The Joy of Running

 What is new about running?   Everybody knows running. Even a child does it so involuntarily that it may not even realize that it is running.    Any in the morning when Mr. Johnson beams with Good Morning you know that your slumber can not last any further and that you have to go for your health run.

My aim of the talk is in fact to remind that running is the simplest and easiest form of exercise that endeavors to keep all departments of our body including mind in a fit and fine condition throughout our life.  I shall cover the talk in the following heads to emphasize why and how one can relish the joy of running:

Early running history

First marathon

Is running a punishment

Techniques of running

An early Latin saying goes, ‘A Healthy mined in a healthy body'. There seems to have been no doubt in the perception and concepts of our ancestors that physical and mental health was interrelated.

The Tarahumara Indians of Northern Mexico are perhaps the world’s most remarkable long distance runners who lived in rugged mountainous terrains who for the sake of pleasure and entertainment ran a weekly race of approximately 30 miles in a group fashion and on special occasions they ran races as long as 150 miles!

The Hopi Indians are also reported to have run long distances. One group rose before dawn, ran 10 miles to their fields, worshiped at dawn, worked in the fields all day and then ran back 10 miles to their dwellings.

In 490 B.C, Persians attacked Greece and Greece fought back persistently to win over the invading Persians. Overwhelmed with joy, a Greek messenger ran the 22 miles from the plain of Marathon to Athens. When he finally reached Athens he cried out, “Rejoice, We Conquer” and fell dead on the spot. That was the first marathon.

As a species we are probably the best long-distance runners in the animal world having had to survive for more than three million years by running to hunt and to compete with dangerous wild animals. Till he remained as hunter and food-gatherer in his nomadic life he had to be physically super-fit to survive. But once he learned Agriculture and started settling down in one place mostly near riverbanks, the entire scenario changed. He got lot of   leisure time to practice his society life and to comfortably forget his ‘survival of the fittest concept’. Man as a species in fact may probably be declining biologically.

Invention of Wheel, Invention of steam engine, Industrialization and so called civilization all have denied him the time and necessity to remain competitive in terms of his health.  Man in fact has become more intelligent and has invented a lot to increase his physical comforts but has become sedentary, flabby and inert and his physical development does not complement his mental achievements.

Nomad had no problem drinking stagnated water in the jungle, eating raw vegetables and half cooked flesh but one does have problem even with the expensive mineral water. That is the state of resistance/ immunity our body possesses. Diabetes, Heart attack, Cancers and a hell a lot of diseases including the latest SARS are all waiting to prey upon this physically week human race.

Evidence of first heart disease

In looking for the first appearances of Heart disease in our species, research on even the well maintained Egyptian Mummies confirm absence of any form of heart diseases that haunt today’s mankind. But a recent discovery in China unearthed a remarkably well-preserved lady from the tomb of a wealthy princess who lived and died over 2000 years ago. Modern autopsy confirms that she died suddenly after eating due to a heart attack and that she was overweight. Some herbal medicines which are prescribed for heart disease by Herb Doctors in China even today has also been found. The key factor for her heart attack is that she led a sedentary life. In some way she was a prototype for today’s mankind with similar sedentary lifestyle filled with urbanization.

Why should you run?

First of all who are you? You are a male, of any age, but especially after 30, there is a damn good reason to run: because you are a number-one target for coronary disease. If you are overweight and sedentary that increases the risk manifold.

The statistics is alarming. Cardiovascular diseases including heart attacks, strokes and other blood vessel diseases account for maximum deaths for men over 35.  It is more an epidemic these days. Next close competitor is cancer.

If you are a woman may be you want to show men what you can do? To feel good, to maintain your physique and structure or just to ensure that your favorite jeans of teenage-years always fits for you.

For the less ambitious men and women it is assured that running is an inexpensive way of looking great, feeling good, improving your self confidence, reliving your stress, ensuring proper digestion, ensuring optimum assimilation of nutrients by our body, revitalizing your body cells and finally keeping your doctor away.

Now you may say, ‘OK OK I have decided to run but where is the time?’

 For this I shall point out the famous quote “Where there is a will there is a way”. Everybody in this world gets only 24 hours.    In fact everybody feels the same way that he does not get enough time to do much of anything. So you are in no way behind others. Besides running adds charm and recharges your energy cells in your otherwise busy schedules. It gives a nice feeling you start experiencing only when you become a regular runner.  An easy way to find time for running is to give it an equal priority as that of other essential activities you do like brushing teeth and taking bath. Only then you can rear the benefits of regular running.

