Book Review: Your Brain On Nature

Ever wonder why you suddenly feel happier when you stand next to a waterfall, walk through a forest, or see ocean waves crashing onto the beach?  Well, that goofy grin on your face is no accident, our brains are hardwired to admire nature, and we get physical and mental benefits from it that go far beyond the time we are spend outdoors.  There is fascinating research to prove this, all laid out for easy reading in: Your Brain On Nature: The Science of Nature's Influence on Your Health, Happiness and Vitality by Eva M. Selhub, MD, and Alan C. Logan, ND.

Studies now conclusively prove that just being able to see green trees through a window (vs. a view of other buildings) helps make:
Students retain more knowledge;
Hospital patients recover quicker (and use less pain medication);
Jail inmates get in less fights;
and Office workers more productive.               

Just a view of nature can do this!

So while seeing trees from inside a building is a good start, even better would be to get out into the wilderness more often.  But even for urbanites there are small ways to do this, which include; adding plants to the office or home, getting a pet, gardening, escaping to a park for lunchtime walks, eating healthy fresh foods, minimizing screen time (TV, video games and computers), and/or using aromatherapy.  Something is definitely better than nothing in this case! 

Intensive use of nature for people with health issues has also proven to be more beneficial than prescription drugs.  In fact, nature has proven to be such a health benefit that some doctors are now writing prescriptions for Vitamin G(green). In other words, a prescription to go for walks out in in the woods!   This remedy has been positively used for people with all sorts of health problems, including stress, depression, and anger issues.

I highly recommend this fascinating book.  It is easy to read, easy to understand, yet speaks strongly to anyone who finds themselves relying more and more on technology, but less and less content with the results.  The book presents facts about our growing reliance on technology as a troubling issue, yet lays out options to combat our changing world in a way that is hopeful, rather than negative.

So go ahead, push back from whatever screen you are reading this on, and head outside for a walk in the woods.  It will do your brain good. 

I'll see you out there.

Ready or not, Housman 100 here I come!

As I was running home from work today (it's all of 3 miles, and somewhat downhill), I realized I will have to cover that same distance 33 times, plus a bit extra, that to finish the 100 miles.  Complete with hills, wind, probably rain, darkness, and perhaps even a bit of sunshine.  The sadistic organizers of this years LDWA Housman 100 actually admit that the route is not 100 miles either, its at least 101.   That last 1 mile is going to take forever, I just know it.   Added to that is my propensity for getting really, really lost, and I'm sure to go well over the advertised distance. 

All that aside, I am really excited for the big day to arrive, and want to start packing already, even if it is still two weeks away.  After recovering from the Bob Graham recce a week ago, which made me really, really sore, I now feel ready to go for the 100.  And I'm going to make sure that I get a good taper, which includes plenty of rest, heathly eating, and not a whole lot of exercise.  Except for that little matter of the Open Adverture 5+ race next weekend, which, as a combination of running and biking over (you guessed it) five hours, shouldn't tire me out too much. 

To get in the right frame of mind, I am re-reading the book Out On Your Feet: The Hallucinatory World of Hundred-Mile Walking by Julie Welch.  It is about the crazy people who attempt to do this LDWA 100 mile walk every year, and I laughed like crazy the first time I read it.  Soberingly, that was before I signed up to do my own attempt at this 100 mile event.  What was I thinking?   I'm sure the reality of it will set in after my second reading, that this one hundred miles is going to take a really long time, and will perhaps require walking through two nights. 

Hopefully not, though, as the plan is to start at 10 a.m. on Saturday, walk/run for between 24-30 hours, and finish well before dark on Sunday.  That is, if I don't get too distracted by all the goodies on offer at the numerous aid stations, and the nice comfortable chairs wooden benches that will call out to me sit down for just an hour a minute or two.  I'm looking forward to the hallucinations that Julie Welch promised will eventually visit us all, and mostly, to the finish line and a big pizza feast afterwards.  Ok, honestly, I really just want to eat whatever looks good (and lots of it) for 24 hours in a row!   Although that strategy might turn 24 hours of running into 48 hours of painful nauseated walking. 

So for the others that will also toe the starting line in Shropshire in two weeks, let me know when you are planning on starting so I can keep an eye out for you to pass me like I am standing still, while munching at every aid station!

Mad, Bad, and Dangerous to Know

It was quite a coincidence to have a friend loan me the above-titled autobiography of Ranulph Fiennes, just before I was heading out on the night recce of the High Peak Marathon.  Mr. Fiennes has been quite a fixture in the HPM, (a night-time navigational challenge through the bogs and moors of the Peak District), although that seems to be the least of his accomplishments!

