The year 2024 was a banner year for running.

Here are some of the trends we hope will continue:

The big trend was the proliferation of running clubs, which further enticed a lot of newbies into the fold because of the sense of community these clubs provide. Here’s hoping that in 2025, running clubs will be as ubiquitous as Zumba groups in every barangay. As Kipchoge said: A running world is a happy world, and a happy world is a peaceful world. Let’s make the Philippines a running country one barangay at a time.

Destination races. This year saw more destination races such as the Siargao Marathon, Baguio to Sagada and Pagudpud Ultramarathons, to name a few. Already in the calendar next year are the Subic International Marathon, Batanes, Baguio and Bukidnon Marathons. Here’s hoping we will have marathons as well in Vigan, Dumaguete, Camiguin, Zamboanga, etc.

More and improved trail races. The Southeast Asian Trail Cup in Bontoc, Mountain Province showcased how our trails and mountains are among the most scenic in the world. With more and more people getting into running, it is likely trail running will also see a boom.

It used to be that average runners felt “unsafe” running in trails and a lot perceived it as one fraught with risks. Due to efforts by the Philippine Trail Running Association and other trail race organizers, trail running has become safer and more inclusive for all runners of different skill levels.

With the increasing popularity of trail running, a lot of the shoe brands have hopped into the bandwagon. When trail running was a smaller piece of the pie, brands like Adidas, On, and New Balance were not investing as much in trail shoe research and development.

Over the past year, the Adidas Agravic Terrex line came out with a supershoe, the Agravic Terrex Ultra that garnered rave reviews from seasoned trail runners. Well-known trail brands like Hoka, Solomon and North Face, not to be outdone, also came up with new and improved carbon plated shoes for the trails.

Last year was also the year of the insanely light shoes. The Adidas Adios Pro Evo weighed only 4.8 oz., which was nearly half of what other supershoes weighed. Chinese brand 361 Degrees for its part came up with the Miro, which was light as a feather, weighing only 4.3 oz. Interestingly, both shoes had carbon plates.

But it’s not all sunshine and rainbows in the running world though. There were some trends that we’d rather not see in 2025.

Increasing race registration fees. Running group chats and pages are rife with complaints on how race registrations have increased the past year, which may make running less “accessible” for the masses. Race organizing has undoubtedly become lucrative with more joiners especially in the shorter distances of 5K and 10K. Following “supply and demand,” coupled with inflation, it is not surprising indeed that we’ll see a spike in race registration fees.

Here’s hoping that with increased fees, our race organizers will at least see to it that races will have more well-trained marshals, ensure the health and safety of runners through adequate protection from traffic, have better equipped food and aid stations, and better quality merchandise.

Running mules. When I first heard about this, I thought it was too absurd to be taken seriously but, apparently, it has become a thing. Running stats have become something to flex on social media and, based on articles in running magazines, some people have taken to hiring “mules” by letting them use their smart watch or whatever gadget they use to record their runs to make it appear that they run more often or faster. I am unsure if this has caught on here in the Philippines but this practice is definitely a hard no. Cheating is cheating no matter the intention.

The last item is not yet a trend but is more a wish.

Here’s hoping that this year, manufacturers of sportswear will finally come up with an alternative to dri-fit polyester material which contains endocrine-disrupting microplastics. These microplastics get absorbed by our bodies as we sweat.

They can disrupt critical reproductive and metabolic hormone-regulating connections and also disturb our immune system’s normal response and damage immune cells. This topic deserves a separate column and will definitely be discussed further.