You thought we were talking about those training for the Race for a Cure, Color Run or the Buffalo Marathon? You’ve seen them running around your neighborhood in 40-degree Buffalo weather as soon as the snow started to melt.

We were referring to those beautiful runners going up and down your stairs!

Runners, after all, are beautiful, but they don’t only serve an aesthetic purpose. Runners protect your hardwood floors from being scratched or damaged. The extra cushioning from a stair runner will protect your wood from all that foot traffic.

Or perhaps your stairs are already a little damaged. Runners can be a cost-effective way to redesign your home. They can cover and hide those times when your cat decided your main stairwell was a good scratching post.

The extra cushioning a stair runner can provide also gives you extra traction when walking up and down the stairs. Hardwood floors can be slippery. A rug will give you a better grip and can prevent potential falls. Plus, rugs will dampen some of that noise from when your kids angrily stomp up the stairs to their bedrooms when they’re grounded.

But let’s not forget the warmth runners provide. They can add color to you home, and you can choose from unlimited patterns and designs. But runners not only offer aesthetic warmth, but also physical warmth. There’s nothing worse than walking on those cold hard floors with your bare feet in the winter. Runners can prevent that.

It’s always runner season.