Global Running Day 2026 with Runner’s Market

To very briefly introduce myself to those who may not know me, or maybe those who do know me but have perhaps never seen my name spelled out before, my name is Giulio (it is in fact pronounced correctly with a soft G or J sound, despite the spelling: joo-leeoh). I would like to think that I have been part of the Knoxville running community for years now, as I started working at Runners Market in 2020, have met many of my closest friends at group runs throughout the years, and have been participating in KTC races since moving to Knoxville in 2019! Running has given so much to my life, especially over the last few years, and this community has been a fundamental part of that.

For years, the first Wednesday in June has seen millions of runners across the world celebrate the sport that brings us all together. Global Running Day gives us an opportunity to praise ourselves, each other, and the joy of not only running, but movement. From proud walkers to elite marathoners and everybody in between, anyone who wants to embrace movement and exercise with their community can come together to celebrate in the best ways possible. In 2025 Runners Market hosted a Global Running Day celebration with the Knoxville Track Club that exceeded our expectations, and it planted the idea in my head that we could do even better.

On June 3rd this past week I knew that the Knoxville running community had the chance to do something amazingly special with Global Running Day this year, and I want to say definitively, without a doubt, that we accomplished just that. The exact number of runners who attended on Wednesday may never be known, as there were even too many people to capture in one photo despite Todd Temple’s best attempts (shoutout to him for all of the awesome photos anyway)! Hundreds of people gathered together in the Western Plaza shopping center in front of Runners Market to be a part of something incredible: one of the biggest group runs Knoxville has ever seen. The 150 shirts that KTC event manager Jessica Mead (a special shoutout to Jessica is very deserved for being my co-coordinator throughout all of this) and I allotted for the first people to show up were gone well before the run was even set to begin. Tables and tents for ASICS, Knoxville Endurance, PLUNJ Knoxville, BOUND Running Co. and Shift Performance PT were swarmed by runners in every direction. We even had the Irvey’s Ice Cream truck on site serving cold sweet treats (another shoutout to David, our ASICS shoe rep, for buying everyone’s ice cream)!

Despite all of the fanfare, my favorite memory from the evening was one that many others may not have even recognized. There I stood, on top of a stepladder, facing hundreds of members of the community that has given so much to me for years. With a megaphone in one hand and my notes in another, I started to welcome and shout out each of the more than fifteen unique running groups that we had been coordinating and planning with for months to make this event happen. As I announced each group name, I found myself having to pause to allow for those group members to finish their cheers and applause. It may have been a passing moment to many, but to me it was the perfect representation of what Global Running Day is about – an event put on for the community, by the community.

To those of you who helped in the planning and coordination of Global Running Day 2026, I thank you sincerely. To those of you who helped promote the event, spread the word, and invited your friends and family, I thank you sincerely. To those of you who were there that day, whether to help put on the event or to enjoy it, I thank you sincerely.

Finally, to anyone else who was not at the event, whether you were out of town, busy somewhere else, or maybe did not even know about the event, as members of the community we were there to celebrate, I still thank you
sincerely.

-Giulio Rancadore/Runners Market