Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

Availability

Open Access Thesis

Abstract

This study examines how endurance running shapes runners' sense of place through interactions with physical environments, social dynamics, and embodied experience. With sports geography, it explores how participants form emotional and spatial connections to race settings while moving through varied landscapes under physical strain. A phenomenological multi-site case study design was used, focusing on four endurance events in Iowa that differed in terrain, setting, and structure.

Data were collected from 46 participants using mental mapping and semi structured field notes. Mental maps identified meaningful locations along race courses, while field notes captured emotional responses, environmental conditions, and social interactions. Thematic analysis and cross referencing of the data revealed consistent patterns across individual and cumulative race experiences.

Findings show that sense of place is actively constructed through participation rather than derived solely from the environment. Community interactions, especially at race starts, aid stations, and along the course, were important to positive experiences. Natural features such as rivers, lakes, and rolling hills also strongly shaped how runners perceived and remembered each course. Additionally, physical challenges, including terrain and weather, heightened environmental awareness and strengthened emotional attachment.

Overall, endurance running events function as meaningful human environment interactions, where place emerges through movement, effort, and social connection. These findings contribute to sports geography by highlighting the importance of scale and demonstrating how temporary, event based experiences can produce lasting sense of place.

Year of Submission

2026

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

Department of Geography

First Advisor

Lisa Tabor

Date Original

2026

Object Description

1 PDF file (xii, 73 pages)

Language

en

File Format

application/pdf

Download

Comments?

Share

COinS