HOURS

Running Niche is a locally owned and operated specialty run/walk retail store serving the St. Louis area.

We are located in the vibrant Grove neighborhood in the city of St. Louis. We strive to be a resource for running, walking, and connecting to others in our great city.

Please stop in and let us help you find the right shoes, bra or gear to help you with your fitness goals. Attend one of our free weekly run/walk groups and say hello!

Read the full cover article about us in the February 1, 2019 issue of Running Insight .

Read the full cover article about us in the February 1, 2019 issue of Running Insight.

Running Niche on Show Me St. Louis live on KSDK!

Our store is located at 4131 Manchester Avenue in the Grove.

Our store is located at 4131 Manchester Avenue in the Grove.

Our weekly Saturday morning group along with our first You Can Do It group session of the season! Great work today everyone! #RunningNiche #TheGroveSTL #TeamRunningNiche #YouCanDoIt #RunWalkLocal

Amy and Lance Steen from our Running Niche "You Can Do It" program PR'd at the Blue Note 5k in 42:13 and 55:10 respectively. Good job folks and great progress. #blues #lydiard #marathontraining #runningniche #teamrunningniche #runwalklocal #bluenote5k #bluenote5k2019 #stlblues #bluenote5kchampions #stl #stlouis #stlouisblues #2019bluenote5k #stlrunning #runstl #stlrunner

Team Running Niche was at the Blue Note 5k last Sunday! Congrats to Kristen Meyer 45:34(PR), Aimee Moore 33:35 (PR), Aaron Tucker who took 2nd in 16:50, Lance Allen who took 7th in 17:56, Jennifer O'Neal 28:01 and Jessica Boyce 33:13. Good job folks! #blues #lydiard #marathontraining #runningniche #teamrunningniche #runwalklocal #bluenote5k #bluenote5k2019 #stlblues #bluenote5kchampions #stl #stlouis #stlouisblues #2019bluenote5k #stlrunning #runstl #stlrunner

Team Running Niche hit the road last Sunday MO' Cowbell Marathon, half marathon and 5k! For some it was their goal race, for others a hard training run called at Out/Back or Progress Calibration Run within their Lydiard training plan. Omar Abdi placed 1st in a course record 1:08:15(PR) for the half. Carolyn Baird placed 6th overall in 1:27:45. Tracey Lary ran 1:38;21(PR). Harold Leavitt PR'd in 2:25:26. Travis Sturm ran 1:47:40. Jen Fox PR'd in 1:57:41. Christina Meyer PR'd in 2:34:11. Ryan Luzar PR'd in 1:46:59 and Chris Bliss placed 14th in 1:23:08. Lisa Flaherty ran 3:02:55. In the 5K Ronald Robertson PR'd in 32:05, Roe Leavitt ran a PR 23:48, Maggie Czarnecki PR'd in 25:06 and Jake Knoll ran 30:50. Some of these folks are finishing up their Integration phase of Lydiard which leads to the Taper phase headed into Chicago, New York or Indy. If you would like to learn more about the Lydiard training method stop in the store and talk with owners Bob or Jen who are certified Lydiard coaches. Good job TRN! #lydiard #mocowbellmarathon #marathontraining #marathon #runningniche #teamrunningniche #running #runwalklocal

#TBT Detroit Free Press International Marathon is coming up Oct. 20. I believe its the 42nd running. This one in 1980 for me had a good ending, 5th in 2:21:07. That's my friend, room mate and training partner Greg with me. 1981 didn't end so well, but that's for next weeks TBT. The marathon can humble you. #freepmarathon #lydiard #marathon #marathontraining #runningniche #teamrunningniche #runningnichebob #throwbackthursday

Another weekly Wednesday night 5k group in the books! #RunningNiche #TheGroveSTL #TeamRunningNiche #RunWalkLocal #RunningGroup

Training Tip Tuesday October 8, 2019 Marathon Pacing
The big race day is coming. If you have prepared well you should have a good idea by now of your goal time and average pace. The question is how to manage this during the race itself?
You may have heard the term “banking minutes”. There is no such thing in any race, particularly a half or full marathon. The price paid for this can be catastrophic in the last 6 miles of a marathon. I’ve heard for every minute you “bank” in the first half could cost you 3 minutes in the back half. You get the idea.
It takes a few miles to warmup in a marathon, so use them just for that. You will find yourself naturally running faster a few miles in with no extra effort. Its important to reserve your calories early on, and burn them from fat, so later on when you start burning your glycogen stores, they will be there.
A good rule of thumb is to run the first few miles of your marathon 10-30 seconds slower than your target race pace. It depends on your goal time of course, if you are under the 3:00 range then you would go 10-15 seconds slower, if you are over that range you may want to consider 20-30 seconds slower. You will have a lot of runners passing you during this but don’t be tempted. You will see them later. When you hit 8-10 miles now move into your target race pace, then as you get to 20 take it down a notch and bring it in over the last 6 miles. This is where you will see those folks who passed you in the 10 miles as they are paying the price.
As an example, when I ran my 2:21 marathon my first 5 miles were at 5:30 pace, then I started slowly picking up seconds each mile as I went, ending up averaging 5:22 per mile for the 26.2 and negative splitting.
So, in the end, by starting slower you will finish faster and please remember there are no “banked minutes” only lost minutes in the last third of your race. You may enjoy the excitement and jubilance of achieving your goal such as Michael shown here who ran 2:57 this past April in the GO! marathon, running his first half in 1:30 and the back half in 1:27.

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See you tomorrow evening for our weekly 5k Running and Walking group in the Grove STL! We’re always open to new runners and walkers of all experience levels! Tomorrow night, Wednesday, 10/9 at 7PM. #RunningNiche #TheGroveSTL #RunWalkLocal

Congratulations to all of the runners who put themselves to the test this weekend! “Fear is gradually replaced by excitement and a simple desire to see what you can do on the day.” -Lauren Fleshman, American distance runner
#RunningNiche #MotivationMonday #TeamRunningNiche

Congrats to Team Running Niche's Amanda Bridwell who ran a 35:20 5K on Saturday in Kirkwood. A PR by 3:00! The run was within her heartrate range for the workout. Today was what's called a Out & Back in Lydiard training and is a critical hard workout each Saturday, followed by a long slow aerobic run on Sunday. Amanda is training for the Indy Half Marathon on Nov. 9. Good job Amanda! #TeamRunningNiche #LydiardMethod #RunningNiche #STPDash #KirkwoodRunning #Kirkwood #RunWalkLocal #LydiardTraining #StPeterDash

HOURS

Tuesday 10AM - 7PM
WEDNESDAY 10AM - 7PM
THURSDAY 10AM - 7PM
fRIDAY 10AM - 7PM
SATURDAY 10AM - 6PM
SUNDAY 12PM - 5PM
Closed on Mondays