Feet in the Clouds: Serious warning

In his twitter time line Scott Jurek posted this picture from the cover of Feet in the Clouds: A Tale of Fell-Running and Obsession

Sounds like fun reading.

And of course for the average runner this warning is to be neglected.

Eat & Run; book by Scott Jurek

The Dutch Edition of Runner's World features Scott Jurek. Thanks tot the book 'Born to Run', his achievements as ultra runner and the Opel Ampera commercial he needs little introduction.
Reason for his appearance in the magazine: The dutch translation of his book: Eat & Run: My Unlikely Journey to Ultra marathon Greatness.

This triggered me to look around a bit and I found on his website a short promotional video (see below first video). A bit less bash full but to me more interesting is a short contribution to TEDMED (see second video).

Scott Jurek is not just a great ultra runner. He is a vegan as well. I think you might say he is a living example that being a vegan is healthy. Otherwise you would not be able to run 266 km in 24 hours or complete 100 miles trails in 15 hours!

In the TEDMED video he tells what inspired him to change his lifestyle.

The book is available from amazon .

What I Talk About When I Talk About Running

One of the covers
of the book

Before turning to writing Murakami owned a jazz club. The siwth from 'jazz club owner' to 'writer' came with a switch in livestyle as well.
The discipline required to write on a novell, day in, day out brought out the discipline to pick up running as a fysical exercise.
For Murakami those two do not differ that much.

Finding himself not very talented at either, it is the discipline that enables him to finish a novell and to run a (ultra)marathon each year. Being wel over fifty he still runs a marathon each winter and completes a traithlon each summer.

The book is a collection of memories and reflections mostly from the four month period leading up to his New York City Marathon of 2005. But these reflections go a long way (away) from running which makes the book a good read for runners and non runners alike.

The side steps give a good impression how running helped him in becoming the person he is, how it shaped him. Running is not only a fysical past time, it is a metaphore for the 25 years he has been a writer/runner at the time of writing this novell. for this reason Murakami himselfs calls this novell a memoir.

The book contains two quotes that are a perfect illustration of  how running is a metaphore for life.

1. His epithaph will be: "Writer (and Runner), At Least He Never Walked". Indicating that no matter how bad he felt during a marathon (life) he always kept on going.
2. "Pain is Inevitable, Suffering is Optional". Indicating that it is up to you how you mentaly deal with the fysical pain your body feels. A nice mantra to remember the next time you are in the final stages of your marathon. 

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Debate: Barefoot Running Yes or No?

Probably, as a runner, you know the book Born to Run. In the video below you find a short debate on barefoot running with amongst others the author Christopher McDougall.

Be smarter: Start running

Fysical fitness improves cognative performance! That is the pleasant message of the eight commandment in the book 'De tien geboden voor het brein' (The Ten Commandments for the brain) written by René Kahn. The book is only available in Dutch, sorry...

Not that the regular runner of this blog still need reasons to run but it always nice to read that your favorite hobby can have nice effects.

As a runner, you live longer and you will earn more money as well. Which is conveniant as you can create the financial reserve to keep on buying running gear after you retired.

But if we, as a runner are cognitively so good, you might expect that we runners are curious and want to know why we are smarter thanks to running. Here is the anwser according to the book: Research on mice showed that mice with increased level of activity have an increased growth of new cells in the brains. This in contrast to the use of alcohol, this slows down the cell growth and hence Commandment Seven: do not drink. That means no alcoholic beverages. Because smart runners know that, especially during running, fluid intake is advisable to maintain your physical performance levels.

Not only is running good for the cognitive skills. It also helps to counter the aging of the brain (that is to say: in mice). And again here is how it works: The aging of the brain is predominant in the hippocampus. This is not only the part of the brains in which we store new information (which explains why it is more difficult to learn new things at a later age ). It is precisely the place where the above mentioned new cells are created.


OK, nice. It owrks in mice but do we compare ourselves with mice? Fortunately, according to Mr. Kahn, there is also evidence that this works the same in humans. In America, a group of 120 subjects, 65 years of age was randomly divided into two groups. Group 1 had to exercise three times per week, a 40 minute walk. The other half was also active but with yoga, stretching exercises and the like, activities that have no positive effect on fitness. After a year the walking group had increased fitness as you might expect. But also the hippocampus was increased by 2%! In the control group the hippocampus shrunk 1.5% as you normally expect with people of that age.

So you see that the saying 'Anima Sana In Corpore Sano', which stands for 'a healthy mind in a healthy body' is very true. It is surely a smart move to name your sportsbrand, 'ASICS' which is the acronym for this saying.

