by Scott Douglas
Recent news about how years of running keep you internally more youthful is, of course, great. (Executive summary: Habitual exercisers’ telomeres, which are caps on the ends of DNA strands, are longer than sedentary contemporaries’ telomeres,  indicating that runners and their ilk have “younger” cells.) I’m certainly glad it’s not the other way around, because then a lot of us would have to wrestle with whether to stick with our running habit while knowing full well that it shortens our lives. And it’s a wonderful selling point for running to skeptical newbies.
But at the personal level, my main thought when I hear research like this is, “Oh, that’s nice. Anyway….” Rather than being a primary source of motivation, it’s a happy consequence of something I would be doing anyway, same as when I hear that doing puzzles might help ward off dementia or that kohlrabi is full of cancer-fighting phytonutrients.
Probably my favorite part of long-term studies of runners is the finding that more is better. None of this Ken Cooper “if you’re running more than 15 miles a week you’re doing it for reasons other than your health” stuff for researchers like Paul Williams. He says he can see additional health benefits in those who run 100 miles per week versus 50. In other words, I was right in high school when I told my mother that her everything-in-moderation credo could be taken to an extreme.
That said, it is nice to have occasional physical reminders of our internal workings. The last time I had a chest x-ray, I was fascinated by how my left ventricle, which is enlarged by habitual exercise, occupied basically my entire torso. And who doesn’t delight in watching nurses do a doubletake when they take your pulse and realize it’s under 40? What we need now is for telomere length measurement to be a regular part of medical exams. Wouldn’t it be nice to go to your high school reunion packing photos of how long your telomeres are compared to those of the sedentary former jocks?
Where on the spectrum of reasons to run are long-term health benefits for you?
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Even if it would be proven that (distance)running is bad for you/me, I wouldn’t run a inch less !
I have found these various running articles extremely insightful and useful. I have been running for 25 years and my life has turned into a “running life style” It has enriched my life in so many measurable ways, the races, the people I have met during the various races and so many health reasons that have been so beneficial. My hope and sincere wish is that I will be able to continue with my running for many yeas to come. When I cross a finish line, marathon and half -marathon, this is such a gratifying feeling of accomplishment. When the training becomes difficult with regard to to time and fatigue, I think about the purpose of why I am doing this, which of course help to lend credence to my purpose. I have also found that the running is somewhat of a cleansing process that helps the thought process to become clear and creative. Thank you for giving me opportunity to submit my thoughts. Sincerely, Dr. Fantauzzo.