Start of a New Running Boom? Interest in Running Shoes Takes Off

By Raymond Britt -- Could we be witnessing the beginning of a new running boom? Quite possibly: yes.

Potential great news for running shoe companies: After discovering the unprecedented spike in 'qualify for Boston Marathon' google searches, just one week later, interest in running shoes has taken off.

Our new analysis showing a sharp increase in search trends for top running shoe brands, including Brooks, Asics, Saucony, New Balance and Reebok.

The chart below tracks search trends for each brand in the last 52 weeks. Most peaks and valleys are seasonal and expected moves. But the surge in interest in just the last week is unmatched for this time of year.

Will the trend continue? Is this really the start of a new running boom? Stay tuned.

For more, see our complete Stats/Results/Analysis Archive, or return to our home page.

Running and Marathon Search Trends

Qualifying for Boston Marathon 2014 at Boston in 2013

At the time Boston Marathon 2013 was suspended, 17,580 runners had finished, 4,496 runners had reached 24.8 miles and hundreds more may still have been on the course.

• Of the 17,580 finishers, according to MarathonGuide.com, 10,391 runners, or 59.1%, qualified for Boston 2014
• In 2010, the percent of Boston finishers that re-qualified for the 2011 race was 41%
• But . . . qualifying times in 2013 are 5 minutes faster than they were in 2010, and yet percent re-qualifiers are almost identical
• Further proof that the new 5-minutes-faster qualifying times translate into a field that also runs at least 5 minutes faster in Boston

Note: we do not have the breakout of qualifying results for age groups 0-34 and 35-39, which are combined above as 0-39