Square Runners: The Gender Gap & Morning Runs

By John Pilecki

Quick—off the top of your head—of all the runners you have seen during the past year or so, along the side of the road, in your local park, or wherever—have you seen more men runners or women runners?

Best guess here is that your answer would be the distaff side of the running fraternity/sorority. If that is the case, a few statistics from local races support the anecdotal notion that women lace up and hit the roads more often than do men.  To wit: of the 14,445 finishers in last May’s Pittsburgh Marathon events, including the full marathon, the half marathon and the 5K run, 7,933 (55 percent) were women. 

Of the 8,997 half-marathon finishers, 5,574 (62 percent) were women; the same proportion (719 of 1,159) finished the 5K run. 

Interestingly, male finishers for the full marathon (2,649) exceeded female finishers (1,640) by the same 62 percent to 38 percent ratio that women outnumbered men in the shorter runs. 

The burgeoning Square Running Club (88 Facebook members already, and we were established just last summer!) is itself a reflection of this gender imbalance. Fewer than a quarter of those 88 members are male. But there is hope that, locally, the gender numbers difference that favors women for runs shorter than the 26.2 miles of a full marathon could be lessened—of the 1,229 over-20 finishers in last August’s , 586 (48 percent) were men and 643 (52 percent) were women—almost an even split. 

So, we know you guys are out there. Come on out on Thursday evenings at 7 p.m. or 6 a.m. Tuesday and Wednesday mornings at the on South Braddock Avenue. 

Also, join the Square Running Club group on Facebook in order to keep up on club news and share experiences with other runners. Represent your gender and run with the club—you’ll like the scenery!