Community (noun): A unified body of individuals, often linked by a common characteristic or interest, living in a larger society; or, a social state or condition.
Brands today are surrounded by buzzwords in today's landscape. As each tries to stand out from one-another, companies use these little nuggets of language in their own way. Some of these buzzwords are carefully selected by the brands themselves, whilst others are imposed upon them by customers or the industry.
One such word continues to be pervasive across customer-focused brands like retailers and consumer products. The big C.... Community. As a brand ourselves (actually there is a real person writing this, I promise you), we are not immune to the use of this very term. In fact, it is one of the foundations of Runlimited itself, something you could likely surmise from our Run Together motto.
But what does it actually mean to us? Why does community come first in everything that we do?
When building Runlimited, one of the very first ideas that Molly and Jonty had was that London needed more resources to connect runners to each other and build a network of clubs to serve people across the city. Speaking on this moment, Molly says: "For Jonty and I, we found running from opposite sides of the spectrum, so for me it felt right to combine his experience with community run clubs with my competitive background in traditional athletics. With Runlimited, I wanted to create a space for everyone - no judgement, just running. I hope Runlimited is a store that people feel comfortable in whether they are running for the first time or a seasoned runner."
To us, community means Inclusion, Education, Encouragement, and Fun. The diversity of the city's running scene means that it is often difficult to know where to begin searching for someone to connect with, so forming a network has become a key element of everything that we do. But why?
Community, to us, is obviously all of the faces at our events and browsing The Shoe Room, but it's also runners that may have been helped along the way indirectly by something someone has learned from one of our events or experts. It is the power of education. In running, as the sport grows, so too does the sheer amount of information available to runners and people who are looking to become a runner – and not all of it is good or correct. Anyone can simply make a claim on their social media platform and share it to the world. To build a community, for us, is to create a platform to educate Now we're not claiming to be the auteurs of all things running or that our word is gospel, but with grounded advice, we aim to combat bad, untrue and down-right dangerous information in the running world. That's why we extend our network beyond just runners and run clubs, but to injury and nutrition experts such as The Running Room, inclusivity leaders, to event specialists and beyond.
Yet this flow of information is not just leaving Runlimited. It's coming back to us as well, and by that I mean whilst we're sharing what we know with our community, you lot are educating us just as much! Run leaders teaching us what their community thrives on and their unique needs, wants and goals; brand experts providing us the knowledge to serve a customer's needs; physios teaching us the basics of rehabbing to share with those who might not have access; or simply Origin Coffee teaching us how to whizz up a zippy espresso for a day of work.
"Runlimited is a hub for all" Jonty says, "a place where you want to come and then leave inspired. I want to change running retail, make it exciting, accessible, break down barriers". So when we bring people together, we truly aim to make it inclusive, meaningful and fun. But the only way to do this is to be connected with the community. We love running, but what we truly love is to Run Together.
---
by Liam Dee
