How does John Stanton kick off his day as president of the Running Room?

He runs, naturally.

An accomplished marathon runner and triathlon competitor, the 53-year-old Stanton energizes himself and puts his products on trial with a brisk morning dash before heading to his Edmonton office.

Running is a passion that cuts close to his heart.
It was a decision by an overweight and chain-smoking Stanton to shape up 19 years ago that provided the inspiration for the Running Room, the shoe and apparel company that has followed in its founder’s footsteps by becoming a lean, mean running machine with 53 stores in Canada and the U.S.

Jack Dagley, for Business Edge
Running is both a business and a lifestyle for John Stanton, the Edmonton entrepreneur who left his job in the food industry and never looked back.

In 1983, Stanton, embarrassed by his chubby frame, ran in darkness early in the morning.

Now, he only runs in sunshine.

1. How was your run today?

“I was out at 6 a.m. this morning and I got in a two-hour run before work. The sun was shining, the fall leaves were out and it was a glorious run. Much of my running is social where I run in groups to inspire other people. I also like to run alone, which is good quality time and good thinking time. It gives you that inspiration to fire yourself up and, if you’ve got a problem to solve, it’s a nice time to think. If you think you’re tired, just go for a run. You’re never tired. You’re just mentally tired, not physically tired. A run generally invigorates you.”

2. Based on your experience, how important is it for a business leader to be fit?

“So often, people fall into the trap I did. When I was in my early 30s I was focused on my family, my community and my career. But what you often neglect is yourself. If you care about your family, your community and your career, you first have to care about yourself – because the more fit you are, mentally and physically, the better you are able to deal with the other challenges in your life. Exercise revs up our metabolism, allows us to burn fat and allows us to enjoy life a little more. But it’s also a stress buster and it’s a team builder. Running has become very social and, because most of us spend way too much time online, we need that personal and social interaction that running can give you.”

3. So in 1983, what drove someone who was 70 pounds overweight and smoking two packs of cigarettes a day to get moving?

“My youngest son wanted to go into a 2K (two-kilometre) fun run. He asked his mom if it was OK and she said: ‘Sure, as long as your dad goes into it with you.’ His dad was a chubby guy and a smoker.I figured: ‘It’s just a 2K, I can handle that because I used to play hockey and football.’ But I could just barely finish it. So that’s when I started walking and running every morning and evening when it was dark and the neighbours couldn’t laugh at me. I started running in English brogues until my sons (John Jr. and Jason, both part of the Running Room’s corporate team) told me: ‘Dad, you’re embarrassing us, get a decent pair of running shoes.’ Once I quit smoking for a short time and when I realized what a difference it made in my running, it motivated me to give up the cigarettes. Smoking is a very difficult addiction, but what I tell people is don’t quit. They look at me blankly and I tell them what they need to do is substitute a positive addiction for a negative one. If you get high on
exercise, then that will give you the motivation and inner will to give up cigarettes or any negative addiction.”

4. So what moved you to start the Running Room?

“Because I’d gone through this transition in which people saw me as a smoker and business executive who suddenly became a weekend warrior running marathons and the Ironman (triathlon), people kept asking: ‘How the heck did you do this?’ I saw a thirst for knowledge and I thought it’d be a good idea to create a kind of resource centre for people and a place where people could get personal service. There were lots of people selling running shoes, but I thought what was missing was a store where there were friendly, knowledgeable people who you could go in and chat with about getting started on a running program.”

5. Was it an easy decision to give up a career in the food industry to focus on running shoes?

Jack Dagley, for Business Edge
John Stanton of the Running Room has built a culture of exercise into his business – employees can even go for a walk or jog on company time.

“I enjoyed my job in the food industry, but I missed that warm and fuzzy feeling that comes with making a difference in people’s lives that teachers and health-care professionals experience. What we’ve been able to create at the Running Room is more than a retailer. We teach people how to walk, how to run and we can even teach them how to run a marathon. It’s very rewarding because, for some people, running a 5K (five-kilometre race) has a life-changing impact. It takes them from the sedentary lifestyle to awakening the athlete within.”

