playthink

With the launch of Nintendo’s Wii Fit, parents and health experts can no longer claim that video games make our kids fat.

Or can they? Just what kind of workout can you get from balancing on an expensive piece of plastic? Does a cartoon avatar offer the same kind of coaching as a personal trainer?

Doesn’t it feel a bit weird to stand shirtless, wearing Spandex shorts, in front of our favorite animated plumber Mario, who encourages you with a cheerful “Mama Mia!” every time you do a push-up?

(Just for the record, I do not know if Mario — or even Super Mario — make an appearance in Wii Fit. But the possibility of the above scenario makes me want to dust off my old Game Genie and connect it to Wii Fit to see if maybe, just maybe, there’s a hidden gym where I can virtually workout with Mario, Luigi, Toad, and the Princess.

I came across two interesting stories this morning about the hottest video game — er, exergame? — on the market: “Gaming Your Way to Fitness,” which aired on NPR, and the NYT’s “O.K., Avatar, Work With Me.”

In each story, a couple of volunteers ran through the various exercises of the game. The verdict?

Wii Fit won’t, nor should, nor aims to put your neighborhood gym out of business. You still need to get outside to walk or run around throughout the day; you still need to eat right and get plenty of rest; you still need to stretch and strengthen your muscles by doing more than a few balance moves in front of your TV.

But for people who might be uncomfortable in a locker room, want to engage in physical activity with their families, or simply enjoy the interactive nature of video games, Wii Fit can provide you with a mild aerobic workout.

For an ever-growing number of us, with ever-growing waistlines, it’s enough to make you say, “Mama Mia!“

Bonus clip: Game Genie TV commercial.

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood

It reads like the voice-over script for a doomsday-is-eminent-until-Will-Smith-saves-humanity Hollywood produced summer blockbuster:

Human identity, the idea that defines each and every one of us, could be facing an unprecedented crisis.

It is a crisis that would threaten long-held notions of who we are, what we do and how we behave. It goes right to the heart - or the head - of us all.

This crisis could reshape how we interact with each other, alter what makes us happy, and modify our capacity for reaching our full potential as individuals.

And it’s caused by one simple fact: the human brain, that most sensitive of organs, is under threat from the modern world.

So when does the movie come out? I’m hooked!

Uh, not so fast.

This is the intro to recent article by Susan Greenfield, a neuroscientist and researcher at Oxford University. In “The REAL Brain Drain: Modern technology is changing the way our brains work,” published by the UK’s Daily Mail, Greenfield provides a crash-course about the science of brain plasticity; poses some important ethical questions about the technical and medical advances that allow us to perfect our psychological, genetic, and physical make-up; and ruminates about the unintended consequences of a hyper digital world on our neurological functioning.

Our brains are under the influence of an ever- expanding world of new technology: multichannel television, video games, MP3 players, the internet, wireless networks, Bluetooth links - the list goes on and on.

But our modern brains are also having to adapt to other 21st century intrusions, some of which, such as prescribed drugs like Ritalin and Prozac, are supposed to be of benefit, and some of which, such as widely available illegal drugs like cannabis and heroin, are not.

Electronic devices and pharmaceutical drugs all have an impact on the micro- cellular structure and complex biochemistry of our brains. And that, in turn, affects our personality, our behaviour and our characteristics. In short, the modern world could well be altering our human identity.

Nothing less than our unique self-identities are under threat, says Dr. Greenfield

Her article is a rich and thoughtful written “what if” inquiry about science, technology, psychology, society, and identity. In addition to questions about the search for value and meaning in our hedonistic culture, Dr. Greenfield warns us not to be surprised when the effects of violent video games literally reshape the brains of the younger “games-driven generation.”

Coinciding with the moment when technology and pharmaceutical companies are finding ever more ways to have a direct influence on the human brain, pleasure is becoming the sole be-all and end-all of many lives, especially among the young.

We could be raising a hedonistic generation who live only in the thrill of the computer-generated moment, and are in distinct danger of detaching themselves from what the rest of us would consider the real world.

