Run for Your Life

by Mark Cucuzzella

  There is nothing new or revolutionary about healthy, traditional lifestyles. Indigenous groups engage in moderate physical activity throughout their lives, eat a varied (mostly whole food) diet, maintain their weight, don’t smoke, and live in communities that give care forever. The elderly are woven into the cultural fabric, and they continue to provide service and value as they age. They’re not abandoned to the mercy of a corps of paid caretakers and medical providers. And—gratefully—no one tells them to relax and take it easy.

  A perfect example is Clarice Morant, who died at 104. After the age of 100, she bathed and fed two aging family members in her own home. As Clarice gave care, she received life and health in return. This is true prevention, and real community.

  FAMILY JOGGING, KIWI STYLE

  Some communities have successfully worked together to improve their collective health and well-being. The idea of family “jogs,” for instance, was developed in New Zealand in the 1950s by the legendary coach Arthur Lydiard, who founded the Auckland Joggers Club, which included many cardiac patients. (The idea that heart patients should jog, which is now a standard of care, was wildly controversial at the time in America.) Lydiard’s Sunday-morning gatherings of young and old, walkers and joggers (and a few serious runners), turned into a weekly, block-party-like tradition across New Zealand.

  In 1962, the legendary University of Oregon running coach (and cofounder of Nike) Bill Bowerman traveled to New Zealand to observe Lydiard’s coaching techniques for Olympic-level athletes. But it was the broader jogging sensation that most struck him, and when he returned to Oregon he began hosting Friday-evening jogs. At first, a handful of adventurous souls gathered. Soon hundreds appeared. Today, the city of Eugene is widely recognized for its network of trails, community health initiatives, and culture of outdoor recreation.

  SPREADING JOY AROUND THE BLOCK

  Those who see running as painful drudgery—or as an occasional tedious, hard-won victory—may find it hard to turn around and envision it as an abiding source of joy. So how do we change that perception and make running fun for large numbers of people? How do we take the next step and use running as a means of reclaiming the health of our communities?

  As individuals, we can begin by slowing down our movements and our thoughts and merely experience the marvelous complexity of the body as it moves through space—seeing our own selves, and those around us, as functional works of art. Much of that beauty lies in the simple, joyful act of maintenance—housekeeping for the body—that takes the form of daily movement.

  We can, as we run, remind ourselves that running is also about connection. Jogging, vigorous activity, team sports, running races, and combined effort toward a common goal—all of these forge bonds with friends and companions that remain for life. I haven’t heard of a single medical school lecture on the topic of community, but the World Health Organization counts it as one of the leading “Determinants of Health.” The corollary is also true: social isolation can be as injurious to one’s health and longevity as smoking is.

  Many folks in my home state of West Virginia aren’t known to be optimal specimens of health, and I don’t think many of them look upon running as a source of joy. The rest of the country isn’t doing much better. The developed world has become a culture without movement—or aspires to be—and much of the developing world is following this lead. Too many of us share the goal of avoiding exercise and unnecessary activity, and we’ve largely reached that goal by successfully engineering much of the movement out of our lives. (For our decades of hard work and technological advances, after all, haven’t we earned some rest and comfort?)

  Sure, professional sports are huge—at least the business of sports is. For the players, however, it has become the reserve of an elite band of gladiators. Excellence is tied to punishing, hard-to-attain goals that don’t always coincide with overall health for the athletes, and certainly not for the spectators.

  FREEDOM’S RUN—A TRUE COMMUNITY EVENT

  In 2009, my community of Shepherdstown, West Virginia, set out to change that. I began to offer medical seminars, running workshops, community fun runs, and (with a dedicated band of fellow volunteers) large running events. Throughout, we’ve been motivated by the simple desire to see folks get outside and start enjoying physical activity—and bring their friends and family along for the ride. Healthy living is not a spectator sport.

  This effort has birthed Freedom’s Run: An Event for Health and Heritage—an annual citizens’ fun run that has triggered a shift in our local culture by reconnecting children and families to nature and fitness. The event has generated a snowball of local business sponsors for the race, and their employees show up to run and to volunteer. Everyone is welcome to enter the one-mile fun run, 5K, 10K, half marathon, or marathon, and each year more than twenty-five hundred participants from at least forty states join in. The tenth annual Freedom’s Run will be held in 2018, and it’s the biggest running event in West Virginia.

  Through osmosis and word of mouth—the best form of outreach—this fun run concept has spread to other communities. The Freedom’s Run team has been lending support to growing numbers of regional events, and the eastern panhandle of West Virginia now hosts more than twenty running races each year (up from only four, nine years ago). Also local, the Harpers Ferry Half Marathon (which I co-direct) is headed into its tenth year, too. And a large community running group called “Bros and Bras,” born at the 2014 Freedom’s Run, now has more than four hundred active members. (Their motto is “No judgment, no expectations.”)