6. Why did you call it the Running Room?

“Everybody thought it was such a great marketing idea, but the truth of the matter is that it was a room in an old house where I opened the first store. I had the living room in the house and a hairdresser had the kitchen and dining room. Jokingly, I said: ‘How about the running room?’

"Initially, my goal was to have a nice store in Edmonton and create a bit of a niche and do it part-time while continuing my career in the food industry. But we had success right out of the gate. We opened the Kensington store (in Calgary) and then we opened in Vancouver and things just started to percolate.”

7. What has been the foundation of your success?

“When I ask people about what they like about the Running Room, the most common response is that they like the friendly, knowledgeable staff. All of our staff are runners and that’s the key. They’re friendly because they’re working at what they enjoy doing, and they’re knowledgeable because that’s their interest.”

8. Are all 600 of your employees runners?

“No, not everyone in our corporate office is a runner. But we soon teach them how to run. Some of the accounting and payroll people were not that keen on running, so we started a 2 o’clock walk. Everyone can go for a walk at 2 o’clock on company time. So we’ve introduced a lot of them to walking and a lot of them have graduated to running.”

9. How would you describe your management style?

“We’re a team management. I’m generally the visionary, but 99 per cent of our decisions are made by consensus. I’m not autocratic in any way. And our products have all been built by listening to our customers.

"We didn’t develop our line of products, our customers did. They told us what we wanted. We try to let our customers run our business. If we take care of them, they take care of us.”

10. What are your expectations of staff?

“We have a motto at the Running Room and it’s called giving your best today, which we ask of every staff member. Each one of us has to perform to our very best. The second part of that equation is that tomorrow you have to be better. That kind of culture allows us to improve and be better every day. Sometimes, I’m amazed at how much work I can get done because I’m forced to do it to keep pace with the rest of the team.”

11. Are you planning to continue your aggressive expansion?

"We’re almost saturated in Canada now and we were going to aggressively expand in the U.S. where we have two stores (in Minnesota). Those stores both opened around Sept. 11, 2001 (the day of the terrorist attacks) and we were going to open about a dozen stores in the U.S. But when you have a nation at war, you just have to regroup. Before we open any more stores there, we have to make sure that the state of the world and the state of the U.S. and Canadian economies is right for it.”

12. What’s left for you to achieve?

“I just want to see us continue to grow and the only reason why I want that is because I want to create opportunities for the people around us who have helped us become successful. I don’t need it any bigger – it’s way bigger than I need it now – but we’ve got a team of people here that I want to see the company grow with. That’s the fun part of what I’ve created. I’ve created something far bigger than me and, consequently, it forces me to perform to a higher standard. I can’t sit back.”

“I’ve got all kinds of people pushing me and saying: ‘We have to make this bigger and better.’ That keeps me young.”

13. Do you lose sleep over what the Forzani Group sporting goods chain is doing?

“I lose sleep over what I’m doing. The Forzani Group is highly successful in the big-box format. The challenge they have is how they get friendly, knowledgeable staff. I don’t envy them on that job. It’s very difficult to educate people when you’ve got the number of products that they’re carrying. The advantage we have is that we only do one thing – running. Certainly, Forzani is big and powerful and they’re an efficient machine, but what we excel in is with our people.”

14. What is your most memorable moment in sneakers?

“I think that would be my first Ironman triathlon (the gruelling sport that combines distance running,
swimming and cycling). That was the Canadian Ironman in 1989. At the start line, I kind of looked around and thought: ‘Wow, this is something.’ Everyone was about the same age as my children. I thought: ‘What the heck am I doing here?’ But then I said: ‘Wait a minute, I did my training and I deserve to be here.’ I think running an Ironman taught me what’s really important, that life is a team sport. I didn’t do it on my own. I had the support of my family. My wife (Bev) helped a lot and encouraged me. It also teaches you that anything’s possible if you have a plan and support crew around you. Nobody can say you can’t do something. You can do it if you really put your mind to it.”