Throw in circumstantial evidence that links a sharp rise in diagnoses of Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and the associated three-fold increase in Ritalin prescriptions over the past ten years with the boom in computer games and you have an immensely worrying scenario.

We are not doomed to become vapid body sacks, however, absent of any original thought, emotion, spirit, soul, meaning, purpose, or passion. More human than human is not (yet) our collective motto. There are significant reasons to worry about the way scientific, medical, and technological stimuli mold our brains, but so long as we are aware of these concerns and engage in the ethical and moral debates surrounding progress in these fields, Dr. Greenfield is hopeful about our individual and collective futures.

I think it possible that we might one day be able to harness outside stimuli in such a way that creativity - surely the ultimate expression of individuality - is actually boosted rather than diminished.

I am optimistic and excited by what future research will reveal into the workings of the human brain, and the extraordinary process by which it is translated into a uniquely individual mind.

For now, though, it’s probably best to drop the video-game controller and head towards the public library to reserve a copy of Dr. Greenfield’s soon-to-be-published book, ID: The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century. Leave your iPod at home.

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood

Friday is turning into excerpt-from-Gina-Kolata day. Her Personal Best column in the New York Times consistently produces some of the most thoughtful, interesting, and well-written articles on exercise, health, and fitness. This week’s piece explores the sport of triathlon, generally, and the difficulty of excelling at multiple disciplines — swimming, cycling, running — specifically.

Excerpts and notes from “For Peak Performance, 3 Is Not Better Than 1“, which looks to answer the question, “Is it possible to peak in more than one sport at once?”:

In the article we meet Joel Friel, a triathlon coach and author of 10 books, including the bible of the multi-sport world — literally. I did not feel comfortable calling myself a triathlete, even as an accomplished athlete in the sport, until reading and underlining what turned out to be nearly ever-other-sentence in Friel’s best-selling training guide, The Triathlete’s Training Bible.

Friel says many of his athletes sometimes feel frustrated that they aren’t running as fast as they think they can and should. His advice? “[I talk with them and ask] do you really want to be a triathlete? If you want to run faster you have to give up swimming and cycling.”

There’s a reason it’s hard to excel in three sports at once, physiologists say. The training necessary to do your best in one sport is likely to counteract what is needed to be good at another.

When you are training, said Gary Krahenbuhl, an exercise physiologist and emeritus professor at Arizona State University, improvement depends on physical and biochemical changes in muscle cells and in nerve-firing patterns. And those changes are very sport-specific, he added. The result, Dr. Krahenbuhl said, is that “changes that facilitate performance for one event may actually undermine performance in another event.

“To think that you could train in such a way as to have your greatest performance in all the sports is impossible,” he added.

Even body musculature can trip up triathletes. Swimmers need large muscles in their backs and shoulders. Runners and cyclists want small, light upper bodies. Cyclists need large quadriceps muscles. Runners don’t, and in fact they don’t want any extra muscle weight on their legs.

A woman named Anne Gordon is profiled in the article. She’s a “51-year-old triathlete [who] has never gotten a personal record in each leg of a triathlon on the same day.”

But, she said, that is part of what draws her to triathlons.

“What I love best about this sport is the training, the sense that the goal of hitting a perfect 10 for all three sports will take a lifetime.” And that, she added, “is O.K. by me.”

As noted, I participated in the sport of triathlon for a few years before leaving for a host of issues that I’ll explain in another post. But the elusiveness of perfection that Ms. Gordon refers… This is what intrigued me about triathlon. There are so many variables in a race — the swim, bike, and run, of course, but also the transitions, hydration and nutrition management, and gear and technical issues — that I never executed anything close to a perfect performance.

But it is that frustration — I had a great swim and run, but I got two flats on the bike section, or I didn’t grab my special-needs bag out of T2 and utterly bonked on the run — and that hope — Next time, baby. Next time – that kept me racing. I couldn’t quit until I mastered the sport and conquered at least one race.