  Freedom’s Run has raised over $200,000 for local health, history, and heritage initiatives. We have partnered in funding twelve school-based fitness trails, a 2.4-mile trail around a new county park, and a program called Canal Classrooms, which brings fourth graders from West Virginia and Maryland to the C&O Canal Visitor Center in Williamsport for a day of outdoor, place-based learning.

  The best part of these running races is that people from cities and distant locales get to experience an organically homegrown event in a small, cohesive community. The courses take runners (and walkers) through Harpers Ferry National Historical Park, the C&O Canal National Historical Park, along the Potomac and Shenandoah Rivers, and through Antietam National Battlefield. Entrants say they feel invigorated simultaneously by nature, history, and camaraderie. (Visit the Freedom’s Run home page at freedomsrun.org. And to get a feel for how this event impacts our community—and a glimpse of one of our first community fun runs—view the short videos at runfor­yourli­febook.com.)

  The old and young run together at Freedom’s Run.

  Most important, all of these events, races, and running groups are fashioned around a spirit of collaboration—a convergence of kids, socializing, connection, and community well-being. Participants share a feeling that we’re all in it together, that together we can reclaim our fit, healthy lives.

  A WHOLE NEW “FARMACEUTICAL” INDUSTRY

  In 1960, the average per capita amount spent on health care was one-third the amount spent on food. This situation has more than reversed, such that in 2015 America spent $10,340 per person on health care—more than double what they spent on food (and that includes eating out in restaurants). As a share of personal income, Americans now spend less on food than does any other country in the world.

  Might there be a link between cheap food and escalating health care costs? The seriousness and prevalence of diabetes alone requires that we persist in asking this question, and in evaluating all of the available evidence. The cost of care for a type 2 diabetes patient has reached a staggering, unsustainable level of almost $20,000 per year.

  I’m convinced that every additional dollar that individuals spend on healthful food saves us many multiples of dollars in downstream public and private health care costs. Indeed, the medical care we offer in West Virginia and the subsequent health outcomes depend, at a basic level, on our patients’ abi
lity to buy healthful foods.

  The West Virginia University School of Medicine and Health Sciences Center is on a trajectory to become a center of excellence for physical activity, nutrition, and healthy lifestyles. In 2017 we opened the Center for Diabetes and Metabolic Health, where I’m focusing on low-carbohydrate nutrition. We are also reaching into the heart of rural West Virginia and introducing folks to the health benefits of the “farmacy”—the abundance of natural, unprocessed, healthy foods from local farms.

  In partnership with the USDA and nonprofits such as Wholesome Wave and the Benedum Foundation, WVU is helping Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients make their money go further at participating farmers’ markets. (Shockingly, the most common purchase made by SNAP recipients is sugar-sweetened beverages.)

  Through what’s called the West Virginia FresHealthy Bucks program, when SNAP recipients swipe their EBT cards to purchase vegetables, meat, eggs, and other farm staples, they are given double that value in the form of FresHealthy Bucks, the currency that can be used only at the farmers’ market. The difference is made up by WVU and the partners when the vendors are reimbursed at the end of the day.

  The FresHealthy Bucks program not only helps the individuals it serves but also gives a boost to the local farmers and farmers’ markets—a true bootstrapping operation! Going into its fourth year, in 2018, the program generated more than $25,000 in SNAP-supported business.

  Our next task is to scale this up.

  FresHealthy Bucks, redeemable at local farmers’ markets

  A SMALL STORE WITH A BIG (BUT MINIMAL) FOOTPRINT

  I also feel lucky to be able to contribute to our community through a small, nonfranchise running store I own called Two Rivers Treads, which focuses on teaching healthy running. In defiance of conventional business models, as the nation’s first minimalist shoe store we strive to sell customers less running shoe—while demonstrating that it’s possible to survive and thrive in the age of big-box stores. We do this by paying near-obsessive attention to customer service. Visitors to Two Rivers Treads undergo an evaluation in which my staff and I help them understand the way their body moves, and sometimes reinvent the way they run. In 2016, Two Rivers Treads was recognized by Competitor magazine, and by the Independent Running Retail Association, as one of the top fifty running stores in the country. I attribute this to our dedication to the community and to public service.

  It’s satisfying to get people out running, but seeing the Two Rivers Treads employees succeed is my greatest reward. Serving customers is enjoyable work, but I don’t expect all the young staff to work in a running shoe store forever. Two have graduated from physical therapy school, and two are at U.S. military academies. Another qualified for the Olympic Trials for track and field in 2016, and is now a contender for the 2020 Olympic team.

  THE END IS THE BEGINNING

  The running races, the healthy food programs, the community outreach—and the shared exhilaration of effort and movement—are small but important ingredients in the recipe for restoring public health. Through self-reliance and dependence on one another (rather than on professionals or the Internet), we can help rebuild a culture of community and sharing. One by one, we can initiate this by joining a tribe of like-minded joggers, hikers, or whatever—any group whose members share a passion for movement, activity, and health.

