What is a runterview?
What is a runterview?
It is a get-to-know-you interview conducted during a run. It’s like a Rundate but with less expectations (pace) and less pressure for commitment (mileage). The focus here is to get to know another runner in your natural habitat.
Why runterview?
You can have a runterview just so you can meet someone new…and maybe blog about it. You can have a runterview to audition a new running partner. The benefit of getting to know someone this way is that it gives you something to do. You are going to run anyway. Running probably puts you in a good mood, right? If you’re a runner you probably enjoy talking about running, right? So why not get to know someone and do some networking during a run? Getting to know new people is a great way to learn about and open yourself up to new opportunities.
How to runterview?
The focus of the runterview should be getting to know the other person. So if you have to slow down the pace to conversational or reduce the mileage to mutually manageable, that’s what you do. If you already know the person a bit (perhaps you’ve read their blog), you can probably learn about them by asking questions off the top of your head. But if you’ve only seen each other a few times (like at a local run group), perhaps preparing some questions will help. It’s not too hard to start with the obvious things like, “When did you start running?” and “Do you have any races coming up?”. It can be really fun to hear and share race disasters or injury stories.
Who to runterview?
If you are naturally a social person and enjoy running with a partner or in a pack than it won’t be hard to think of people you’d like to runterview. If you’re not that kind of person, this idea probably sounds awkward, but I would encourage you to be open to it at least once or twice. Regardless of what type of person you are, you should start with folks you feel comfortable with and are curious to know more about. You can also try reaching out to other runners in your community that you’ve heard about or admire. I think about some of the ultra runners in my area and even the race directors themselves who are all mostly runners. There are lots of questions I’d love to ask them. I’m lucky to have quite a few FitFluential bloggers in my area that I would like to get to know in person.
Have a try. If you ever do a runterview I’d LOVE to hear about it. Use #runterview on Twitter or Instagram. And if you blog about it, I would be happy to link to your post. I hope to collect some good runterviews and create a catalog.