When I took over as president of the Portland Trail Blazers Running Club (no relation to the basketball team—we’ve been around since 1987), we had 45 members. Most were over 50. Our “social media presence” was a Facebook page with 89 followers, mostly members’ spouses.
One year later, we have 180 active members, a waiting list, and our Instagram hit 12,000 followers.
The secret? Beautiful race statistics that people actually wanted to share.
The Problem With Boring Stats
Runners are obsessed with data. Splits, pace, elevation gain, heart rate zones—we track everything. But here’s what we used to do after group races:
- Export results to Excel
- Send a giant spreadsheet via email
- Watch exactly zero people engage with it
The numbers were there. The excitement wasn’t.
The Accidental Discovery
Last spring, our vice president’s teenage daughter was visiting during our post-race analysis. She looked at our spreadsheet and said: “Why don’t you make it look good? No one wants to look at this.”
Ouch. But she was right.
She showed us some sports graphics accounts on Instagram. Clean designs, bold colors, the kind of stuff that makes you stop scrolling. Then she said the magic words: “Can you make charts that look like that?”
We started searching and found ChartPuppy.
Our First Viral Post
After the Sellwood Bridge 10K, I spent an hour creating our first “real” race recap graphic:
- A beautiful pace distribution chart showing how our runners spread across finish times
- Personal records highlighted with little trophy icons
- A comparison to last year’s results
- Our club colors (forest green and white) throughout
I posted it to Instagram with member tags. Within 24 hours:
- 847 likes (our previous best was 23)
- 156 shares
- 34 DMs asking how to join
That one post got us 28 new members.
The System We Built
Now, after every group race, I have a template ready:
The Post-Race Package
- Pace Distribution Chart — Shows the spread of finish times, celebrates every speed
- PR Spotlight — Individual callouts for personal bests
- Year-Over-Year Progress — How we’re improving as a club
- Segment Breakdown — For trail races with interesting splits
- Weather vs. Performance — Runners love this nerdy stuff
The Engagement Numbers
| Content Type | Avg. Engagement Before | Avg. Engagement After |
|---|---|---|
| Race photos | 34 likes | Still ~34 likes |
| Race charts | N/A | 400+ likes |
| PR graphics | N/A | 600+ likes (people share their own) |
| Results spreadsheet | 0 comments | We don’t post these anymore |
Why It Works
I’ve thought a lot about why beautiful charts changed everything for our club:
- Shareable Pride — Members share their PR graphics like badges of honor
- Visual Progress — Seeing improvement in a chart is more motivating than a spreadsheet row
- Professional Look — It signals we’re a “real” club, not just weekend joggers
- The Algorithm Loves It — Graphics get saved and shared more than photos
My Favorite Success Story
One of our newest members, David, is 62 years old. He’d never run more than a 5K before joining us. Last month, he finished his first half marathon.
I made him a personal progress chart showing his journey—from that first 35-minute 5K to crossing the half marathon finish line.
He cried. Then he posted it. His daughter saw it and joined the club. So did two of her friends.
That’s the power of visualizing progress.
Tips for Club Leaders
Whether you run a running club, cycling group, book club, or chess league, here’s what I learned:
1. Celebrate Everyone, Not Just Winners
Our pace distribution charts show the whole spread. The person who finished in 65 minutes is celebrated alongside the 25-minute finisher. Every dot on the chart is a story.
2. Create Templates You Can Reuse
I spent time upfront building templates in ChartPuppy. Now it takes me 15 minutes after each race to generate everything. The consistency also builds brand recognition.
3. Let Members Be the Heroes
When someone hits a milestone, I make them an individual graphic and send it before I post publicly. They almost always share it themselves. That’s free marketing.
4. Show the Journey
Month-over-month and year-over-year comparisons are gold. People love seeing the trendline of their community growing and improving.
5. Quality Over Quantity
We post one well-designed race recap instead of 20 random photos. That one post does more for engagement and recruitment than scattered content ever did.
The Unexpected Benefits
Beyond membership growth, the charts changed our club culture:
- More motivation — Members push harder knowing their stats will be visualized
- Friendly competition — Our “improvement leader” chart each month sparks good-natured rivalry
- Sponsor interest — Local running shops have approached us. Professional-looking content attracts professional attention
- Historical record — We’re building a visual history of our club that members treasure
What’s Next
We’re working on automated charts that pull from Strava. Imagine: you sync your race, and within an hour, a beautiful graphic with your results and club comparison lands in your email.
ChartPuppy’s API makes this possible. Our VP’s tech-savvy daughter (now officially our “Director of Vibes”) is helping us build it.
Start With Your Next Event
If you lead any kind of community group, try this:
- After your next event, create ONE beautiful chart summarizing participation or results
- Use your group’s colors
- Tag members
- Watch what happens
You don’t need to overhaul everything at once. One chart that makes your members feel seen and celebrated is enough to start.
Our running club went from near-extinction to thriving because we made data feel human. Your community can do the same.
Jennifer Okafor is a 12-time marathon finisher and president of the Portland Trail Blazers Running Club. When she’s not running or making charts, she works as a pediatric nurse at OHSU. The club’s next event is the Spring Wildwood Trail Half Marathon—new members welcome at pdxtrailblazersrunning.org.