A Thing or Two about Running by Eden Monroe

 

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In Sunrise Interrupted, movie star Alexandra Martel is a recreational runner, and what better way to ease away the tensions of a hard day on set than to go for an early-morning jog in the beautiful New Brunswick countryside.

“… off she went in a soul-pounding run down the narrow secondary road. The birdsong itself was rich and luxuriant as she drank in lungfuls of crisp fresh air. The smells of the fields, the flowers, the trees, just nature itself as it was laid before her inviting the warmth of the sun preparing to make its grand entrance above the horizon. Oh how she had missed this.

“There was nothing to compare with being in nature, nothing filled up the soul in quite the same way. She usually ran in the city but it in no way compared to this. How she missed her uncomplicated life in New Brunswick. She knew her family loved hearing about her glamourous lifestyle as a movie person, but there was much that was lost too.”

Running, or jogging as it was originally called, gained popularity in North America during the early 1970’s and has never looked back. Now a global sensation, we look to New Zealand for the origin of the sport as we know it today (atreyu.com). Arthur Lydiard was an outstanding athletics coach in that country, and is “widely regarded as the founder of modern jogging.” It was during the late 1950’s and early 1960’s that Lydiard implemented this new form of training for his athletes, a low-intensity exercise that he called jogging. His goal was to improve their overall fitness and endurance, while avoiding excess strain on their bodies. His vision “revolutionized the sport of distance running” as well as motivating a new generation of fitness seekers.

According to Vox.com, the US craze can date its inception back to Bill Bowerman, a running coach at the University of Oregon, who is described as legendary. He was made aware of the phenomenon of jogging while on a trip to New Zealand where he met Arthur Lydiard, and immediately became convinced of its many physical benefits. As a future co-founder of Nike, it seems he also understood the importance of proper footwear in which to run. He also wrote a book on the subject with Dr. W. E. Harris entitled “Jogging”, which is “justifiably credited with kick-starting a movement.”

Dr. Kenneth Cooper of the United States also advocated the health benefits of running. He is also considered “a key figure in the history of jogging” and it was Dr. Cooper who coined the term “aerobics.”

But people have been running for eons. It was a necessary component of a successful hunt in order to survive. The hunter’s fitness and speed were both important elements in chasing down their chosen prey to the point of exhaustion, a vital tactic that enabled them to make the kill. According to Eastermichael.com: “The researchers discovered the bones of prehistoric homo sapiens were more dense than ours, suggesting early humans likely ran far more often—and for longer distances. Other studies suggest many early humans had the running capacity of today’s competitive cross-country athletes.”

As for competitive running, there were plenty of running events at the Ancient Olympic games in Olympia, Greece, from completing three marathons in one day to chasing down a live hare. These ancient competitors were the real deal and included such superstars as Leonidas of Rhodes who mastered so many of these events he was “arguably the most impressive Olympian of all-time”. (Olympics.com)

However, not everyone can or will become an Olympic god for their efforts, but today millions lace up for their daily jog, or weekend-warrior marathon. But when the craze first began in the sixties in the United States, anyone who wasn’t a serious athlete, such as a boxer, was considered to be engaging in “suspicious activity” says Vox.com. That was the reason given by police when Senator Strom Thurmond was stopped while jogging in Greenville, South Carolina in 1968.

Jogging was considered an amusing trend, according to a New York Times piece that referred to those who took part in the activity as  “a handful of unusual freaks who chose to run in their free time.”

Runners today enjoy a plethora of running events, other than a brisk jog for good health. For the keenest of them all there are the ultra runs, the top ten in that category considered to be the toughest in the world, so says Redbull.com. The following are the top three:

At number one is the Hardrock Endurance Run 100 held in Colorado. With altitude (10,000 metres), wilderness, storms and steep drops, it’s considered to be “the toughest 100-miler in the US.”

Number two features The Jungle Marathon in Brazil, two hundred kilometres in which you’ll contend with swamps, snakes, mosquitoes, leeches, crocs and mud. It’s billed as the “world’s most terrifying adventure”.

In third place is Montane Yukon Arctic Ultra, described by organizers as “… cold, very cold”. Its distance is 692 kilometres (about 430 miles), with a climb of 6,000 metres. The hazards of this Canadian adventure are hypothermia, frostbite and exhaustion. It’s “the world’s coldest and toughest ultra thanks to the epic conditions”. If you decide to enter this race you’ll be pulling a sled with all your mandatory equipment and food aboard in temperatures that average between plus twelve degrees Celsius and minus twenty-five degrees Celsius. “Just surviving is an achievement.” There is little room for error.

Kind of makes the Saturday morning run look pretty tame by comparison, but then one never knows. Alexandra thought her sunrise jog would be a routine affair, but it turned out to be something quite different altogether. Some might even consider her run to be the most dangerous of all:

“He crested another knoll, passing basecamp on his left but there was no sign of her, and then ahead in the distance he saw something on the side of the road and he cut his speed. It had to be her! His heart was drumming a spectacular tattoo now that the moment of contact was at hand.

“He had the black hood ready on the passenger seat, the rag soaked with chloroform in a plastic bag. She was just a few feet ahead of him now….”

 

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