When runners want sage advice on their sport, they can turn to a slick newsstand magazine -- or to a 31-year-old computer tech support rep from San Antonio named Richard McCue.
Although he's completed four marathons, McCue has never graced the cover of a runners magazine, never been offered a mega-contract from a sponsor and never had adoring fans ask for his autograph. But he does host "Runcast Weekly," a podcast about running in which he shares his experiences and dispenses advice and information.
"I'm an amateur runner," he admits. "I don't approach subjects from a professional point of view; I'm learning just like everyone else and sharing what I've learned with others."
McCue, who debuted his show from his home last April, does have the distinction of being one of the earlier fitness birds using podcast technology. A podcast, the product of fusing "iPod" and "broadcast," is an Internet audio program that can be downloaded onto an iPod and an MP3 player, or listened to on a computer. It's one of the hottest new uses of the Internet, and as sales of portable players grows, so will podcasting.
In the last year, the number of fitness- and sports-related podcasts has climbed steadily, yielding eclectic offerings. A scroll through podcast directories turns up recreational enthusiasts such as McCue, personal trainers doling out strength-training advice, physical therapists talking about sports injuries, interviews with top endurance athletes, numerous motivational messages -- and audio workouts to up-tempo music. Some have sponsors and minicommercials to help offset costs.
Even Runner's World magazine entered the podcast sphere this year with several broadcasts leading to November's New York marathon. Those went over so well (an estimated 23,000 downloads) that more are planned.
Podcasts offer exercise-minded listeners a few nuances that most magazines, websites and books do not: a human voice, a sense of environment (some podcasts are taped during a race or training session) and immediacy (most are taped and aired quickly).
The largely unscripted broadcasts have a roughness absent from much of today's ultraslick media. They're sort of the audio equivalent of blogs, which are unapologetic about poor spelling, clumsy grammar and opinionated tone. It's not unusual to hear a barking dog or someone's toddler in the background of a podcast, and hosts have varying broadcast abilities. Some are unrepentant monotonic speakers, "ummmm"-ers or awkward pausers.
