I Could Have Written This Article!

[ttdriver]

This probably belongs on the exercise board and I will post it there too, but I wanted to put it here to help motivate people to realize how truly imperative it is to begin an exercise plan. Whether you choose to run, lift weights, walk, or anything else, let this article encourage you to begin! ITS NEVER TOO LATE...AND ITS OH SO WORTH IT!

Betty

Failing to run
By John Bingham
For Active.com
June 07, 2006


There are hundreds of reasons to start running. The litany is familiar to all of us. Running promotes better health, a stronger heart, a more finely-honed physique ...

Those who have been runners most of their lives may not know exactly why they started. It just seems that running has been a part of who they are for as long as they can remember.

For those who come to running later in life, the reasons for running are not always as lofty as health and fitness. Some of us started running because nothing else eased the pain of living.

Some of us came to running not out of a sense of accomplishment and pride, but as a last resort. We turned to running for healing, safety, security and nourishment. We came to running not out of success, but out of failure.

As I've come to know more runners I've been touched by the stories of what running has meant in their lives. Many are running from tragedy, from divorce -- running, truly, as if their lives depended on it.

This was certainly the case for me. My 40th birthday came and went. The mid-life crisis I'd heard about seemed to have missed me, or so I thought. I had achieved my way into a lifestyle of excess that was weighing down my body and spirit.

The signs of success were all there -- a frustrating job, a floundering relationship, the dismal prospect of pushing the same stone up the same hill for eternity. Relief came only in moments of mind-numbing self pity induced by too much food or drink.

Making my life increasingly complex wasn't working. Adding layer upon layer of responsibility and debt had produced only the trappings of upward mobility. I discovered that I owned very little of my life. Most of what I turned to for comfort and reinforcement actually owned me.

Time to run

It was time to get back to basics. It was time to rediscover the joy of earlier years. It was time to find myself. It was time to run.

How amazing it was to set off on an odyssey of self discovery without a guide, with nothing more than my body and my mind. What I was going to learn was not to come from a book or the words of a teacher or therapist, but from my own feet. Each step would reveal a new insight, a new thought, a new feeling.

Freed from the shackles of a life of convenience, I learned quickly that my body could be my friend or my enemy. Pushed gently, it would reward me with speed and endurance. Pushed too hard, discomfort became pain.

I also learned that my spirit was not as broken as I thought. Digging down deep for the final 200-yard kick of a 5K, I unleashed an almost primal energy. Struggling, weary and exhausted, through a five-hour marathon, I hit a vein of emotional strength that I thought was all dried up.

So if you see me running wildly through a race, don't be worried. Don't be surprised at the sight of my persistent and plodding style. Don't expect the smile to ever come off my face.

I have seen my failures. I have faced them as best I could. And now, I'm running from them as fast as I can.

Waddle on, friends.

[cmcole]

Re: I Could Have Written This Article!

Isn't it sort of strange that the person from Canada who started running late is also named John?

Friday » June 30 » 2006
Q&A with John Stanton
By Mark SutcliffeOttawa Citizen
Monday, February 13, 2006

As promised in Sunday's Runner Up column in the Citizen, here's a longer, but still abbreviated, version of my interview with the energetic John Stanton, founder of the Running Room.

Q: Are you training for anything right now?

A: For life. I still run at least two or three marathons a year, and lots of half-marathons. I'll do the full or the half in Vancouver the first weekend of May.

Q: How much do you run every week?

A: I run about 40 to 60 kilometres a week. I run with groups most of the time.

Q: Do you ever run by yourself?

A: I still try to run at least one day a week by myself, so that I run at my own pace and so that I'm in good shape if one of the group runs I have to do is a long run.

Q: Do you do any other training?

A: I do weights. I'm a big believer in weights as cross-training. Weights help dramatically in avoiding injuries, especially overuse injuries.

Q: Before you were a runner, you had bad eating habits. Do you still have a weakness for unhealthy food?