Running on Empty: Insights into the death of Samuel Wanjiru

Above the
Dutch cover
below the
english edition

A year after the death of Wanjiru the Dutch reporter Frits Conijn published his book on the death of the one time Olympic Champion on the marathon. Wanjiru died from a fall (or jump) from the balcony of his house in Kenia.

A quote from the international well known manager of athletes Jos Hermens  who wrote the foreword: "I knew Wanjiru always friendly and smiling. Trough this book I understand the tragedy he was hiding behind this smile."

Sammy Wanjiru ran a world record on the half marathon of the Hague, the City Pier City run. His best performance was the gold medal in the Olympic marathon of Being.

Conijn had access to Wanjiru’s inner circle and found evidence of a possible over up.

The Dutch edition was published exactly one year after the death of the athlete.

The video below, from Dutch Television, shows some of the highlight of his career.

 

Some new light on Wanjiru's death?

One year after the death of Wanjiru the Dutch journalist Frits Conijn tries to bring light to the Olympic champion’s death. Wanjiru died from head wounds he suffered after falling (or jumping?) from the second-floor balcony of his home in Kenya.

In the introduction manager Jos Hermens writes: “I knew Samuel Wanjiru as someone with a perpetual smile on his face,” and “This story clarifies the tragedy that was hiding behind it.”

Sammy Wanjiru gained international fame with winning some great marathons and running a world record on the half marathon of the Hague (the City Pier City run) but his best achievement was winning the gold medal on the Olympic games in Being.

Conijn had access to members of Wanjiru’s inner circle and found evidence of a cover-up. The Dutch title translates into “Dead runner: The tragic end of Olympic marathon champion Samuel Wanjiru.” (Doodloper – Het tragische einde van Olympisch marathonkampioen Samuel Wanjiru). 

The book was published on the first-year anniversary of Wanjiru’s passing. An English translation is expected soon.

The video below shows some highlights of his career (in Dutch):

Born to Run; a great read

Looking for something to read? Preferably something to do with running? I can recommend Born to Run by Christopher McDougal.

The starts with the question; "Why does I hurt when I run?" In order to find the answer to this question the author tackels various subjects like:

• barefoot / natural / chi running
• ultra running
• the evolution of mankind
• the Tarahumara tribe

The storyline

In pursuit of the answer to his question the author meet various people with various views on running but in general the outline of the message is the same. Forget al the modern equipment (shoes) en try to run as natural as possible an above all: enjoy!

Chris find its way into Mexico to look for Caballo Blanco, an american ultra running athlete who lives among the Tarahumara. A tribe of indians in the Sierra Madre of Mexico. Renown for their ultra running capabilities. Through him he learns about their diet and how they enjoy running, already from a early age.

This Caballe Blanco has a wild idea: Bring together the best of the Tarahumara and  American Ultra Runners in a race. The Copper Canyon Marathon. Among the american runners is Scott Jurek and Barefoot Ted.

The pictur to the right shows Scott Jurek in action with the best of the Tarahumara:Arnulfo Quimare. Pay attention to the sandals the Tarahumara use for running.

I wont tell who wins the race.

The style
The book is written like any popular crime novel. It is a pleasant and addictive read. The story leading up to the race is intertwined with side steps. Introducing the runners and the science of running. Including our own evolution.

The evolution of mankind as runners

In this book the theory is posed that the reason man started to walk upright on two legs was to hunt down animals. Not by shear power or speed;but ENDURANCE. Thanks to the way we are build. Thanks to evolutionary features like sweat, breathing in a rhythm separately from our running pace etc. It is also an explanation why on the longer distance the gap between men and women in the running game becomes less and less.

Wanna know more? Click on the TEDx video below for an 18 minute talk by the author Christopher McDougal himself.


Order the book on Amazon:

Or order the Kindle edition

Train the brain while running

I like to read books on running. It is less tiring and jet you are busy with your sport. Just joking, nothing beats a good workout with training kilometers.
But I do like to understand how the 'mechanics' of running work. Something to doe with my background as a aerospace engineer?

On Complete Running Network a review of the book "Brain Training For Runners". First I thought it had something to do with a Nintendo game for on the road but it is something else.

From the review I learn it has to do with training the mind, focussing on the mental aspect of running. Training is not meant to strengthen your body but to strengthen your mind so that te body will follow. The review is positive but some of the reviews on amazon are more critical.
The reviews made me curious enough to read a view paragraphs on Amazon (It's a 'look inside' title ) and I might decide to order it for further reading.