You Should Meet Your Heroes
The sport of running booms in stressful times. When it’s tough, people need to get out, move their bodies, and shake out their minds as much as their legs. The first running boom, well, boomed against the backdrop of the turmoil of the Vietnam War, and now, with gyms and fitness studios shut down due to COVID-19, distance running is booming again. From 2019 to 2020 the sport grew faster than any period since the mid 80’s when heroes like Bill Rodgers and Joan Benoit powered it into the public consciousness. According to data from ASICS, registrations on its Runkeeper app are up 262% year over year, and these days, Strava adds over 1 million new users per month. When the world gets stressed, the stressed get running.
The new runners pounding the pavement looking for a few minutes away from bad news and cramped home offices need inspiration and guidance. Not just for heroes to inspire better performance, but for wisdom to help them stay healthy at a time when health is paramount. Injury is inherent to running – over 70% of runners get hurt every year – and new runners suffer at higher rates. Runners know when their legs start to hurt, but don’t often know what to do about it.
At a time when runners need a guide, iconic American olympian and marathoner, Meb Keflezighi, expands his role in the sport by partnering with Recover Athletics. Through our collaboration, we hope to better light the path towards sustainable training and health. Meb joins forces with Recover to build his recovery wisdom into our app. By collaborating directly with our product team to influence the design and content of our platform, Meb will continue to lead the way for thousands of runners.
Pro runners pop back and forth between moments of fame fame and moments of obscurity. When we see a pro out for even an easy jog, it’s immediately clear we’re witnessing athletic excellence. But as soon as they slip back into street clothes, they’re just our ordinary, maybe slightly skinnier, neighbors. As a result, they spend a good deal of time thinking about how they have a sustained impact, on and off the roads or track.
Earlier this year in an interview with Outside Magazine, Meb humbly remarked that, “The beauty of being a distance runner is that, when you’re with your fellow runners, you’re a hero. But when you’re running [alone], you’re just a random person.”
In the age of Instagram and Tik Tok, pros can easily broadcast and brand themselves through their casual moments away from competition. But these platforms’ feeds are too fleeting to properly host and convey those athletes’ years of hard earned wisdom.
Even though he’s retired, when Meb goes for a run, he’s still a hero easily recognized by many runners. When runners meet him, they often ask questions. Now, Meb can focus more on how to help his fellow runners. Meb is constantly thinking about how he can most effectively impart his wisdom and experience to the next generation of runners, especially on the topic of health and recovery. Believe it or not, Meb and his brother Hawi found us!
Resilience and longevity have been keys to Meb’s success and his story as a runner. Meb peaked again in his career as he approached 39 years old, when he won the 2014 Boston Marathon, a feat that never would have been possible without a persistent commitment to recovery. In Meb for Mortals, Meb lays out key ideas and methods runners can use to do recovery effectively and stay healthy for the long term. While books will always remain a fantastic medium to tell a story, they certainly aren’t the best tool to teach a runner how to repair their body, and they’re not an ideal instrument for helping someone stick to a new routine over time.
To enable a runner to live a healthier life, coaches need to help athletes systematically change behavior and adopt a new routine. This is tough to do! But fortunately, there’s a fascinating new generation of digital tools for athletes to use to help educate their fans and make a difference in the lives of those who follow them.
As the app solely dedicated to helping runners proactively prevent injury and live healthier lives, Recover was the perfect platform for Meb to leverage to educate the millions of runners in need of his wisdom.
Our team is thrilled to collaborate with Meb to bring the recovery wisdom that made him a worldwide legend to our app. We already know Meb can help the thousands of runners who use Recover today, and we’re proud to work with him to inspire millions of others to stay injury free in the future
Nicholas Stewart
Try the Recover App! Run More. Hurt Less. Recover Better.
