Running U.S.A.
www.runningusa.org

This is the official Running USA and USATF Distance Running Site. This site is an informational site. The main purpose is to provide up to date statistics of the world and U.S. running athletes and to solicit monetary donations. It has a .org suffix because it is a nonprofit organization.

The site is updated regularly with new statistics, rankings, and calander of events. The site offers no links to any other pages because there are no other pages with higher authority than the governing body of track and field. Because of who owns the site the accuracy of the information is reliable. The only reason for bias on the site that I could find was  for membership. The site has a very professional feel to it. It looks very official and almost sterile. This is due to its straight-forward design and little use of graphics.

Kids Running
www.kidsrunning.com

This site was set up by a first grade teacher who wanted to combine learning with running to make both more fun for children. The target audience is children ranging from kindergarden to about fifth grade. This site is mostly a teaching resource, but is filled with great articles for kids written by cross country coaches and professional runners. This site is set up in conjunction with Runner's World, a very popular running magazine. 

The site is updated regularly. It had up to date information, but no date anywhere. Links to other child-oriented sites are present on the site including a children's soccer site. Since the site is mostly for educational purposes, the information is cited and there are many teacher resources.

The design of the site uses nothing but children's drawings and comic sans font to convey a very childlike image. It is very well organized and very helpful to anyone who wants to get a child hooked on the sport of running. 

Trail Runner
www.trailrunnermag.com

This site is an extension of the print magazine Trail Runner. The purpose of this site is mainly to interest the viewer in purchasing a subscription to the magazine. I couldn't find any credentials for the writers on the site. One would probably have to go to the magazine to find that.

As far as content goes this site seems much more informal than others, which I found drew me in more. There are many great training tips and articles on running locations and nutrition. The only thing I found different on this site than other running sites was its focus on trail running only.

The site is updated monthly to coincide with a new issue of the print magazine. It offers many archived articles from past issues. Much of the site's articles are only teasers which entice the reader to purchase the magazine. It has a whole section of links that go to the websites of sponsors of the Trail Runner site.

The design of the site makes it seem like one big advertisement for the magazine, but what little running information you can get is accurate. The credibility of this site can easily be called into question, but one mest realize that its main objective is to convince the reader to buy the print magazine.

Running Online
www.runningonline.com

This site was started and is still managed by one person, Terrance Turpin. He was a college cross country runner who wanted to learn how to do a webpage. He set this site up in 1995, and it is the most comprehensive running site I have come across in my search. He doesn't write any articles, but he does have an extensive collection of reprinted literature. He has race calenders, running logs, and even a college recruitment database.

The site is updated frequently and offers up to date race calender and online registration forms. This site is truly a one-stop running information shop.

The purpose of the site is to just make running easier, from the planning stages to actually running. The site has a .com suffix, but there are no products for sale. The only commercial ties the site has is one banner on the main site for an online running catalogue.

There are many links to colleges, clubs, coaches, publications, etc. All the articles I've read on the site have provided accurate information on everything that I cross referenced.

The site has a very simple, useable design. Everything is easy to find and well organized. There is very little use of graphics, but the spaces are filled well with text. This gives the site a very informative feel.

As I was thinking about how this site may be effected by bias, I realize that every site did have one common bias that I failed to mention. Each one is blatently advocating running. Not one has given a reason not to participate.

American Running Association
www.americanrunning.org

The American Running Assciation is a nonprofit membership organization dedicated to supporting runners by providing accurate and non-biased information related to training, nutrition, injury prevention and treatment. Their programs are designed for beginning and experienced runners alike. The site was very professional in appearance, but the credentials of the staff were unimpressive. This made it hard to believe in the information presented.

The site provides many articles on fitness for the general public, but its main emphasis is on membership. Another purpose of the site is to sell products. However, since the site is for a nonprofit organization it has a .org suffix. The site's articles on fitness all come from print magazines such as Men's Health and Fitness, but most of them are password protected. The site also provides many fitness related links to reputable sources such as the U.S. Track and Field site. I could not find any bias on the site because none of the information presented had any type of motive behind it. The information was factual or instructional.

Running Times
www.runningtimes.com

Running Times is a site authored by 9 senior runners who could make up an all-star running team and an all-star academic team. If you can't tell, I'm very impressed with the credentials of the senior writers. The site is updated regularly with articles on various marathons and race times and product reviews. The purpose of the site is inform runners of the news in the running community of the U.S. The site is an extension of the Running Times print magazine. The site has a bookstore and gift idea section with many items for sale. The site provides a variety of links for information sources and other running journals for different areas of competition. The information seems all accurate because it agrees with the information on many other sites. The only negative thing I can say about the site is that it is very poorly designed. When the site loads all you can see on the page is advertisement banners. You have to scroll down for a while to find any articles, and the links to the articles are very small and are dominated by the advertisements. The colors of the site clash hard and make it unpleasant to view.

The site reaches its target audience of runners by providing all conceivable information pertining to the subject but poor site design and too many advertisements detract from the credibility of the site as a whole.

The Running Network
www.runningnetwork.com

The Running Network site is a clearinghouse for major regional and specialized running magazines in the United States. This site is updated daily. It is kept up to date by including news about races happening all over the country, and providing features about specific runners, training regimens, nutrition, etc. On the home page there is also a list of links to other major running news sources. The credibility of the site is enhanced by its professional design and cited information sources and their credentials.

The purpose of the site is to keep runners informed about news in the running world. It offers product reviews and lists running store locations by state, but does not promote any product or store. It does have advertisement banners on the site, but they all advertise for various races or charities. Each story on the site comes from a different, respected running magazine. On each page that the magazine is on is like that magazine's own mini site. It gives that magazine space to have its own navigation bar with each having a place to offer its own running resources page or subscription options and product reviews. It also allows each magazine to put their own spin on a story. This will be where the bias of the site comes in. As I pointed out previously The Running Network is a clearinghouse for these major publications. However, on the running network main site they offer non-biased information such as event schedules, training tips and various corporate press releases. They do not write the press releases; they merely provide a forum for posting them. These press releases give general information about new products entering the running market. This does not take away from the running emphasis of the site, but it does show a different facet of the running world by making the running community more aware of the newer products on the market.

The Running Page
www.ibiblio.org/drears/running/running.html

The Running Page is a basement running mag by Cindy Rex and Dennis Rears. It is poorly designed but informative. The design makes the viewer question the credibility of the site. The last time this site was updated was in April of '98. A couple of portions have been moved to a new site ( www.runningpage.com ). The newer site was last updated in May of 2003. The new site is also poorly designed, and I could not find any credentials of the people running the site, even on their personal pages save for some of the times for which Dennis finished races.

Both sites seem to get their information by word of mouth. Running clubs report their results to the webmaster and he posts them. Many of the links to information are broken. The audience seems to be runners who belong to the running clubs that post on the site and maybe the occasional web-surfing runner. Because of the site's poor design, many who come across it will  turn away without viewing any of the information. I don't see any bias on the site because it just reporting on facts. How reliable the facts are, however, is questionable. The list of sources has not been updated since 1998, but neither has the information on the much of the sites. The site with the new information just provides links to pages outside of the site that has the new information. The address for the older site has a .org suffix, but the newer site has a .com suffix. I do not know why the switch was made because neither site was selling anything.