Event Participation Trends

Survey respondents participated in an average of 10 events over the last 12 months, consisting of races of a variety of distances. This is one event less than the number of races respondents participated in in both 2025 and 2024. The change was in the 10K, with respondents averaging one 10K in 2026 instead of two as in previous years. The largest percentage of respondents (38 percent) ranked the half marathon as their favorite distance. New in 2026, the marathon usurped the 10K as the second most popular distance, jumping from 15.6 percent in 2025 to 18 percent in 2026.

Running USA reported 42.5 percent of respondents indicated they expect the number of events they participate in to increase in 2026 compared to the previous year. This is lower than in both 2025 and 2024, when 52.9 percent and 60 percent of respondents, respectively, expected their participation to increase. The top three reasons for those changes in participation are interest/motivation, time commitments, and cost. Cost jumped from number six in 2025 to number three in 2026.