It’s an ultimately futile chase for perfection, I realized. But an exciting and inspiring one. Says Ms. Gordon:

“The simple act of working hard at three things requires a diversity and balance in my life that is rewarding in and of itself. It is good for my spirit to know that I have to work hard and be patient to achieve mastery.”

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood

More great stuff from the NYT: “You Name It, and Exercise Helps It” by Jane Brody.

“The single thing that comes close to a magic bullet, in terms of its strong and universal benefits, is exercise,” reports Frank Hu, epidemiologist at the Harvard School of Public Health.

I have written often about the protective roles of exercise. It can lower the risk of heart attack, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, depression, dementia, osteoporosis, gallstones, diverticulitis, falls, erectile dysfunction, peripheral vascular disease, and 12 kinds of cancer.

But what if you already have one of these conditions? Or an ailment like rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, congestive heart failure, or osteoarthritis? How can you exercise if you’re always tired or in pain or have trouble breathing? Can exercise really help?

You bet it can.

“The data show that regular moderate exercise increases your ability to battle the effects of disease,” says Dr. Marilyn Moffat, a professor of physical therapy at New York University. “It has a positive effect on both physical and mental well-being. The goal is to do as much physical activity as your body lets you do, and rest when you need to rest.”

“With regular exercise, the body seeks to continue staying active,” wrote Dr. Tsai, an assistant professor of neurosciences at the Medical University of South Carolina in Charleston.

So get out there, no matter how you feel, and…

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood

Fluid intelligence (abbreviated Gf) is the ability to understand novel situations and to solve otherwise new-to-you problems by drawing relationships from concepts. In short, it is abstract reasoning — the ability to think and to do without relying on past experience.

Until recently, many psychologists believed that fluid intelligence was a genetic trait. Everyone has some level of fluid intelligence, but just how much is pre-determined by one’s biology.

A fascinating new study, however, hints at the promise that we can increase our fluid intelligence.

Published this week by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS), “Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory,” is an article that: (1) explores the relationship between working memory and Gf, and (2) details how improving working memory can increase one’s fluid intelligence.

(What is working memory? Good question. It’s a kind of short-term memory process that allows for the temporary storing and manipulation of information. Just how short-term? Think seconds-long. For example, it’s the kind of memory we use when asking a gas station attendant for directions. We remember “turn left at the third light, stay straight for two blocks, then make a right at the intersection of Jones and Geary” just long enough to process it. But these details do not enter our long-term memory.)

The NYT has a great summary of this exciting research. In “Memory Training Shown to Turn Up Brainpower,” Nicholas Bakalar summarizes and offers highlights from the NPAS journal article:

First they measured the fluid intelligence of four groups of volunteers using standard tests. Then they trained each in a complicated memory task, an elaborate variation on Concentration, the child’s card game, in which they memorized simultaneously presented auditory and visual stimuli that they had to recall later.

The game was set up so that as the participants succeeded, the tasks became harder, and as they failed, the tasks became easier. This assured a high level of difficulty, adjusted individually for each participant, but not so high as to destroy motivation to keep working. The four groups underwent a half-hour of training daily for 8, 12, 17 and 19 days, respectively. At the end of each training, researchers tested the participants’ fluid intelligence again. To make sure they were not just improving their test-taking skills, the researchers compared them with control groups that took the tests without the training.

The results were striking. Although the control groups also made gains, presumably because they had practice with the fluid intelligence tests, improvement in the trained groups was substantially greater. Moreover, the longer they trained, the higher their scores were. All performers, from the weakest to the strongest, showed significant improvement.

“Intelligence has always been considered principally an immutable inherited trait,” said Susanne M. Jaeggi, a postdoctoral fellow in psychology at the University of Michigan and a co-author of the paper. “Our results show you can increase your intelligence with appropriate training.”

Why did the training work? The authors suggest several aspects of the exercise relevant to solving new problems: ignoring irrelevant items, monitoring ongoing performance, managing two tasks simultaneously and connecting related items to one another in space and time.

