August 17, 2007

  Bob on What I Like
    By Bob Francis, Owner
    soundRUNNER




I used to play other sports, but now I run. I thought I should make a few remarks on what I like about running. First, I don’t need a lot of gear other than the shirt on my back and the shoes on my feet. Over the years I played baseball and golf. I was a professional ski instructor and a licensed parachute instructor/jumpmaster. Baseball didn’t take much by comparison, but you did need at least one other kid to play catch, and a minimum of three to a side for a game of over-the-line. Golf—good grief! Golf takes $1 million worth of clubs, a course, a tee time, maybe a cart, people to play with, and at least four hours to play a round on a Saturday—as much time as you need to run a marathon. Downhill skiing takes snow, a mountain, skis and boots to get down it, and a lift to get up it. That’s why cross-country skiing and snow-shoeing look like fun. For parachuting, you need—you guessed it—a parachute, an airplane, and an airport. Running is less complicated, and I like for things to be uncomplicated.

You get more health benefit per unit time from running than from any other form of exercise, so long as the joints and connective tissue can stand up to the load. Running burns calories as fast as or faster than other activities, efficient for weight management. Running builds and maintains cardio-vascular fitness as well as any aerobic activity. And running promotes increased bone density at early ages, while delaying loss of bone density later in life. The Holy Grail from running is not only to enjoy a better quality of life, but also to live longer. Over the last fifteen years, researchers have learned something about the effects of chronic, acute exercise on longevity. “Chronic” is tech-talk for frequency, and “acute” describes how hard you go at it. People who run strenuously and regularly, three to four or more times a week, will live longer, all things considered. How much longer? At least long enough to replace all of the time spent running.

You meet interesting people running. Runners tend to be goal-oriented people with positive outlooks. Runners look better than other categories of people, especially on race day. In demographic terms, runners are young, well-educated professionals. Besides on the roads, on the trails, at the track, and at races, a good place to meet runners is at a running store. Guess what! I get to do that, too. So I’ve covered the health and social benefits—but there’s more. Running builds self-esteem. And running leads to self-actualization, that feeling of competence that comes from engaging in goal behavior. The forces building esteem come from outside. It’s the finisher’s medal, the admiring look from acquaintances, the personal mention in the newspaper. Self-actualization comes from within. It’s the feeling you get from a PR, from covering the last mile of an ultra, from realizing that you pushed yourself beyond any limit you’ve ever known. That’s what I like about running.

Archive of Bob’s Lane

Issue 1: May 1, 2007: Bob on the Bash
Issue 2: May 10, 2007: Bob on Dave Parcells
Issue 3: May 24, 2007: Bob on the Branford Road Race
Issue 4: June 1, 2007: Bob on Being Green
Issue 5: June 15, 2007: Bob from the Left Coast
Issue 6: June 23, 2007: When Pain is Leisure
Issue 7: July 6, 2007: At Seventeen
Issue 8: July 13, 2007: Bob on Cities
Issue 9: July 30, 2007: Bob on Mike
Issue 10: August 8, 2007: Bob on Nature: Nature on Endurance Running