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"In general, it's a positive addiction," says Bernard Gutin, a runner who is professor of applied physiology at Teachers College at Columbia. "Running seems to do away with linear thought; same with meditation. A lot of people find that they get creative solutions to problems. I suspect that the euphoria comes from emitting a lot of alpha waves, although there has been no study on it."
At least a beginning has been made in the medical use of such psychological effects of running. Dr. John Greist, a psychiatrist at the University of Wisconsin, recently treated 15 cases of depression by prescribing jogging. Results were said to have been as good as, or better than, those obtained with traditional techniques. Says University of Chicago Psychiatrist Dr. Jarl Dyrud: "One of the best ways of treating depression is by forcing activity. Of course, you have no way of telling which is cart and which is horse, but I have a hunch that a lot of this jogging exercise makes very good sense as an antidepressant."
The alpha waves and the bombproof cardiovascular systems are not achieved without cost. Tennis players wreck their elbows and break their Achilles' tendons, but runners, especially when they reach middle age, are creaky with bone spurs, shin splints, knee miseries and bruised heels. Despite layers of foam padding in their expensive Adidas, Puma, Nike and Tiger training shoes, half of the members of a suburban joggers' club will be out of action at any given time.
Running is certain to be the best-researched sport in history, because so many researchers are running, but not much thought seems to have been given to running and alcohol. Most exercise books advise against mixing the two. but in terms suggesting that what is being purveyed is merely conventional wisdom. Not long ago Runner's World, the amiable and authoritative magazine subscribed to by just about all serious foot flappers, published an article alleging that alcohol has not hurt the performances of several distance runners. Frank Shorter, the Olympic gold medalist, is said to have swallowed 1½2 to 2 liters of good German beer the night before he won the '72 marathon.
One of the great virtues of running is that it makes dieting unnecessary. A mile run in eight minutes, which is a good hacker's pace, will burn roughly 100 calories. Faddists' diets and food additives such as protein powders have their adherents, but experts are nearly unanimous in saying that normal, balanced meals, easy on the fats, will sustain a runner perfectly well. Marathoners have taken to loading up on carbohydrates for several days before a race, to pack their bodies with glycogen, but since it takes about 20 miles to run through a normal supply of glycogen, spaghetti has no special magic for short-winded strivers.