This is the abstract from the NPAS journal article:

Improving fluid intelligence with training on working memory
Susanne M. Jaeggi, Martin Buschkuehl, John Jonides, and Walter J. Perrig

Abstract

Fluid intelligence (Gf) refers to the ability to reason and to solve new problems independently of previously acquired knowledge. Gf is critical for a wide variety of cognitive tasks, and it is considered one of the most important factors in learning. Moreover, Gf is closely related to professional and education success, especially in complex and demanding environments. Although performance on tests of Gf can be improved through direct practice on the tests themselves, there is no evidence that training on any other regiment yields increased Gf in adults. Furthermore, there is a long history of research into cognitive training showing that, although performance in trained tasks can increase dramatically, transfer of this learning to other tasks remains poor. Here, we present evidence for transfer from training on a demanding working memory task to measures of Gf. This transfer results even though the trained task is entirely different from the intelligence test itself. Furthermore, we demonstrate that the extent of gain in intelligence critically depends on the amount of training: the more training, the more improvement in Gf. That is, the training effect is dosage-dependent. Thus, in contrast to many previous studies, we conclude that it is possible to improve Gf without practicing the testing tasks themselves, opening a wide range of applications.

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood

Over the last few years, a growing body of research (but by no means widely accepted) has found that it is possible to be both fit and fat. [Source]

Wishful thinking, says a new Harvard study of 39,000 women. It’s findings:

“Compared with normal-weight active women, the risk for developing heart disease was 54 percent higher in overweight active women and 87 percent higher in obese active women. By contrast, it was 88 percent higher in overweight inactive women; and 2 1/2 times greater in obese inactive women.” (Emphasis mine.)

“Physical activity really does make an impact,” said lead author Dr. Amy Weinstein of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

But, as stressed by Dr. Martha Gulati, a heart specialist at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, while being physically active is important, “Weight still matters.”

This point is underscored by Dr. Weinstein: “If you’re overweight or obese, you can’t really get back to that lower risk entirely with just physical activity alone.”

No dessert for me, tonight.

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood

From researchers at Princeton University: Running by yourself could be bad for your brain. Or at least, not as good as running with a group.

According to an article in the journal Nature Neuroscience, as reported by the BBC, exercise can have “negative effects on activity in the brain… Running is known to increase levels of stress hormone corticosterone, which can reduce the creation of new brain cells - a process known as neurogenesis.”

But wait, right?! Isn’t exercise good for the brain? Doesn’t physical activity promote neurogenesis?

Here’s where things can get a bit complicated.

Yes, exercise “has been found to increase spatial awareness and to boost communication between neurons.”

But… Only (or at least, especially) if exercise is done with others. Or if done for a really long time. Here’s the rundown on this study (no pun intended):

The researchers at Princeton looked at rats that ran in groups and rats that ran in social isolation. In both groups, “running caused similar elevations of the stress hormone, which can impair neuron generation.”

However, “running was found to increase neuron generation when rats were housed in groups. In rats that ran in social isolation, neurogenesis was suppressed.”

So even though running increased stress on the brain, which can impair neuron generation, group running “increase[d] spatial awareness and boost[ed] communication between neurons.” Running is stressful for the brain, but the social aspect of group running produced more good things for the brain than it hurts.

The rats that ran in isolation, however, experienced no such gain. “Only animals that ran alone were vulnerable to its negative influence. They also had higher levels of the hormone compared to group runners.”

So running alone could be bad for the brain. Unless…

Unless you go for a really long run. “When isolated rats ran for a long time, they did see the same benefits as their short-term runner peers [who ran in groups] - but only when they had been running for a much longer period.”

The Princeton research team was led by Dr. Elizabeth Gould. In their article, “Social isolation delays the positive effects of running on adult neurogenesis” (aka “The Stress of Running Alone” article), in the journal Nature Neuroscience, she explained, “In the absence of social interaction, a normally beneficial experience can exert a potentially deleterious influence on the brain.”