A: My weakness has always been chocolate ice cream. But now I impose a rule on myself. I have a big bowl of guilt-free ice cream on Sundays if I've done my long run. If I don't do the long run, I don't get my ice cream.

Q: What nutrition advice do you have for runners?

A: Follow the Canada Food Guide and keep your hydration up. Running leads to healthy eating. When I go into Tim Hortons, generally that Bavarian cream donut is calling to me. But if I know I'm going for a run later, I have a cinnamon raisin bagel, because that will feel better when I'm running. As you get more athletic, you make nutritional choices based on performance rather than satisfaction. So the more I run, the better I eat.

Q: What about hydration?

A: Most people don't drink enough. You should drink a tall glass of water before you go to bed. You will sleep better if you're hydrated. I've heard from people who wake up after a long sleep and they don't feel better. It's because they're dehydrated. Why do we crave a snack at about two in the afternoon? Because we're dehydrated.

Q: You were a two-pack-a-day smoker before you started running. What advice do you have for smokers?

A: Don't quit cold turkey. You have to substitute a positive addiction for a negative one. Running gave me the inner will to quit. You need a positive reason to quit smoking.

Q: Why has running become so popular?

A: It's done in groups and it's social. Our running groups build a sense of community in a world that needs it right now. Where your judged only by what distance you're training for. Everyone is equal. You can run with someone for months and you don't even know their last name.

Q: Have you ever had a serious injury?

A: Touch wood, I've never had a bad injury other than when I had a fall off a ladder in a store and I broke my leg.

Q: Your first few marathons were sub three hours. How fast can you do a marathon today?

A: I don't know. I don't run for competition, I run for completion. My first 20 marathons were sub three hours. I remember thinking it was the end of the world when I ran 3:18 in Victoria. But now I've run anything up to 4:30 as a pace bunny. In some ways, that's more rewarding. It's great to be sharing the first marathon with others. I don't care if I can run a three-hour marathon or even a four-hour marathon. I want to be able to run each day.

Q: The current running boom is considered to be the second one. Will it be sustained?

A: The running boom in the 70s and 80s was about running for competition. Now, people have lots of stress in their lives and they don't need competition. They run for stress relief, weight control and self-esteem. This boom will be sustained.

Q: Do you have a favourite brand of shoe?

A: I run in all brands, because I like to know about all of them for our customers. Today I happen to have Asics on. If I'm at the National Capital Marathon and it's sponsored by Brooks, I'll wear Brooks shoes.

Q: Do you ever run with a shirt that doesn't say Running Room on it?

A: No. I rarely ever wear anything that doesn't say Running Room on it.

Q: Have you ever taken a break from running?

A: Last fall, I took two weeks off and instead of running every day, I walked every day. It's the first time I'd gone that long without running. I want to validate walking as exercise. The ideal vacation for me is to run 10k every day, run 15k on Wednesdays and 20 to 30k on Sundays. So, instead of running those distances, I walked them. When I came back, I started running again and I hadn't lost anything. I think the perfect program as we age will be run one day and walk one day.

Q: What did you think of the runners from Jean's Marines who took a shortcut at the Marine Corps Marathon?

A: It's a tragedy. First of all, Jean Marmoreo has helped a lot of women. But running is a pure sport because there is a start line and a finish line and everybody who starts and finishes gets the same medal. We respect each other for going the distance, no matter how fast you go. And there's no disgrace in not finishing. That's why I thought it was dumb.

Q: Did you ever not finish a marathon?

A: I once was asked at the last minute to be a pace bunny for the Winnipeg marathon, the week before I was supposed to run the Calgary marathon. And at about mile 23, I was feeling light-headed and I think I was dehydrated because I had not prepared for the race the way I normally would. And I pulled over to the side. And that was embarassing for me because I'm the Running Room guy and I'm wearing the stupid pace-bunny cap and I'm going to have to tell everyone I didn't finish. But that taught me to respect the distance.

