Running, as the sport with the lowest threshold and highest participation rate in the public’s mind, is also the highest injury-prone sport in the world. According to the “Chinese Runner Survey,” more than 80% of runners in China have suffered from injuries. These injuries have become obstacles for most runners to continue running and have also led to the pseudo-scientific notion of “running injuries” that discourages many runners. As a professional sportswear brand in the eyes of athletes, Under Armour has always believed that a scientific approach to sports can effectively reduce the risk of injuries for runners. By digging deep into the obstacles that Chinese runners face while running and their real stories, we aim to help them break barriers so that they can continue to run.

We discovered that experience is a valuable thing. We gathered stories from runners with different levels of experience and professionalism, and their personal experiences with running injuries. By combining their valuable experiences, we created a guide that serves as the best companion for runners, showcasing how UA can provide them with scientific running assistance.

Running is simple, but the techniques involved are not. In our report, we found that 92.3% of runners agree with scientific training methods, with 89.8% of runners paying attention to their running posture. Almost 90% of runners believe in the effectiveness of strength training in improving performance and preventing injuries. However, in reality, all sports brands encourage people to run without telling them how to run, leading to problems such as injury and plateauing.

We always believe that any form of exercise requires scientific guidance, including the simplest exercise of running. That’s why we interviewed runners with different levels of experience and professionalism, and reviewed their personal experiences and stories of running. By gathering segments of their valuable experiences with injury, we created a runner’s notebook that serves as the best companion for runners, because we understand that running blindly can be dangerous, and we want to provide scientific guidance.

We also took the interviews and edited them into audio formats, then we selected the most popular running routes and the most injury-prone sections along these routes. We set up warning signs with built-in NFC technology so that runners can easily listen to advice from other runners by simply holding their phone near the sign.

These audios have been listened to over a million times.

50,000 copies of the physical runners’ notebook was given-away with the sale of running shoes, and sold out within two days.

The digital version has been viewed more than 10 million times.