Pittsburgh runners are prepping for the return of the marathon in person
Jon Fisher became a runner quite by accident.
While he was active in sports as a kid and played soccer into college, the St. Louis native always considered running a punishment for doing something stupid “like looking at the coach wrong,” he said with a laugh.
It wasn’t until he and his wife, Jody, adopted two cats 13 years ago that he came to see running not just as enjoyable, but also something Number of he Items actually looked forward to doing. 73
The felines made 39 using the elliptical the couple 25 had purchased in an effort 21 to get healthier difficult. So Mr. Fisher
19 started running outside. Before
17 long he was going faster and farther, first a 5K, 17 then a 5-miler and in 2007, his first 14 Rock ‘n Roll half marathon. 12
Since then, 11 the 54-year-old Bloomfield resident and sales VP for Axiom Metals has finished three full marathons in Pittsburgh and two in Richmond and run “more half marathons than I can count,” he said.
So when the COVID-19 lockdown led to the cancellation of the 2020 Pittsburgh Marathon and also the weekend group training runs with Fleet Feet that had become part of his life after moving here in 2014, he was heartbroken.
“I really don’t like running by myself,” Mr. Fisher said. “I want to be with people and talking [while I run] because it’s fun and a way to engage, and it makes the miles go faster.”
Yet it wasn’t all bad: Suddenly working from home, Mr. Fisher was able to run in the afternoon instead of the dark hours before dawn, and as a result, he ran more despite not having any running buddies to hold him accountable. When racing opened up last fall, he jumped back in without missing a beat. “Except for missing people, I didn’t lose anything because I didn’t stop,” he said.
Mr. Fisher’s pandemic experience is not uncommon, said Derrick Shoffner, assistant director of programming at P3R, the engine behind the Pittsburgh Marathon and other races. While some runners lost their motivation and fell out of shape when in-person races came to a standstill earlier in the pandemic, there was a strong demographic within the running community for whom things remained pretty much unchanged, he said.
“Theenthusiasts — they don’t need the experience of race day to continue moving,” Mr. Shoffner noted. “For them, running is internalized as a habit. They always move with intention.”
Even those who in the Before
Times relied on formal group runs to stay on course demonstrated resilience and flexibility — for instance, forming small informal running groups or doing home workouts when large official training runs were canceled. Many also signed up for virtual races in an effort to work toward goals, even though selfreported, DIY runs lack the magic of a live event.
“Runners tend to be very social people, so it’s hard when there’s nothing to train for, and virtual races just aren’t the
“Runners tend to be very social people, so it’s hard when there’s nothing to train for, and virtual races just aren’t the same. ” — Kim Lambert, president and coach, City of Bridges Run Club
same, ” said Kim Lambert, president and coach of the all-volunteer City of Bridges Run Club.
Groups also help runners take the monotony out of getting through long runs. “They push you, and you push them, and it’s a great relationship” that has a huge effect on motivation, accountability and support, Ms. Lambert said.
The industry as a whole suffered a setback with the coronavirus, said Leah Etling, marketing and communications director for the national nonprofit Running USA. She was unable to provide reliable numbers on how many races were canceled during the pandemic, but she estimated that more than 80% of events were called off in 2020 because of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions.
2021 was another disparate year depending on location, Ms. Etling said. In Midwestern and Southern states, some races resumed as early as March; in the West, almost nothing was held until mid- to late fall. And while national majors such as the Chicago, Boston and New York City marathons took place this fall, it was at greatly reduced capacities.
Like so many other groups across the country, P3R relied on remote and virtual engagements to keep their constituents active during the pandemic. Engaging on social media was essential, Mr. Shoffner said, and staff members promoted commitment boards that set tangible goals for runners. They also leaned into the “whys” of running instead of focusing on the “hows” and end results.
“We really wanted to create and foster a social community when everyone was craving that sense of community when trapped at home and anxiety was through the roof,” Mr. Shoffner said.
P3R returned to live racing last July with the Liberty Mile, and runners willing to mask up in the corrals and at the finish also could sign up for the FlyBy 5K, Great Race and EQT Ten Miler. The fact the marathon is returning on May 1 makes everyone “ecstatic,” given the past two years, Mr. Shoffner added.
Even better, there have been a lot of new faces at training sessions like the marathon’s kick-off run on Jan. 8 on the North Shore. First-time registrations are up, too, thanks to more people than ever getting taking up the sport during the pandemic running surge.
The social fitness network Strava, which allows athletes to track and upload their runs (and rides) using GPS data, saw a 130% increase in running uploads from 2020 to 2021, said communications associate Emma Rieser.
While the average distance per run held steady in 2020 and 2021 — 3.9 miles for men and 3.4 miles for women — users as a whole ran a whole lot farther in 2021. In total, they logged 2.4 billion miles, an increase of 26.3% over 2020. In addition, among runners who joined Strava in 2020, almost twice as many set new personal bests in 2021 in all distances compared to 2020.
Anita Ganti, of Lawrenceville, is among those who developed a newfound passion for running during COVID-19. A recent transplant from New York, she starting running the 3 miles between her apartment on Long Island City and its waterfront to get some exercise safely outdoors. When she and her husband, Deepak Bapat, moved here in June 2021 for her fellowship at UPMC, they joined City of Bridges as a way to meet people.
Running quickly became part of her daily routine, and in September she ran her first 10K at the Great Race. “Being part of a group, I saw what was achievable for me,” she said. Work prevents her from participating in any of the Pittsburgh Marathon events on race weekend, but she plans on trying her legs at the Just A Short Run race in North Park on March 26.
“We’re hoping to bring the fun back into running and see friendships being made,” Ms. Lambert said.
Because not everyone is comfortable running in a group, City of Bridges — which gets up to 100 runners on weekend runs — makes all of its Saturday routes public on its website, with turn-by-turn instructions. Paid members get access to three levels of training plans, with different pace groups. “Our runners are back at it, champing at the bit to go,” she said.