Q: You seem like a very positive guy. Is there anything that frustrates you?

A: The biggest concern I have is the growing obesity rates with youth. Most young adults understand wellness. But technology, entertainment, social life -- all of that means youth aren't active. And fast food is everywhere. We have to teach children that exercise is part of life like combing your hair or brushing your teeth.

Q: What word would you use to describe yourself?

A: Coach. I'm a coach to runners and walkers. And I don't run our stores; I coach the people who run our stores.

Q: What are common mistakes that runners make?

A: They do their long runs too fast. That makes the recovery time longer. It's all about endurance training. If you go slower, you speed up your recovery time. Some days we're like reverse drill sergeants, telling people to slow down. Also, what you do after the long run is really important.

Q: Any suggestions?

A: Take an ice water bath. Or run cold water on your legs. Or take ice and rub it on your legs. That speeds up recovery. Have a cup of chocolate milk. That will help settle your stomach and give you protein.

Q: What's next for you?

A: I'm working on a new book. It's called The Running Room Book on Running.

Q: What are three or four quick pieces of advice you would give a runner?

A: Be gentle. Train at a level where you're not going to get injured and you can keep the motivation level up. Be progressive. Give your best effort today and tomorrow try to be better. Surround yourself with the team. Share knowledge, support and motivation. And make it fun. Think of it as play. Think of where the reward is.


Copyright © 2006 CanWest Interactive, a division of CanWest MediaWorks Publications, Inc.. All rights reserved.

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John Stanton: Health and success



Article By: Diana Cawfield

Giving your best and getting better is more than just a marketing slogan etched on John Stanton’s business card. The founder and president of Running Room Inc. lives and breathes his passion for running and walking. But this zeal for exercise wasn’t always the case. "I’ve personally gone through the evolution from couch potato to active athlete," says Stanton, "and I’ve helped coach hundreds of thousands of people from being couch potatoes to active athletes.”



Embarrassment was the catalyst to change Stanton’s life. Two decades ago, joining his youngest son in a three-kilometre run, Stanton could barely gasp his way to the finish line. Weighing 238 pounds on a five-foot-10 frame along with a two-pack-a-day smoking habit didn’t help. "The run was a wake-up call about my poor level of fitness," says Stanton.



Six months later, after adopting a healthier lifestyle and diet and taking up running regularly, Stanton had lost 60 pounds. He soon discovered the domino affect of regular exercise: energy level goes up, stress goes down, sleep quality improves and there’s a natural transition to healthier eating.



Today, Stanton, 55 and 170 pounds, brings a whole new meaning to being the picture of health. Heads turn as the born-again athlete strides across a food court in full running gear to meet a writer. With bright blue eyes, glowing complexion and lean physique, he easily looks a decade younger.

How to get started
According to Stanton, there’s a hidden athlete in all of us. Here’s his advice for anybody who wants to get fit by starting an exercise routine.



Try walking. "Walking is highly underrated and it is one of the best forms of exercise,"advises Stanton. "It’s a gentler, kinder way to get started into exercise and you have a lot less risk of injury.”



Start by walking for 25 minutes three times a week. Then adjust the intensity by increasing time or speed. The older the person, the more they need to start with something moderate.



There’s no magic. The key is consistency and getting into a regular routine. According to Stanton, it doesn’t take long to form good habits. "Conducive to our Canadian climate, if people exercise regularly for a full year, then they become committed."



Three’s company. Linking up with more than two people is a boost to sticking with a program.

For entire article, check here:

http://en.50plus.com/display.cfm?doc...&LibraryID=112

[Pie4me]

Re: I Could Have Written This Article!

Hey, thanks for sharing this. I love to read anything about all the positive aspect of running. I wake up every day and look forward to my run-even if it isn't a marathon
distance what he says applies. Best exercise around!

Pie4me
48 yoa
5'9
cw 148