Is running a punishment?  Some of us would even tend to say yes to this question because in military training it has always been awarded as a punishment only. But this notion of equating running to punishment is completely wrong.  To be more precise we are discussing that form of running which will be little more than jogging paced comfortably as per your requirement and ability. At times physician’s help is to be sought to what rate is safe for your jogging. It is a must in the case of heart patients who have suffered at least once and for those people who have never suffered before but are in the high-risk category. But it is not the competitive form of running in any way.

For example, you might have heard of a regular tennis player getting serious coronary/ Heart attack when exercise was supposed to grant some sort of immunity. In this case if you carefully analyse the difference seems to be in the type of exercise. In tennis as in most other exercise the heart works hard, but only off and on. That is there are spurts of hard work followed by periods of less work.

 

HEART ATTACK- UNDERSTANDING THE GRAVITY

For a potential Heart patient Heart is more of a time bomb 2 inches inside the chest armed with fat and smoke, pumping, ticking, clogging and ready to stop.

When people die from a Heart Attack, they know it. There are those few seconds- ten or so, may be even thirty- when- even after the heart stops, they know it has stopped. Think what they would think. Perhaps they would try to tear away the chest wall in a feeble attempt to grab at the Heart- to give it a squeeze, to make it go again. The rest of the body is still alive- the brain still sends its messages to the arms and legs, nerves still fire, the glands all work – but it does not matter. The heart has stopped functioning and that’s the end.

            Statisticians say that 50% of the people who have a first attack die from it, most before they can reach a hospital. It is not always the crushing chest pain and then the coffin. It can be a slow, agonizing cycle of pain, recovery, depression and patch-up jobs on the heart before the possible next attack. Because the recovery is only temporary. Even among those 50% who survive the first attack, most of them run the risk of dying in the next five years. The killer (here the heart attack) has been known to have struck at all times at all possible places be it a beach or while driving a car or in bed or whiling love or after a wonderful dinner.

Systematic Running – a reliable therapy for heart diseases

            It has been demonstrated that human heart like any other muscle is responsive to progressive exercises which are carefully monitored. As it responds it becomes a better pump increasing its strength and in the bargain decreasing its vulnerability to heart disease.

            This discovery has actually given a wonderful way of fighting back Heart diseases.   All that one has to do is run three hours a week, on three days separated from each other, for one hour each time at 75% of your maximum cardiac output.

            The first step towards accomplishing this is to be committed to run regularly as per the schedule.

            The next step is to consult your physician.  But don’t ask him if you should run because he might probably tell you no. Just ask him if you can run with periodic check-ups under close supervision. In no occasion should one exceed more than 75% of one’s own cardiac output especially those who are sucessptible to heart attack.  Now who determines this 75% of Maximum cardiac output? Of course it’s your physician.  Hear I would recall the story of the first marathon runner I narrated a little while ago. In his enthusiasm he perhaps might have compelled his heart to exceed his maximum cardiac output rate and in the bargain lost his life. Because he tried to outperform his heart’s ability and got choked to death.

Equipment for running

            The most important piece of equipment is your footgear. Good pair of branded sports shoes that is comfortable for your feet should be used but you should always ensure that the size of the shoes selected should be one half sizes bigger than your actual size. The extra space, which is approximately equal to your thumb size, is required to cater for the swelling of your foot, which happens when you run.

            The next point is regarding your clothing. Nylon shorts and cotton T-shirts are generally preferred but there is no hard and fast rule. It may vary as per the climate and geographic conditions of the place.

            Vaseline or any other good ointment is useful for wherever skin surfaces rub together.

Certain useful Do’s and Don’ts

Eating habits

             Regarding eating, any size of meal just before running is not at all advisable. But do remember to take adequate water before and after running. Hydrating your body helps you shake loose all the toxins of a sedentary life.

 

Where to run?

            Run where it pleases you most. Smooth grass surfaces are always preferred.

How to run?

•  Land on the heels and roll on your foot. 

•  Don’t clench your fists.

• Don’t run in a stylish or fancy manner, run in a manner comfortable to you.

• Always do some stretching exercises before you start running in order to condition your muscles so that it does not gets stiffened or injured when you run.

•  Don’t get competitive or over tired.

•  Don’t exceed your target cardiac output rate.

• You should always be able to talk while you run. If it so you are aerobic and not anaerobic. Aerobic means that your blood is sufficiently oxygenated and is good for health.

Benefits of running

Increases oxygen and blood supply to all parts of the body. It gets rid of all the accumulated toxins of our body. The heart rate slows down as its ability to pump improves and this, according to many experts, reduces the need for oxygen in the heart itself. There is a distinct lowering of blood pressure in the long run. Even in the case of diabetes running decreases the need for insulin. It also increases better metabolic rate, lowers blood fats and help shedding unwanted weight.