Running Insight

odds are most running stores across the country have trail running paths in their vicinity. And promoting these off-road opportunities has definite benefits for specialty run shops. While trail running still represents a modest part of the overall running market, it's a growing piece of the sport's pie. According to the Outdoor Foundation, more than 8.5 million Americans participated in trail running in 2016, a 26 percent jump over the last three years. By comparison, more than 47 million participated in running or jogging in 2016, a nearly 13 percent decline over the last three years. Trail running not only offers runners a different experience, taking them off the roads and onto trails possessing natural beauty and joint-friendly soft surfaces, but also affords run shops a chance to sell trail-oriented products, including footwear, socks, hydration and nutrition to trail running devotees, a small though rather underserved group, as well as more traditional customers beginning to incorporate off-road runs. "Trail running brings a different set of equipment for runners looking to be better prepared and to have more enjoyable experience," says Christi Beth Adams, the owner of three Fleet Feet shops in metropolitan Nashville. Over recent years at her Fleet Feet stores, Adams has increased her inventory of trail-specific gear, hosted trail running fun runs at local venues, namely the city's venerable Warner Parks, and cultivated a devoted group of trail runners that has elevated the activity's place in Nashville's running scene. "Trail running's now part of the vernacular here and that was far from the case a few years ago," says Adams, a Fleet Feet owner since 2011. n 8 runninginsight.com © 2017 Formula4media LLC. Off the Beaten Path (continued) Above: Say hello to some members of the Fleet Feet Nashville "dirtbags" trail running group. Below: A trail run demo table from retailer Run 816 featuring Hoka One One.

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