THE FUTURE OF RUNNING

Neighborhood. Taken by PKSeangore December 2017. All rights reserved.

RUN CREWS Traditionally, names like road runners, running club, pacers, athletics, track club, tracksters, sports union, striders, harriers, company, and team have been used by groups to describe their collective purpose to meet up and run together.  Adam Elder informs us of a newer group-run movement in a Motivrunning.com piece.  “THE RISE OF RUN CREWS”, subtitled with the explanation, “URBAN DWELLERS, and their street style, culture, and flair, fuel the run crew vibe.”
 
The dictionary definition of the noun ‘crew’ ranges from the archaic meaning, “a band or force of armed men”, to the more modern, “group of people associated together in a common activity or by common traits or interests.”
 
According to Elder, the new vibe attracts “unlikely” but “tightly-knit” bunches of people that all know each other, run the neighborhood together in the dark after work, and party. He says the group members are mostly new to running and not influenced by the industry. Quite the contrary, the run crews are hugely influencing the industry, his article indicates! And they identify with being antagonistic to traditional running, with pride of neighborhood, and the commonality of their particular crew.
 
The decade long movement seems to be drawing persons who don’t fit the typical profile of a runner, explains the article. Rather than being a mere extension of running, run crews are a subculture, like “skate-boarding, hip-hop, or punk music” and it’s about partying.  Read what Elder has to say about the international nature of the movement, how it was born, and how it thrives.
 
Perhaps this movement will grow beyond trend, as the author hopes, and evolve to bring people immersed in an increasingly electronic world together in healthy physical challenges. 
 
The Earned Runs take is that big city dwellers have created community out of necessity and abundance.   Like-minded enthusiasts have used their urban advantage to eliminate a disadvantage. To transform an activity that may have had the appearance of exclusivity into one that potentially includes the world. 
 
And as they eventually disperse beyond these centers, perhaps to suburbia and exurbia, the attitudes will be dispersed as well. The run crew concept of pride of neighborhood and group can carry over to smaller venues, with some alterations. 
 
Possibly we are seeing the origins of the next big running boom, that won’t necessarily be about running.
 
RUN HAPPY!

https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/crew
 
https://www.motivrunning.com/running-life/running-culture/rise-run-crews/