Ran, as his friends call him, was the first to journey around the world via the polar axis (through Antarctica and the Artic ice-caps).  He later was the first to cross Antarctica on foot, by pulling a sled behind him weighing up to 500 pounds.  He has also summitted Mt. Everest, climbed the north face of the Eiger, completed 7 marathons in 7 days on 7 continents, and participated in a few extreme adventure races. 

I quite enjoyed the book, I found his writing to be conversational, witty, and easy-to-read.   I also seem to be (quite unintentionally at first) educating myself in the history and lore of British sport, at least where long-distance running is somehow involved. 

At times I think of myself as an extreme athlete...or at least my more moderate friends and coworkers do!  However, after reading this book, I can safely say that there is a lot of extreme-ness left in the world that I have no desire to emulate.  For example, I don't want to pull a heavy sled over ice crevaces in antarctica, or get frostbite from falling into melting ice-slush in the Arctic.   I don't think the 10% chance of dying after summitting Mt. Everest sounds like very good survival odds, nor do I want to bivy in a flimsy tent in -50 F temps while wearing the same clothes for 1/3 of a year in a row.  But that's just me.  It is quite entertaining to read about, though, from the safety and warmth of my living room couch!

Extreme Running - So many races, so little time.

I've been mentioning a few of the longer races lately, and it seems I am really starting to dream big.  I mean, why just run a marathon, when you can go out there and endure the pain of multi-day, multi-stage, uber-tough races that will make the legs feel like jelly and the brain like mush? 

When I put it that way myself, well, I still think a few of these sound fun.  The trick is to fit them into the schedule of my life in the next few years, and then try to train for them, not get injured, and actually do one (or more).  Here's a few of the ones that make me shiver in dread, but still contemplate doing:

Marathon Des Sables:  After seeing the nasty blisters (in full HD color) of a few previous competitors, how could I not want to do this race!?!   I do love sand dunes, though, and our visit to Erg Chebbi in Morocco a few years back was a true highlight of our travels.  (Photos on our website, under Europe A-M: Morocco2.  I know, it's in Africa, not Europe, I really need to add a tab to my menu for Africa.  And get rid of Frames so I can link directly to a page.  Someday)

The Comrades Marathon:  Ok, it's not a marathon, it's really 56 miles long, and in South Africa.  And there is an ABSOLUTE 12 hour time limit.  But it's only the HUGEST ultramarathon ever.  This one has kept coming back up on my radar over the years, and in 2012, it is a "down" year.  Perfect for me, I might even make the time cutoff with a few downhills to help out!  I'm a slow runner, if you haven't figured that one out already.

The Athens Marathon:  To qualify to run the Comrades Marathon, I must run a road marathon.  Evidently all these rough British fell races don't count towards the big one.  So why not run the original "marathon" route from Marathon to Athens?  Coincidentally, in 2010, it celebrated it's 2,500th year.  How extreme is that?!?

Ultra-Tour Du Mont Blanc:   Thanks Nick, for putting this one on my radar.   Doing the circular hike in a week or two, as most folks would choose, also sounds fun, but quicker is always better, right?

The Bob Graham Round:  Big. Scary.  27,000 feet of elevation over 60 odd miles, and I have to arrange for my own support.  And finish in under 24 hours.   It didn't sound so hard, until I read about how many people fail a few times before they succeed (if ever). I think I should go take a hike in the Lakes District to see if I even enjoy the terrain over there, before thinking too hard about this one. 

A "Real" Ironman:  Yes, I've done two Ironman-distance triathlons, but that's a mouthful, and what I really want to claim is a the M-Dot.   Now I just need to find the perfect one, preferably one without a lot of cold weather, rain, freezing lakes, or high winds.   Oh, and not too many hills on the bike, either.  I mean, the distance is tough enough on a nice day, why make it harder on yourself?   I'm still looking.  And trying to convince myself that Ironman UK and Ironman Wales would NOT be good choices, even though they are close to home and easy to get to.   The water will be freezing at both of them, and oh by the way I am a slow swimmer too...I many never make it through the swim in 14 C degree water, much less the other events.

To aid me in finding a few other crazy events, I picked up a book called Extreme Running by Kym McConnell and Dave Horseley.  It's a summary of the great ultrarunning events on every continent, with nice photos, sort of a coffee-table book.  Just the facts, really, don't expect many personal tales, but it is coinciding nicely with getting my future dreams all sorted out!   I won't call them New Year's resolutions, or even a plan, but it's always good to dream.

Feet In The Clouds (The American is humbled...)

[Eventually I will get around to the point of this blog, which is a book review of Richard Askwith's Feet In The Clouds:  A Tale Of Fell-Running And Obsession.  But I still digress....]

