The positioning theory and analysis developed rather recently in qualitative inquiry in psychology, mainly in the past 20 years. Taking Michael Bamberg's narrative inquiry perspective within positioning analysis the study taps into the narratively-led conversation within the framework of a series of interviews with participants in community running activities. Community running is a rather new bottom-up practice in Iasi, Romania, the first individual and small group initiatives of this kind started in 2015 and developed fast in the past 10 years. The idea of this research was inspired by the passion we share regarding running or "life into movement". Participating and contributing to a lively and growing running community in our hometown, Iasi, Romania, and inviting people to contribute to a collection of stories, sharing their experiences, stirred our curiosity about what inspires people to start running and the effects of their identity migration.
Particularly, we explore how "runner" identity becomes one of the preferred identities, and how a "migration of identity" may be described and understood, for life trajectories in relation to running "from couch to ultramarathoning". With a focus on narrative identity development, this study focuses on one conversation with a participant who describes a migration of identity from solo runner to becoming a mentor of ultra-marathonists.
The positioning analysis describes the co-construction of meaning about the runner identity in successive steps of the storyteller and the facilitator, alternating self-descriptions with narrative-knitting initiatives. The study renders visible the gradual enrichment of a runner's identity descriptions defined by agency, change, and difference. Running experiences in relation to identity migration and development can be viewed, in conclusion, as a gradual knowledge development process engaging the main protagonist (the storyteller) and the facilitator (the researcher).