So what to do? Grab a friend and hit the trails. Or, if going solo, go long. Real long.

Fascinating research. It’s enough to make you…

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood

Another great article by the NYT’s Gina Kolata, this one about the proliferation of cheating — not while running the Boston Marathon a-la Rosie Ruiz, but simply to toe the starting line at Boston. Excerpts from “Cheating Starts Before the Race Does“:

The Boston Marathon requires athletes to have run a marathon in the past year with a time that is adjusted for age and gender. Most find the race’s strict standards all but impossible to meet. All this helps make the Boston Marathon unique and makes running it a dream for many athletes.

It also raises two questions: Why does the Boston Marathon make it so hard to enter? And how often do runners sneak in by trading or buying one another’s entries?

People try to cheat to get into the Boston Marathon every year, said Marc Chalufour, a spokesman for the Boston Athletic Association, which sponsors the race. And this year’s race, which was run on Monday, was no exception. The B.A.A. finds cheaters by checking sites like eBay and Craigslist, and hopes that if it misses some, other runners will turn in any cheaters.

The reason for the qualifying times, Mr. Chalufour said, is the peculiar logistics of that race. The Boston Marathon is the only big-city marathon that starts on a narrow road in a small town, Hopkinton, Mass. There is just not room for a huge field.

Qualifying times emerged in the late 1970’s when the running boom was starting and the Boston Marathon became overwhelmed with applicants.

“The goal wasn’t to challenge runners,” Mr. Chalufour said. “That was a byproduct.”

But soon the byproduct became the goal. There are runners who have spent decades as marathoners trying in vain to qualify for the Boston Marathon. There are marathons that have become popular largely because of their flat or, in the case of Steamtown Marathon in northeastern Pennsylvania, largely downhill courses allow contestants to run fast times, increasing their chances of qualifying for the Boston Marathon.

In order to deduce how many marathoners could have qualified in 2006 and 2007, Jim Fortner, 69, a runner from Pasadena, Md., analyzed published statistics on marathons in the United States (mysite.verizon.net/jim2wr/id202.html). He limited himself to certified marathon courses that enabled runners to qualify for Boston if they ran fast enough.

The analysis included more than 740,000 marathon times and included more than 90 percent of marathon finishers in those two years. Only about 10 percent of those runners had times that were good enough for Boston.

As I noted in my last post about my personal Boston Marathon experience this year, qualifying, for me, was the finish line; running Boston was my victory lap. Hearing of these desperate runners who enter the race illegally, I wonder if they are able to outrun their conscience.

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood

Qualifying for the Boston Marathon was my finish line. Running the Boston Marathon… This is my victory lap.

And a slow victory lap, at that. More on the actual race in a bit. But first…

In it’s entirety, this weekend was nothing short of a life-affirming experience.

Boston is an incredible city. I have never been to a place where people have so much pride in their hometown. Everyone I met or passed on the street – they all love “Baaston, baby! For life.”

With the Red Sox at the top of their division, the Celtics a serious contender for the NBA Championship, and the Bruins winning in the Stanley Cup play-offs, B-Town natives were in especially high spirit.

Which brings me to a second quick note about Boston, or rather, the people of Boston. A couple friends of my friends who attended school in Massachusetts warned me that Boston could be a cold, dark, lonely, urban scene filled with jerks and “Massholes.” Nothing could have been further from the truth!

Maybe a memo went out in the Globe telling people to be on their best behavior, especially with the U.S. Women’s Olympic Marathon Trials held on Sunday and the 112th running of the Boston Marathon earlier today.

Or maybe it was the fact that a three-day weekend brings out the best in people (most of Boston – all of Massachusetts? – had the day off today to celebrate Patriot’s Day).

No matter, the people are some of the friendliest of any city I have visited. Random locals struck-up conversations with me about the marathon, offered to take my picture when I was attempting self-portraits in front of the library at Harvard and inside historic Faneuil Hall, and provided top-notch directions around town when they saw me fumbling with my city map.

