How to Pitch: Running Times

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Circulation: 118,000
Frequency: 10 issues/year
Special issues: June is usually a trail/adventure racing issue, November typically centers on marathons, and September is high school. Themed issues can be viewed on the editorial calendar online.

Background: At 34 years strong, Running Times has mastered the art of endurance. Launched in 1977 as a resource for a group of D.C.-area club runners seeking information to bolster their hardcore, race-driven view of the sport, its then-tagline was "The National Calendar Magazine for Runners," and the book consisted of race results and discussion of the racing scene. Throughout the 80s, the scope of the magazine broadened to include training advice crucial to a runner's success, all while maintaining considerable distance from its more recreational cousin, Runner's World. Scott Douglas took hold of RT's reigns in the mid-90s, and, under his tenure, the publication adopted the tagline, "The magazine for the serious runner." With its May 2008 issue, Running Times rolled out its first major redesign in 10 years with a sleek new look that befits the magazine's content.

Current editor-in-chief Jonathan Beverly, who took the helm in 2000, says the egalitarian Runner's World and his own hard-nosed publication don't consider one another competitors. Beverly insists that his niche running mag will keep off the health-and-fitness turf and continue to be a book for people who cross-reference running and religion.

It's "the magazine for those who say [of running] 'this is me, this is my sport,'" he says. "Since we've been purchased, people thought we'd go away and instead we've been able to refine our particular niche more distinctly and speak more directly to our readers," says Beverly. "We don't have to cover areas that were considered more mainstream that we used to have to in order to get dollars. We've been freed to be distinctly ourselves, so we're even less general than we were in 2004. And we've continued to grow."...

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