Run/walk your physique

I run to clear my head

Monday morning 24 September 2018, Heritage Day in South Africa, during the FNB 10k Run Joburg Your Way, I overheard a woman responding or saying to a fellow runner “I run to clear my head”.

I found trail running and night races ranking highest for head clearing. There is not much time for rumination when you need to concentrate on your footing. The more technical the terrain, the more concentration is called for to prevent falling or stumbling.

Lose rocks, slippery patches, uneven surfaces, roots of plants or anything protruding, even hollows or dips could cause stumbling. If fit, with reasonably toned muscles, one could run out of a stumble. However, it is not uncommon to sprain, pull or even bruise muscles when stumbling. Worse is to fall and scrape or actually injure oneself.

Walking, I found, is not as engaging and unfortunately does allow for ruminating. The increased effort of running, for example, requires more oxygen for the big muscles.

By being observant of surrounds while running (or walking) is not only in the interest of safety, but also more mindful, more engaging, and stimulating alternative thinking, which could clear the head.

An internet search for ‘I run to clear my head’ produces numerous results; even Meghan Markle uses running to clear her head (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Htv2Gm71x40).

Source: http://www.zimbio.com/photos/Meghan+Markle/DirecTV+Celebrity+Beach+Bowl+Arrivals/zmD_IskvrPw

I would regard myself an average runner. I achieved 6:38 min/km in the FNB 10k Run Joburg Your Way. I finished in 2 320 (out of 10 333) place in 01:06:22 (more than double the time of the winners).

The introvert in me objects to large crowds of fellow runners of big races. I further dislike being required to be early to get parking and a reasonable starting position. Dislike the waiting. I further find the initial continuous obstruction caused by walkers exasperating. Why can’t they keep left to allow runners to pass right? Is it not feasible to improve the seeding, to have walkers starting after runners?

However, when the flow of runners starts spreading out, being part of a running mass then becomes quite exhilarating. Spectators cheering, and entertainment along the way, contribute to the excitement of big races.

In contrast, trails and night runs attract far fewer participants. As average runner, I’ve often found myself running substantial stretches all alone, which I am okay with.

Another advantage of having done a challenging run, is the sleep that follows is usually deep and refreshing.

Midlife correction through running

At first walking, then part running, and then advancing to frequent running (interspaced by walking) granted me a midlife correction opportunity.

The Glossary of Psychology (https://www.psychology-lexicon.com/cms/glossary/46-glossary-m/13694-midlife-correction.html) defines midlife correction as a “re-evaluating [of] one’s roles and dreams and making the necessary corrections”.

Lachman and Kranz (2009) share mixed research evidence about crisis in midlife or specific birth cohorts. They cite Jacques (1965) who observed impending death fear-driven midlife crisis in clinical patients. Subsequent research shown that “usual sources of crises are life events such as illness, marital problems or divorce, job loss, or financial problems, which are not associated only with the midlife period, but occur regularly at other points in the lifespan”.

Personality—for example, more neurotic individuals have been found more prone—has been identified as a key factor predisposing some, at transitioning points, to experience crises.

Self-reflection, re-evaluation and review might be triggered by various unexpected or undesirable circumstances, say Lachman and Kranz (2009), who regard ‘crisis’ as a misleading notion. They indicate that a life review at midlife serves an adaptive function for later life well-being, and suggest careful planning, decisions, and choices about preferred directions. They cite Stewart and Vandewater (1999) who examined midlife review and coined the notion midlife correction, and postulated that regrets about early adult life choices may serve a source of motivation for life changes.

I found running, especially trail running, as an excellent means to distressing. While walking, I still found that I still ruminated while walking. However, running, being more intensive, I found to be better. With trails, where you need to pay attention where and how you put your feet down, the mind’s slate get whipped clean, rendering a refreshed capacity.

Furthermore, I succeeded in running of more than 30kgs. For the first time in many years I broken through on the scale from categorised obese to over-weight, and aspiring to get within the recommended weight range for my length.

In midlife, Lachman and Kranz (2009) say, there is a shift in focus from growth “to an emphasis on maintenance of functioning and avoidance of losses and decline”. They indicate that there are often other turning points (sometimes difficult transitions) that may occur. The notion of a ‘quarter-life crisis’ occurring among individuals “in their mid-20s and early 30s as they struggle to find satisfaction in work and meaningful relationships”.

Flannery (2018) observes that increasingly people are “taking on challenges that seem to belong to the young alone: by pushing the limits of what they’re physically capable of through endurance athletics and extreme fitness. The focus is less on what happened before the crisis and more on what happens after. Call it the midlife correction”. He adds that according to the U.S. Triathlon organization “almost a third of all triathlon participants in the United States are between the ages of 40 and 49 … the largest age demographic by decade and one of the most competitive”. Similarly with regard to the Boston Marathon he says “where more than 8,200 runners in their 40s crossed the finish line in April, a little more than 31 percent of the total field. The largest field of competitors at the 2017 New York Marathon was between the ages of 40 and 44. In London in 2015, those 40–49 runners had faster overall times than the 20–29-year-olds”.

Flannery, P. (2018). Extreme Athleticism Is the New Midlife Crisis. https://medium.com/s/.../extreme-athleticism-is-the-new-midlife-crisis-d87199a18bed 22Aug2018

Lachman, M.E. & Kranz, E.M. (2009). Midlife Crisis. In Weiner, I.B. & Craighead, W.E. (Eds)(2010). The Corsini encyclopedia of psychology (4^th Ed). Hoboken, N.J.: John Wiley, 2010. Electronically accessed from https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/9780470479216.corpsy0544