Marc Bloom - The Runners Bible

The Peachtree Road Race in Atlanta, one of the nations biggest road races. Its a 10K held every July 4 weekend, with upward of 50,000 participants.

Other Books by Marc Bloom
CROSS COUNTRY RUNNING
THE MARATHON
OLYMPIC GOLD (with Frank Shorter)
KNOW YOUR GAME

A MAIN STREET BOOK
Published by Doubleday
a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
1540 Broadway, New York, New York 10036

MAIN STREET BOOKS, DOUBLEDAY, and the portrayal of a building with a tree are trademarks of Doubleday, a division of Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.

Drawings by Marian Pickman
Unless otherwise noted all photos courtesy of Marc Bloom

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Bloom, Marc. 1947
The runners bible
Bibliography:
eISBN: 978-0-307-76860-5
1. Running. 2. Running races.
3. Running racesUnited StatesDirectories. I. Series.
GV1061.B56 1986
796.426-- 82-46075

Copyright 1986 by Marc Bloom
All Rights Reserved

v3.1

A s millions of Americans and countless others across the world have found out, running is easy, fun and good for you. In fact, its almost too good to be true. For the modest effort that you have to put into it to attain its essential benefits, running will provide so many of the necessities of health and fitness! The greatest irony of the fitness boom that has embraced our culture is the ease with which we can run and enjoy it. It was not all that long ago when we thought of running as a rather painful form of punishment best confined to gym class or boot camp. It was something you had to do, and you had to do it hard and fast, none of this jogging around. It was a complicated sort of physical ritual that had speed and aggressiveness as its underpinning, and who needed that?

But when people started to run in the late sixties and early seventies and we saw how simple it was to do at a leisurely pace and how great it felt, well, that was something of a miracle. Of course, that is why so many of us are running these days. Everybody loves a miracle, and the body in motion is indeed a miracle-working machine. It does everything.

Running can help you lose weight. Running can build muscle tone. Running can improve your complexion. Running can strengthen your heart and make it work more efficiently. Running can increase your aerobic capacity and lower your blood pressure. Running can relax you, help you quit smoking, and reduce the risk of heart disease. Running can reduce depression and lift your spirits. Running can help you think and make you more creative. Running can make you more athletic and energetic and full of vitality. Running can improve your self-image and make you more self-confident.

Feelings of exhilaration, fulfillment, happiness and togetherness can come from running. And for women, in particular, a kind of freedom.

In short, running can change your entire outlook on life and make a new person out of you.

We know this because fitness has become one of the most pervasive elements in American society, and we have taken to examining it quite carefully. The health professions in particular have sought to find out as scientifically as possible just what running and other forms of exercise can do for us, so we can go about improving our health and fitness systematically and for both short-term and long-term benefits. And every time a study is done the message is reaffirmed-running is good for you.

Tests are administered to determine how the body works under the influence of exercise, and what the effects might be. Physicians and physiologists test muscle, blood and oxygen; they test strength, stamina, endurance and exertion; they test mood and the mind. Runners pass with flying colors, thank you. To those of us who have been at it for some time, these findings come as no surprise. We have each been our own experiment. We know what running has done for us.

We also hear about it from others. For some reason, running converts like to talk about their newfound hobby, and so the neighbor, the postman and the fellow worker in the office across the hall have stories to tell, notes to compare, providing further anecdotal support for running as the cornerstone of the fitness movement. A friend of mine who at one time ridiculed running finally took to it and after his first race he spoke of little else. Another friend, a basketball coach who, despite being a natural athlete, never showed much talent for running in his youth, got serious about running and became a marathoner. A Vietnam veteran and heavy smoker started jogging one day to release tension, and now he never misses a day. He never smokes, either. A woman who never had an interest in sports or exercise tried running to lose weight, fell in love with running and is now far more concerned with counting miles than calories.

Running is the drug of the nineties. Running clearly has addictive qualitiesthere are tests for that, tooand many of those who take it up find it hard to put down. That may not always be so good, because there comes a point when you can run to excess, and then you defeat the purpose of running in the first place. Running to excess is a form of anti-fitness; it starts to reverse the progress youve made toward better health and a better life.

The wonders of running may be hard to swallow for those who have never tried it, or those who have tried running but didnt give it enough of a chance, or those who rushed into it without sufficient briefing as to how to go about it. It is natural for these people to be incredulous. Or for them to conclude, Running is not for me. Running, surely, is not for everyone. But I believe it is for most people. What many of the disbelievers probably do not realize is that the approach to running can differ, depending on the individual. The amount and intensity of running will vary greatly from one person to the next, as will the emphasis given running in ones overall fitness program. It helps, ultimately, if you like running. But even that is not mandatory. One can run only a little and participate in other, more game-like or team-oriented, activities as well and feel good about runnings benefits without longing for the daily fix as others do.