Regional News

From Publisher's Letter: May/June 2009 Issue of Oklahoma Runner & Triathlete

July 2009 will mark a significant point in the history of this publication: after many months of planning and several years of consideration, we are re-branding Oklahoma
Runner and Triathlete as Oklahoma Sports & Fitness magazine.

When Lori and I purchased the publication in early 2001, we always had a plan to expand its reach beyond our core reader to attract more people to running, multi-sport, and endurance sports. Over the years, we have made numerous changes to the format of the magazine and our website www.okrunner.com, all aimed at enhancing the publication and providing more of what our readers were telling us that they wanted. The internet has also changed dramatically in the last eight years, with an enormous amount of information available online if you have the patience and the know-how to go find it. Our website has always received signifi cant traffic, and our readers tell us what they like on the web is our comprehensive calendar and comprehensive race results. These two things will not change; in fact, by the time you read this we will have in place a new and improved searchable online event calendar that will provide an even better view of what is going on in Oklahoma and the surrounding states.

Since 2001 we have added page count to the magazine, gone from bond paper to full gloss paper, and in the past few years moved to an all color format. The look and feel of the magazine has also changed significantly, reflecting the trends and designs of today. These changes are in large part due to the creative and artistic mind of our editor and publication designer, Sean Call.

Since 2001 we have noticed a change in the type of athlete attracted to running and endurance sports. Eight years ago the “typical” endurance runner was likely male, aged 35 to 50, and ran numerous 5 km’s and 10 km’s each year with the rare marathon thrown in. Today, the demographic of our typical reader still includes this core group, but is now outnumbered by female readers, who on average are younger, and more driven by “goal” event training and preparation. By this I mean endurance athletes who may have participated in more half-marathons and marathons than 5 km’s in their lives.

Back in 2001, if you could say you had finished 10 marathons in your life you would have been considered somewhat crazy and obsessed with long distance running. Today, having completed 10 marathons in your life is a noble accomplishment, but somewhat pedestrian in comparison to those athletes who have completed many more. I have two good friends who have run more than 100 marathons, and I am sure there are several more in the Tulsa area alone, not to mention across Oklahoma.

Every day we encounter “runners” who do so much more in their weekly training – they ride, swim, lift weights, do yoga, and are very interested in proper nutrition, sports medicine, and other topics corollary to endurance activities. In the end, running is and will remain the core of all endurance sports, and it will remain the core of what we do. But the interest of our readers has changed over the past decade and our new format and brand will refl ect this change.

So, beginning next issue, we are pleased to present to our loyal readers a new brand for this publication: Oklahoma Sports & Fitness. - Tim Dreiling