The “Loneliness of the Long-Distance Runner” No More: Marathons and Social Worlds

This paper investigates how a group of novice marathon runners become immersed in the social world of a distance running community. A qualitative research design involved a combination of interviews and observations from within the social world of the distance running community. This fieldwork was undertaken in the traditional three month training period leading up to a major international marathon on the Gold Coast, in Queensland, Australia. Two groups were tracked using these methods: the first were runners who trained with a club while the second group were runners who trained individually. The findings suggest that novice runners who trained with a club progressively identified with the values and behaviors of the social world of the long distance runner.