“Let me bring to your attention to the increased cover price. The additional twenty-five cents is our response to a number of running stores who requested a larger retail margin. The extra quarter is being passed on directly to those stores, and RUNNING’s income will not be affected.” – From the Publisher
Recently surprised by the mailman with the quiet new truck who brought me a recently discovered rare, really rare, copy of RUNNING, Vol. 3 No.1 Dec. 77-Jan. 78.
Had to go sit down. You have no idea how valuable a pristine copy of this fabled periodical is. Nor do I.
Probably cannot comprehend just how much the perspicacious collector might pay for this seminal totem of the sport. Nor can I.
Meanwhile, I will put on a pair of gloves and very carefully reminisce.
After Jim Fixx left RUNNING out of The Complete Book of Running, he was eager to make amends. So – “through special arrangement” – the issue commences with a lengthy excerpt from TCBOR.
“Any decently thorough inquiry into the meaning of sport will eventually bring us to the source of much of present-day thinking on the matter: Johan Huizinga’s profound Homo Ludens: A Study Of The Play Element In Culture. Published in 1948, the book argues that man is not best defined as Homo sapiens (man the wise) or Homo faber (man the maker) but as Homo ludens (man the game player). This is so, Huizinga says, because we have a propensity for turning all aspects of life, no matter how serious, into games.”
Still not so sure that’s the way you want to open your editorial pages. But RUNNING’s content was often high fiber.
“Know Thyself” by William Morgan is a condensed version of the psychological portion of a study presented at the Annual Meeting of the American College of Sports Medicine in 1976.
“[T]he runners were found to score significantly lower on measures of anxiety and depression but higher on psychological vigor.”
Old enough now to understand I need to know more about ‘psychological vigor.’ Sounds like it could go either way.
This research also demonstrated that elite runners were continually “reading” or monitoring their bodies throughout the competition, while “runners of lesser ability” tend to do the reverse. Slower runners typically disassociate; in other words, slower runners think about other things to take their attention away from the stress of the race. “Association” would appear to be the desirable approach.
Liked the next report enough to memorialize it among my digital archives.
Just remembered – I was wearing a Geoff Hollister-original polo shirt with the hand-sewn cursively scripted brand name on my chest and this drunk comes up to me, like he needs a loan – sly recognition crosses his face – and he slurs, “Mike, Mike.”
That evening, I ran through the heart of downtown Reno, Nevada, USA. Past the front doors of the casinos, in the streets, between buses and taxis. Exchanging flirtatious compliments with pale painted prostitutes, flowing past the drunks – each in our own way – waving to the slot machines and the people they played.
“Stretching” by Bob Anderson begins: “Without a doubt, the runner of the future will be regularly involved with proper stretching.” I should have listened. And maybe I wouldn’t be the weak-assed and unbalanced shuffler just back from physical therapy typing this sentence.
“Marathon Man” was authored by the generous Dr. Sheehan.
Sheehan: “Fifteen years ago, when I ran my first Boston Marathon, the race was little more than a club. We were 225 strong. But many of us were present only because of a dare or as a joke. Some were overweight and out of shape, attired in gym suits and tennis clothes. Others wore sneakers instead of running shoes. And, I recall, either that year or the next, a runner who led me all the way to Framingham wore a derby.”
“We are different in essence from normal men. Whoever wants to win something runs one hundred meters. Whoever wants to experience something runs the marathon.” – Emil Zatopek
“Why The Marathon?” reported the results of a survey by Jack Pottle from the 1977 BAA Marathon. 2,321 men and women finished the race. 106 completed Dr. Pottle’s survey. Pretty damn insightful. Here’s the last few lines.
“[The study] raised further questions. (Why are so few marathoners motivated by having fun? Why do marathoners who initially ran for fitness no longer do?) More importantly, this study can also be an impetus for individual marathoners to step back and look into their own reasons for running the marathon, to attempt to answer for themselves that illusive question – WHY?”
Pains me to say, illusive is the wrong word and the answer may be elusive, but not the question. Sigh.
We were on NIKE’s radar before Dr. E.C. Frederick dropped a multi-part critique of the 1977 Runner’s World Shoe Survey in RUNNING, Vol. 3 No.1 Dec. 77-Jan. 78. But Ned got the entire industry’s attention with his insightful analysis.
Basically, Dr. Frederick found the famed ratings invalid. Because the criteria was invalid. “The result of all this rating business will be a spurt in sales for the highly rated shoes and a probable decline for the lower ranked models… I conclude it is irresponsible of RW to continue to rate shoes in the manner they do. Hopefully, most RW readers will become aware of the meaningless and invalid nature of the current rating scheme and demand that it cease.”
Fairly confident RW sent me their latest shoe review like just last month. Threw it out before I noticed if ratings remain viable. Myself, on my last legs forty-eight years later, wonder about the top ranked shoe for senior shufflers. Your daily-six-to-eight-thousand-slow-step-types.
You will perhaps not be surprised to learn I was personally acquainted back in the day with every top sports podiatrist in the country. Have you seen my feet? Names Harry Hlavac and Steve Subotnik come to mind. Not too proud to ask anybody for a free article, so RUNNING, Vol. 3 No.1 Dec. 77-Jan. 78 included “Traumatic Injuries” by Dr. John Pagliano.
Opening line – “With the sudden advent of the Lydiard 100-mile-per-week training level, the stress asserted upon the feet of the runner becomes immense and disabling.”
It was and you were warned. Just sayin’. Myself, completed twelve sessions of knee rehab yesterday and cannot help wondering maybe the footwear of 1970s wasn’t up to the test. I know, I know, it was not the shoes. I limped to most of my PRs.
Won’t bother to share here my tepid review of The Complete Book Of Running nor my wishy-washy analysis of NIKE’s crippling LD-1000. Like to believe “thinking runners” noted my refusal to rave.
“The Loveliness Of The Long Distance Runner” by Erich Segal of Love Story fame originally appeared in The New Republic, which was still attempting to understand adults running the streets in their underwear.
“Current magazines abound in paeans to pedestrians. ‘To the athlete trying… middle-aged.’ And, of course, the doctors hallelujah all the therapeutic… Never mind the doctors!
“We should ignore their Hippocritical remarks. They tell us running is the best way not to die (too soon). And hence our parks now teem with converts chasing immortality.
“No.
“Running isn’t merely prophylaxis any more than music is an aural tranquilizer, though it also soothes the savage breast. Running is to therapy what Mozart is to Muzak. We do not run to live. We live to run.”
Can only guess we were juiced on endorphins and DMSO.
The font suggests RUNNING, Vol. 3 No.1 Dec. 77-Jan. 78 was “typeset” on a rented IBM Selectric typewriter. Eternal gratitude to Pat, my first wife, who did all the spectacularly accurate typing for these many pages.
The first use of color came as a direct result of the initial Nike ad, purchased by the John Brown Agency of Seattle, WA.
So, anyway, now I have an extra copy of RUNNING, Vol. 3 No.1 Dec. 77-Jan. 78.
Could be sitting on a fortune.
