Run with feeling: A qualitative content analysis of runner sentiment in Metro Vancouver

• This study applies content analysis to Strava runner narratives for the first time. • Findings provide direct insight into the challenges and preferences of runners. • Results suggest the capacity of running to promote wellbeing and sense of community. This study examines features associated with runner sentiment, or feelings, based on qualitative narratives in the form of Strava social media posts among 72 men and 65 women in Metropolitan Vancouver, Canada. Posts were drawn from an Open Authorization (OAuth) portal recruiting runners who used Strava, a popular fitness-tracking social media platform. First, sentiment analysis detected the emotional polarity of posts along a spectrum between -1 to +1, indicating extreme negativity and extreme positivity, respectively. Then, a content analysis of highly positive (0.8 to 1) and negative (-1 to -0.7) posts was conducted to determine the topics associated with extreme runner sentiment. The content analysis resulted in six categories and 26 sub-categories. The categories, in order of frequency, were (1) psychological aspects, (2) interpersonal experience, (3) weather, (4) surroundings, (5) physical experience, and (6) path. Results from this study demonstrate the nuanced personal characteristics influencing runner preferences and experiences. Findings provide insight into factors that may promote or inhibit wellbeing during runs by using direct accounts from Strava runner narratives, a population primarily only studied through quantitative mapping.