Incidentally, my team name at the Open5 Adventure race last Sunday was "The American".   I get a lot of strange glances when I first open speak out on the trails, with the inevitable "You're not from around here, are you?" question following soon after.   But I have been amazed how quickly I have been welcomed since arriving in the UK, into the triathlon and running communities. 

So, although the language barrier is normally not an issue (at least, not much of an issue!), culturally the gap can be quite small and a mile wide, at the same time.  I think much of it revolves around our differing concepts of history.  For example, the stone house I am living in right now was built in 1740, making it older than the country I was born in!   Every rock and hill and trail have thousands of years of events worn into them, and the remembering of those events seems quite important to the folks here.  Even fell-running, which is young compared to the span of history in these isles, has deep roots in the hills that dot all over the country, and quite a controversial history, at that.  Mr. Askwith covers all of the sides of the issues, and perhaps, armed with this knowledge, I will prevent myself from sticking my proverbial "American" foot into my mouth.

But it was quite a shock for me to arrive in the UK and find the running conditions so....so....nasty!   I came to ultrarunning via German Volksmarching paths, which for the most part are 3 feet wide, nicely graded, never too steep, well-marked, and nicely maintained by the locals.  I think there is even a rule that the trails on a volksmarch can't be too "dangerous", or the insurance, included as part of the $5 event entry fee, wouldn't cover them. I'm not positive, though...somebody check on that....  So, what a change to come here and find rocky descents, boggy moors, positively, utterly atrocious weather, and no trail markers.  Do you feel my pain, here?

Anyway, what really hit home in the reading of Feet In The Clouds, was that the local fell runners really take pride in these horrible conditions, and revel in them.  Conditions which, anywhere else I've lived, would have been a reason to stay indoors and read a book, are fine enough here to put on shorts and go for a run up the nearest peak.  In short, it all makes me feel quite humbled.   But what really comes through as I read this book, is the deep love that the locals have for their mountains.   Oddly enough, despite the torturous weather and trails, I am starting to understand the feeling.  

After all, it's not really pouring outside, it's just kind of a light rain. 
And the temperature, well, at least it's above freezing.  
And yes, my feet are wet, but I've seen the bogs much deeper than they are now.  
Sure, the fog is getting a bit thicker, but I can still see my feet, at least.
Yes, this ascent is steep, but the ice has melted off, and you should see this really vertical trail I know about....

Did I really ever review this book?   I guess you'll just have to read it yourself!  It gave a great historical perspective on UK trail running, and was quite inspiring, as well as humorous.  The book did made the Bob Graham Round sound even harder than I had previously thought, though.   Am I thinking of doing a BG round someday?  Um....

Feet In The Clouds (The suspense is building...)

So far in this blog, I've been limiting myself to race reviews and other writing-newsworthy events.  Since my training consists mostly of runs to work and back, plus some gym time, even I could run out of interesting things to say about seeing the same 3 miles over and over again.  Although I do still enjoy running them.

But enough about that.  This particular blog is supposed to a glorified book review, after all.  But it doesn't start quite yet.  I came home one evening from work to find a program called "Sand Marathon" on TV.   It followed a Brit as he attempted to complete the Marathon Des Sables in Morrocco.   I had heard about this race, but seeing the racers come over the Saharan sand dunes, blisters and all, was fascinating.  I immediately thought about doing it (the heat shimmering across the TV screen must have addled my brain), but found out 1) That it's really expensive to enter, 2) That there's a waiting list years long to get in !?!?, and 3) That you have to carry all your food, and water is rationed.   Ouch.  But it still sounds fun.  Definitely on the bucket list for me.

In the course of my research about the race, I came across a book about it.  I haven't read that one yet.  But, in the way of Amazon searches, that book led me to another, led me to another... and in a few days, 4 books on crazy running events showed up at my door. 

At about the same time, a few emails went floating around about a winter completion of the Bob Graham round.  For those of you outside the UK, the BG round, as it is known, is a circle of 42 peaks in the Lakes District of England, some 60ish miles with 27,000 feet of climbing.  First done by who else, Bob Graham, back in 1932, it must be completed in 24 hours or less.  It's big.  It's scary.  And for some reason, it also sounds appealing.   The appeal of a Bob Graham is that it can be done anytime, there is no entry fee, and the Lakes district is only two hours away.

So the first book I started reading was the one called Feet In The Clouds: A Tale Of Fell-Running And Obsession, by Richard Askwith.   It is somewhat about the Bob Graham, and mainly about Fell-Running.  By the first chapter, I was hooked.   The author has a wry, witty, cynical style that is exactly what I aspire to emulate (but often fall short of).    It was written just a few years ago, hence the main characters are, well, still out running!  The fell-running circuit is a small one, so I'm finding out, to my surprise, that some of my new friends are famous, and that there is a lot of history going around.

To be continued...(I need to finish reading the book first!)