There are fabrics with bright colored sneakers on it. That would be fitting. I like to make quilts that are as tailored to the recipient as I can. The fabric, the pattern, the colors all picked with them in mind.

Go to quiltshop.com, search on sneakers and hit thumbnails - there's a bunch of choices.

My son is also a runner, and he gets tee-shirts at almost every race. Make a tee-shirt quilt! I made one for my son and then all his team mates wanted one, too. There are lots of websites with free instructions.

I too am a runner. The quilting patterns I have been able to find have been few and far between. May I suggest a t shirt quilt made out t shirts from some running events he has participated in? There is also a really nifty pattern for a Boston Marathon block here: http://www.equiltpatterns.com/quiltp...roducts_id=277
It only costs 99 cents and I think it's a pretty cool block.

Hope this helps.
Lori