In addition to being wooed by the locals, I fell in love with the architecture and history of the city itself. It’s a powerful thing, upon reflection, to sit in the first town hall of America, which is more than 150 years older than the state of California, and where our founders debated the values, ideals, and vision that gave birth to our country.

So my news and notes from the weekend…

I took a direct red-eye from SFO to Boston on Thursday night, arriving way-too-early Friday morning. I rode the T (subway) into town and hung out for a bit at the Boston Hostel until my room was ready.

Quick note on staying in a hostel: wonderful idea! Not only is it a more affordable lodging option than a traditional hotel, but the design of the hostel, and the ethos of hosteling, fosters a wonderful little community of like-minded souls. In the community rooms, I met and talked with backpackers from throughout Europe, self-employed budget business travelers, and a handful of fellow runners who were more than welcome to share their war stories and advice from previous races. (I stayed in a co-ed dorm room for the first two nights and was fortunate to secure a private room for the night before and after the big race.)

After dropping my gear on my bunk bed (another cool thing about hostels — you get to sleep in a bunk bed!), I headed over to the Marathon Expo at the Hynes Convention Center, just a few short city-blocks from my hostel.

For an athlete-geek like me, these expos are awesome: the buzz of the race, all the latest gear and products… It makes for a fun scene. It is also a bit like a casino. There are no clocks anywhere (I easily spent half the day inside), and the mix of fancy-colored shoes, the weirdly intoxicating smell of specifically-engineered food products for athletes, and the swarms of short-shorts clad runners overwhelms the senses.

I splurged on a nifty Boston Marathon zip-up fleece, bought a new pair of race shorts, and then swung by the Nuun booth where I had an opportunity to hang with Eric, one of my regular training buddies from the Endurance Running Club (ERC) last year. Right after our big December race – I did a 50K, Eric doubled-down and tackled the 50 Mile course – he moved from San Francisco to Seattle. It was great to see a familiar face in Boston and after the Expo that evening, I met-up with him and one of his co-workers at one of the uber-trendy and fun bar/bistros on tony Newbury Street. I ordered myself a chocolate milk – with extra chocolate. Mmmm mmmm good.

I slept-in on Saturday morning; there was no where in particular I had to go to and I needed to let my body recharge after a week where I had averaged less than five hours of rest a night. After a quick breakfast with some new friends at the hostel, I jumped on the T again and explored Harvard and Cambridge, an awesome college community that rivals any I have visited. The weather begged for some sun-soaking, so I joined the masses in Harvard Square with my books, alternating between reading and people-watching.

Then it was time to head to the North End of the city of Boston, where I marched down the Freedom Trail, saw Paul Revere’s house, and battled tourists at Quincy Market, a San Francisco-like Fisherman’s Wharf where you can eat a wicked good bowl of chowda while taking in one of the many street performances. I also spent some time at Faneuil Hall, which I referenced above. An absolute must! Be sure to sit-in on one of the free National Park Service lectures, held every half-hour. Boston: The cradle of liberty.

Saturday evening I met-up with a couple more guys from the ERC who were also running the Boston Marathon – Kendall and Elliott, along with Elliott’s wife and sister-in-law. We dined at Limoncello Ristaurante, which offered one of the best Italian food experiences in my life. Mama mia!

Usually, those of us in the ERC never see each other in anything but our sweaty running gear, and while conversations dip in-and-out of life in general, most of our Saturday morning trail runs are filled with chatter about all things running related: upcoming races, shoes and various gear, and hydration and nutrition plans. That night, we had a great conversation and shared many a-laughs about our personal lives: relationships, school, work, hopes and aspirations. We continued our hedonistic feeding adventures by stocking-up on some scrumptious desserts at the famous bakery Mike’s Pastry. I myself brought home $20 of home-baked cookies and pastries that night, all of which were gone within 24-hours. (Part of my carbo-loading process, I told myself.)