15. What’s the best advice you’d offer a couch potato?

“Start a program, but be gentle. Be gentle enough so you can stay highly motivated and be progressive so you get better each day. To get adults into exercise, you’d better treat them like kids so that they think exercise not as exercise but as play time. The more you enjoy it, the more highly motivated you’ll be.”

16. Who has had the greatest influence on your life?

“My family. I can remember at one point, like a lot of companies, we went through a difficult period of growth. We’d opened up so many stores that we ran out of cash. At one point, in 1993, I’d used up (credit) on my VISA and MasterCard and I didn’t have a nickel on me. I remember coming home to my wife and she said: ‘You look awful.’ I said: ‘I’m sick because I can’t make payroll this week.’ I said: ‘There’s one thing (we can use for collateral), your car.’ She said: ‘Hey, it’s OK. What did we have when I met you? I was going to school and you were working as a bag boy in a grocery store. What we have today is the same thing we had then and those are the important things in life. We still have each other. Think about all the people you’ve helped by changing their lifestyles. Nobody can ever take that away from you.’ That gave me the confidence to continue.”

17. What was the turning point for the company?

“It was when we realized that we were going to do one thing and that’s running and teaching people how to run. For a while, we tried to be a triathlon store, a walking and running store. We even had a coffee shop for a while called Eat And Run. We even did nachos and ice cream. We didn’t know when to quit. We lost a lot of money doing those other things.”

18. One person you’d walk over hot coals in bare feet to have a beer with?

“Joan Benoit Samuelson. She won the first gold medal in Olympic women’s marathon in Los Angeles in 1984. It was so inspiring to watch a tape of the race, the way she took the lead and then put her cap down and refused to give up her lead. I used her tenacity and focus as kind of a mentorship and then we became friends later on. I guess she’d be my one all-time hero because she’s also a gold medallist in life. Her daughter came home one day and asked her what an Olympian was. Then, she went and dug out her gold medal. She had never put a picture up of her as a runner or showcase the medal because she didn’t want to put undue pressure on her daughter. She wanted her kids to succeed at the sports they wanted to succeed in.”

19. If you could do one thing to make the world a better place, what would it be?

“I’d get everybody out and get them active. I think a lot of the world problems that we’re facing right now, like
the cultural and religious differences, could be solved if we could get them exercising. If we could get countries out walking and talking with one another, we’d solve a lot of the social problems of the world.”

20. How long will you continue to run the company?

“I’ll do it as long as I’m still having fun. James Michener (the author) says that you’ve achieved true success when you can’t define work and play. And I really believe that my success is based on that. I never know if I’m workin’ or playin.’ ”

THE COMPANY: The Running Room
* Brass: John Stanton, owner/president; Mike O'Dell, vice-president; Kevin Higa, chief financial officer; Mike Mendazt, creative design manager.
* Profile: The Running Room is a privately owned retailer specializing in running shoes and running apparel through 52 stores in Canada and the U.S., including nine in Alberta. The company also runs a wide range of walking and running clinics and sponsors more than 400 walking and running events per year. It has 600 employees.
* Sales: Running Room had sales in excess of $40 million in 2002.
* Key fund-raiser: Running Room's Pink Ribbon line of women’s fitness clothing supports the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation with $10 from each item donated to the foundation.
* Web site: www.runningroom.com
* Head Office: 9750 47th Ave., Edmonton
* Phone: 780-439-3099.

IN PROFILE: John Stanton
* Title: Owner/president, Running Room.
* Born/raised/age: Tofield, AB; Tofield, Edmonton; 53.
* Education: Grade 12.
* Family: Wife Bev, sons John Jr., Jason.
* Career: Stanton began work as head supervisor of Horne Pitfield Foods in Edmonton in 1974 and remained with that company until 1992. He founded the Running Room in 1984 and has been the president since that time.
* First Job: Grocery bag boy.
* Hero: Marathon runner Joan Benoit Samuelson.
* Claim to fame: Stanton has run 55 marathons and two triathlons – the Canadian Ironman and the Hawaii Ironman.
* Books: Stanton has authored two Canadian best-sellers – Runner's Lifestyle Log (co-written) and Running: Start To Finish.