  Our modern culture is drifting away from nature, from our original way of being, and we’re suffering the physical and mental consequences. I’m convinced that the global community awaits a Silent Spring type of awakening in the realms of medicine, health, agriculture, nature, and community self-reliance. It’s my dream that—someday, together—we can teach ourselves how to train, to eat well, to prevent and manage injuries, and to extend the functional length of our lives. Perhaps we can even live up to President Kennedy’s hope that all of us, by leading lives of vigor, will create a healthy America. We’re in a race with no finish line.

  It may sound paradoxical, but I feel that the goal of this book will be reached when you don’t have to think about the principles and the drills described here. This eventuality will come when you have fully integrated its contents into your daily life—your movement, your work, and your relaxed state of mind. And ultimately, it’s not about the running. It’s about the merging of body, soul, and community into a healthy way of being.

  DRILLS

  Get out and run with friends, relatives, or folks in your neighborhood.

  Organize a group run or race—for any number between two and two thousand people.

  Volunteer at a race, a food bank, a community kitchen, or as a mentor for kids in your community.

  Find a sense of purpose in your community, and in social connectivity with others. The health-sustaining effects of this extend beyond the spectrum of medical indicators.

  Find purpose to all that you do, because cultivating a vision and goal sets the stage for productivity and happiness. I’m eager to go to work every day, pursuing my goal of helping people find a healthy path forward. Purpose is my most important prescription.

  Appendix I

  WEB RESOURCES

  Please visit the Run for Your Life website, runfor­yourli­febook.com, to view the videos (/videos) and find additional resources. Direct links to most of the drills and other resources referred to in this book are provided through this single web portal, where you will find, organized by chapter, a menu of:

  Smartphone- and laptop-viewable videos of drills—including posture, exercises, and running form.

  Links to articles, blogs, training modules, lectures, reviews, demonstrations, and other resources and references. In particular, some links will take you to my collection of resource materials at Dr. Mark’s Natural Running Center site (http://natur­alrunn­ingce­nter.com), Dr. Mark’s Desk (drmarksdesk.com), and Two Rivers Treads (twori­verstr­eads.com).

  Appendix II

  DRILLS FOR A LIFETIME

  I am sometimes asked to provide a rigorous, progressive training schedule that runners and active people can dutifully execute and adhere to. For those who want to reach for a specific running goal, such as entering a 5K, 10K, half marathon, or marathon, appendix III offers tried-and-true training regimens, structured around running itself.

  The drills summarized in this appendix, which are meant to improve movement and strength, are more open-ended and self-directed. In my experience, most of us—who aren’t on a competitive training schedule—simply aren’t very dutiful or diligent about following a cumbersome list of drills. If an exercise or movement doesn’t feel good or provide a feeling that it is helping us, we tend to stop doing it. Like the act of running itself, the drills we do must be fun and safe, and make us feel better.

  I have only one strict demand of my readers: get up off the couch, get outside, and move. And when you find the movements and the drills that work for you—your favorites—just keep doing them. I do recommend that you experiment with all, or most, of the drills in this book. Try them. In the process, (1) you will learn about how your body works and feels, where your tight spots are, and where your posture or position is out of whack. And (2) you will be able to identify the drills and movements that feel good, that suit you, and that address your shortfalls in neuromuscular control.

  In summary, make a note of the drills and movements that work best for you. Then keep doing them.

  Most important, jump (!) at every opportunity you can to interrupt your sedentary habits and move your body—as vigorously as feels comfortable—through its full range of motion. Garden. Help someone move. Walk or ride a bike instead of driving. Do lunges. Whenever you can, take stairs two at a time. At meetings and public events, stand up at the back or along the wall. Claim and covet the most physically demanding tasks for yourself. Someone’s needed to crawl into tight spaces, carry the groceries,
sit on the floor, or run back for a dropped glove? That’s for you. The musician Meat Loaf said it best: “There ain’t no Coupe de Ville hiding at the bottom of a Cracker Jack box.”

  The drills in this book are as much for beginners as they are for veteran athletes and marathon runners. If you’re new to running, out of shape, or not especially athletic, just begin slowly and easily. Stay within your comfort zone. As strength and endurance build—which they will—you’ll find that more repetitions, with greater intensity, and with a greater range of motion, will come naturally and pleasurably. More speed and power is the result, not the goal.

  The drills and exercises distilled here—my own favorites—can be done at your own pace, gauged to the level of exertion and difficulty that suits you. Personally, I try to incorporate several drills in my daily workouts, or as “exercise snacks” while at work or at home. I select the exercises according to my mood, to the amount of time I have, and to my specific areas of weakness. I mix it up, and always engage the drills with a sense of play.

  Perform your favorite drills at least a few times a week, for about ten minutes. It’s best to do these on days when you are not fatigued, and after you are warmed up. Less, done correctly, is better than more, done incorrectly.