a bunch of runners vacationing on Cape Cod in these summer months and my blogs from there drew some hits.
run in packed sand
Answer: Yeah but it will eat your feet after ½ hour if you’re not used to it and watch out for the shells.
running the cape cod rail trail
Answer: Yeah, do it. 60 miles long from Dennis to P-Town.
running path cape cod
cape cod, running path
Answer: See above
green head flies Chatham, MA
green head flies chatham ma
sandy neck greenhead fly season
Answer: They suck.
Cape Cod running and racing
Answer: Check CoolRunning or contact a local club
How deep do beachgoers wade?
Answer: Deep enough.
Now for something completely different.
These were the search phrases that through me for a loop.
naked torso runner
Answer: Are you referring to me? The rule is that you have to have a hot body or be over 45.
run the beach bare
Answer: Whatever floats your boat.
ibuprofen and sexual prowes
Answer: Prowess has two s’
mantras to keep away the nightmares
Answer: Try “No more nightmares!”
the biker elephant man chris
Answer: Are you kidding me?
Interesting, huh? Hopefully everyone got their answers. I’ll be looking over my shoulder for those streaking beach-waders next time I’m out on the beach!
See you out there!
C-,
Chris Russell lives and trains in suburban Massachusetts with his family and Border collie Buddy. Chris is the author of “The Mid-Packer’s Lament”, short stories on running, racing, and the human comedy of the mid-pack. Chris writes the Runnerati Blog at www.runnerati.com. Chris’ Podcast, RunRunLive is available on iTunes and at www.runrunlive.com. Chris also writes for CoolRunning.com (Active.com) and is a member of the Squannacook River Runners. ChrisRunner@runrunlive.com