, Columnist
Why Is Running on the Decline?
A marathon used to confer bragging rights if you managed to finish. Not so much these days, and that's hurting a $1.4 billion industry.
Elite running.
Photographer: DON EMMERT/AFP/Getty Images
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Midlife crises aren’t what they used to be. Serious running is in decline. One reason? Completing that marathon at the age of 40 may no longer confer the bragging rights it once did.
Researchers have in recent years noted a downward trend in the number of people participating in events like marathons and community five-kilometer races. In a 2018 paper, Heather Kennedy from Temple University and her collaborators dubbed the phenomenon a “running recession.”