Start of Minneapolis Get In Gear in April 2023.
Throughout my office job years, during lunch on most days I changed into running gear and jogged three or four miles. Whenever I took some heat for extending the lunch hour, I replied saying that’s when I did my best work.
June 3 will be the 10th anniversary of Global Running Day, when millions of people from hundreds of counties pledge to run millions of miles in total. The date follows May – Mental Health Awareness Month. Together these offer hope in a world challenged with health and social woes.
If there is a connection, it’s that running, jogging, swimming, biking, cross country skiing, or other regular aerobic exercise benefit mental health as well as physical, and perhaps even more. My noon runs drained off stress from the office and generated creative ideas and solutions. All runners and joggers can experience the benefits of endorphins and serotonin generated by the effort.
“Engaging in regular physical activity can reduce symptoms of depression and anxiety, improve mood and increase self-esteem,” says the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute. “Exercise also promotes the release of endorphins – the body’s natural mood elevators – and other neurotransmitters that help regulate mood and decrease stress.”
My accumulated miles during noon hour runs and on weekends contributed to training schedules for numerous marathons – running, skiing, inline skating. Such competition isn’t necessary for regular exercise, although it can bring it to a higher level. Dissolving into mass starts at the larger events lifts you out of yourself and into a vast community, like being at a rock concert or the Hajj marching around the Kaaba.
The running Fixx
In 1977 a book hit the best seller list preaching the benefits of running and helped launch a boom in fitness running. My copy of The Complete Book of Running (1977), by James Fixx disappeared long ago. It’s still available online and worth reading.
Ironically, in 1984 Fixx died of a heart attack at age 52 while out running. Before he started his running habit at 36, Fixx weighed 214 lbs., smoked two packs of cigarettes per day, and had heart issues in his family history. Without that background, his lifespan would have been much longer.
When that hit the news I still recall the smirks from some co-workers directed at my running habit. For some of them, golf was the only game. Compared with running and jogging, golf does not count as aerobic exercise, even if you walked and carried your clubs. Not sure about its mental health benefits, either, judging from behavior I have seen on the golf course.
The Fixx book helped launch a surge in running. At first it was very competitive as runners chased medals and personal records. Today, while elite runners still compete, the majority of people at running events seem more relaxed, focusing on getting some exercise and having fun doing it. At the finish line those at the back receive as much if not more cheering than the speedsters.
As Fixx has been quoted, “If you feel that you’re running, no matter how slow you’re going, no one can say you’re not.” That gives me encouragement as my current pace moves barely faster than a brisk walk. At least the tread on my running shoes lasts longer.
You can do it
To be successful at getting regular exercise, motivation and consistency are key. That’s where running and other fitness sport events come in. If you are looking for a way to get more exercise and are reasonably ambulatory, consider looking around for running events in the neighborhood. There are many to choose from. The downside may be that inflation has hit entry fees, and good shoes run about $150. Still, that’s much cheaper than medical bills from a sedentary lifestyle.
After moving from a physical labor job to a desk, I started running on a regular basis in my late twenties. Ten laps around Langford Park in St. Paul, wearing an old pair of low-cut sneakers. At my first race there, the shoes drew some mystified looks from more experienced runners. Then one day at my newspaper job, a member of the local school board inspired me to sign up for Grandma’s Marathon in Duluth. Until then it never occurred to me that I could actually run 26.2 miles.
“You can do it,” said Bill Lester, the school board member who later served 25 years as executive director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission. At my first Grandma’s Marathon I remembered his name crossing the bridge over the Lester River near the 20-mile post, thankful for the encouragement and that my training was sufficient to break through “the wall,” the literal and figurative point where you could “bonk” from depleted glycogen.
“Why do people do this?” asked my doctor in later years as I described “getting a little ragged” toward the end of a 22-mile training run. Good question. One answer it that it feels so good when you’ve crossed the finish line, somewhat like the old joke about hitting yourself in the head with a hammer, it feels good when you stop.
Long-term rewards
The physical and mental benefits of fitness sport events don’t tell the whole story. You become part of a community that is inspiring, welcoming, positive, energetic, encouraging, and supportive. You become acquainted with many people, ‘fitness friends’. You may not know a lot about their regular lives but by running alongside for minutes or hours you begin to know their personality and character outside the conventions of social and work life.
In these days of political partisanship, assaults on truth, and AI-generated information pervading all aspects of life, by participating in a local fitness event you can find rewarding refuge and community among a cross-section of society. Digital technology is great for tabulating finish line results, but it will never replace the physical human effort behind the numbers, and the mental physical rewards they represent.
Opportunities abound: Minnesota Running Series, Twin Cities in Motion, Midwest Events, Goldy’s Run, Glacial Lakes Championship Running Series. Also, triathlons, cycling, Nordic skiing, inline skating. My marathon record: 17 running, more than 30 cross-country skiing, 22 inline skating, a dozen or so triathlons and cycle road races, and hundreds of shorter events, 5k and 10k. I have always believed that anyone who is reasonably ambulatory, if motivated and puts the training, can complete a running marathon. It becomes a lifestyle.
