Writer's Guidelines

Running Times, The Runner’s Best Resource, is the national magazine for the experienced running participant and fan. Our audience is knowledgeable about the sport and actively participates in running and racing. All editorial relates specifically to running: improving performance, enhancing enjoyment, or exploring events, places, and people in the sport. Please read recent issues to learn the type of material we seek. Three principles that guide our editorial selection are:

1) We go beyond basic, beginner information: presenting the "why" as well as "how-to," digging for principles, exploring contexts, analyzing and drawing conclusions from the facts.

2) We present honest content that accurately reflects the runner’s experience and inspires trust.

3) Good writing is a priority; writing aimed at an intelligent, informed and discriminating audience.

We assign approximately 40% of our editorial material to freelance writers. We are willing to work with unpublished writers. Although we consider unsolicited manuscripts, we prefer to see a written query which describes in two or three paragraphs your idea, the article’s proposed length and scope, why Running Times’ readers would find the material interesting, and what qualifies you to write about it.

We close each issue three months ahead of on-sale date, and assign well in advance of our printing deadlines. Payment is made upon publication.

We publish editorial material in the following categories:

• Features (1,500 to 3,000 words) - Training, Athlete Profiles, Travel, Current Events and Issues

• Columns (1,000 to 1,200 words) - "Personal Best"—Training, Nutrition, Sports Medicine, Aspects of the Running Life

• Fiction (1,500 to 3,500 words) - Any genre, related to running and runners

We request that all writers submit their articles via e-mail. Please save your story as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file. Send your proposal via email to:

editor@runningtimes.com