Hello! Welcome back to The Footprint – and happy Friday.

📬 Edition #14: Industry leader Frankie Ruiz on the one piece missing from the current running boom. And Jim and Louise Nolan, freshly-minted Six Star medalists, on why they keep running marathons.

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Space On The Mountaintop

Setting up the Miami Marathon in 2003, Frankie Ruiz had a challenge on his hands. Running was not the sport it is today.  

“You almost had to create your market,” he said. “You had to trick people into not only running a marathon, and also training for it, but you also had to trick them into coming to Miami to run the race.”  

Ruiz, an industry leader and veteran cross country coach, launched Nike Run Club in South Beach in 2009. Eight more followed, including Brickell Run Club (the largest in the world, as far as he’s concerned) and some 18,500 people now run the Miami Marathon and Half each year. 

For running to truly thrive beyond the current boom, it will need more than just a few big brands and events. “We need these run clubs, these communities, these races, these shoe stores, even influencers,” he said. “All of this going to contribute to making this longer than just a trend. This is a more sustainable way for our sport to exist.”  

But one piece is still missing, according to Ruiz, at the very top of the sport.

“Let’s face it, everyone’s running for a different reason,” he acknowledged. “But I think there’s an aspirational side to running that will require that there’s sort of something [on] the mountaintop to look at. And I don’t know if we’re there yet.”  

What running needs, in his view, is household names: a LeBron James, Tom Brady, Serena Williams, or two, to drive the topflight of the sport into the mainstream. “Once we cross that line,” added Ruiz, “there’s going to be a little more stock in that sustainability of the sport.”  

One of the biggest efforts in years to do just that landed in Miami last weekend, with Grand Slam Track holding the second of four three-day meets – and bringing a host of bright track stars, including Gabby Thomas, Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, Grant Fisher and Josh Kerr, into town.  

The league, founded by four-time Olympic champion sprinter Michael Johnson, has raised big money – more than $30 million in financial commitments for launch – to fund big ambitions.

It has a way to go. “Obviously, look, let’s be honest, we would have loved to have seen more spectators here,” Johnson told reporters after the first meet last month, in Kingston, Jamaica. “We think we’ll get that. We think that’ll happen. But the crowd was engaged, and that’s what’s really important.” 

The stands for the Miami meet were noticeably more full, albeit in a smaller stadium. The action, from Kerr’s redemption in the short distance to Fisher’s 5000m breakaway, was compelling. 

Just a few miles away, Formula 1’s Miami Grand Prix underlined the sheer scale of the buzz generated by a mainstream global sport. 

GST is “right up the alley of what we need to be seeing,” said Ruiz, who was at the Miami meet. “It’s certainly doing something positive for the sport.” 

But connecting a sport which means such different things to different people is no mean feat. Running is 100 meters on the track, under bright lights – but it’s also 26.2 miles on the road, or 100 on trail, and all else in between. 

The Abbott World Major Marathons (Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London, New York, Tokyo and now Sydney) have been “great, from a participatory standpoint,” said Ruiz. “But nobody knows who’s leading the points at the World Majors, right? 

“We still need to do some work in that department. I don’t know what it is. Maybe there’s another Michael Johnson that can figure something out for marathoning.” 

AROUND AND ABOUT

🖐️ London Marathon applications surge. Just over 1.1 million people asked to enter next year’s race – up almost 35% on the year, in what organizers claim is a new world record.

🇦🇺 The coach behind Gout Gout. Di Sheppard has been guiding the Australian sprint sensation – who, at 17, has run faster than Usain Bolt at the same age – amid high hopes for his future. Jack Snape profiled her for the Guardian.

🤩 From book clubs to run clubs. Musicians including Travis Barker, Diplo and Jelly Roll have launched running events and challenges. Caitlin Carlson reported for the Wall Street Journal on the rise of the celebrity run club.

💭 What is running culture? A handful of prominent accounts on Instagram suggested that running culture had “peaked” after brands turned out in force on the sidelines of last month’s London Marathon. Raz Rauf responds in this thoughtful essay.

Why We Keep Doing It

Jim and Louise Nolan can’t make up their minds. “We have this debate honestly almost weekly at this point,” he sighed.  

Louise flip-flops between the atmosphere of London, and the spectacle of New York. But for Jim, “my default answer is the last one.” 

The Nolans had run five of the original six World Major marathons. They just couldn’t pick a favorite. 

The debate stepped up this spring. When the couple spoke to The Footprint, they were preparing for their sixth Major – aptly in their hometown of Boston. 

Five of the world’s top marathons – Berlin, Boston, Chicago, London and New York – formed a global circuit almost two decades ago. Tokyo joined in 2013, and the coveted Six Star medal was introduced in 2016 for runners who finished them all. 

With this medal in their sights, Jim and Louise pressed through with training, whatever the weather, and however many miles were required.  

“I love the discipline,” said Louise. “It’s not even just about the event itself; it’s about the lifestyle change, and the structure that it brings to life leading up to it.” 

“I do all my thinking there. I either do thinking, or I just do random math,” said Jim. “It’s just a way to clear your head.” 

For him, running is less about whether or not he can, and more about the fact he gets to. “You have the ability. You get to push yourself. It’s a challenge,” he said. “And I think it definitely makes the beer afterwards taste better.” 

They both finished last month’s Boston Marathon, gaining their Six Star medals, and raising thousands of dollars for two local charities: the Abby Mac Foundation and Cradles To Crayons. 

“It was a wonderful, but hard run, for sure,” Jim wrote in an email after the race. With friends and family cheering around the course, finishing up in Boston was “something special,” he added. 

And now, once and for all, after running each of the six original Majors, they can finally declare their favorite is... to be decided. “But maybe that’s why we keep doing it,” said Jim.

Collecting their Six Star medals on home soil conjured up mixed feelings. “As happy as we were to finish (both with great times) we’re sad it’s over,” he explained. 

Not for long. With Sydney also a World Major from this year, and Cape Town and Shanghai under consideration, organizers are trailing the launch of a Nine Star medal – in conjunction with the existing Six Star – over the coming years. 

The Nolans, already returning to Berlin in September, are looking at Sydney next. 

RECENT EDITIONS

• #13 You Can’t Be What You Can’t See | 26.TRUE race directors on rewriting the marathon

• #12 London Calling | ultra athlete Ali Young’s record breaking bid

• #11 Back In Boston | with Meb Keflezighi and Carrie Bradshaw

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Have a great weekend.

– Callum