Sunday was a whirl-wind of day. I joined the thousands of people on the streets of downtown Boston to cheer-on the top 200 elite women marathoners in the country, all vying for one of three spots on the U.S. Olympic team. The race was a beautiful, powerful, inspiring demonstration of the awesomeness of the human spirit. American-record holder and crowd favorite Deena Kastor, within the last two miles of the 26.2 mile run, chased-down Magdalena Lewy Boulet, who ran a gutsy race and had established a near-two minute lead over the first two-thirds of the race, to win the race. The battle for third-place and fourth (the first-alternate spot on the U.S. team) was epic.

Most special for me, however, was watching the women towards the back of the race – those whom had qualified, perhaps by just-barely satisfying the ‘B’ requirements to get to the trials, but had no chance of winning. They were all incredible athletes; on my best day, I aspire to run like them on their worst day. And most of them were wearing smiles, taking in the experience of being on a national stage with the best runners in the world! What an incredible thrill to participate in the U.S. Olympic Trials. And no matter how far back they might have been from the lead-group, they ran hard, with determination, focus, and intense energy. The entire scene was simply inspiring. I watched the race with Kendall, Elliott, and Sandy, another awesome member of the ERC and veteran runner of the Boston Marathon.

I sought more inspiration by attending the annual Blessing of the Athletes mass at Old South Church, which, along with the Boston Public Library, sandwiches the finish line of the Women’s Trials and the Boston Marathon. The service was beautiful and allowed for some further reflection on the purpose of faith when embarking on a physical or spiritual marathon.

After a quick check-in at the Expo (I wanted to pick-up a singlet as the weather forecast called for clear skies), where I bumped into Steven, another good bud and former training companion who was also running the marathon (what a small world Boston is!), I dashed over to historic Fenway Park to catch the afternoon Red Sox-Tigers game.

Oh, man… What a thrill. The Green Monster. Fenway Franks. And Red Sox fans everywhere! Seeing a game here was the highlight of my Boston weekend and the best way to experience the people, sights, sounds, and pride of B-Town.

Fenway is an old park – 96 years old, if I recall – and its charm, its history gave me goosebumps: Williams; Yastrzemski; Boggs; the heartache of Buckner’s error; the awesomeness of Schilling’s blood-stained sock; the high-flying victory penants for winning the very first, in 1901 over Pittsburgh, and most recent, in 2007, World Series Championships; and of course, the Curse of the Bambino which broke the hearts of all Bostonians for most iof the years in between.

THIS is a baseball town. THIS is a baseball stadium. No flashy scoreboards or ridiculous mid-inning entertainment that distracts from the game at hand. No bottles of wine or sushi are sold at the concession stands… Just baseball, baby. (The scoreboard at the base of the Green Monster that keeps track of other MLB games and scores is managed by a guy who takes a little ladder out to it every three-outs to update it with hand-painted signs.)

Last night, I fielded some calls of good luck and cheer from friends and family and turned-in early.

Today… Marathon morning.

Pre-dawn, I took the T a few stops north to Boston Common where I loaded one of dozens of school buses headed for a high school in Hopkinton, site of Athletes Village and start of the 112th Boston Marathon. On the bus ride out of Boston, I couldn’t help but think, “Dang, this is a long drive. And we have to run this?! Twenty-six miles is… far!”

Eventually we got to Hopkinton “It all starts here!” a welcome sign announced.

At Athletes Village, I visited the Port-o-Johns, strolled the grounds, grabbed a bagel, a banana, and a few PowerBars, and huddled with other cold athletes under the big white tents. We still had a good two-plus hours to kill before the start of the race. (Note for next time: bring something to read and a few extra blankets to sit on while passing time at Athletes Village.)

One hour till go-time, and after one last bathroom break, I shed my sweats and walked/jogged a mile or so to the start of the race. I settled into Coral 4 and was a bit intimidated by the toned bodies around me. Minutes before the gun sounded, the sun came out of hiding from behind the clouds and lifted the temperature a few degrees. I got plenty of rest last night; the weather was perfect this morning. All that was left to do was to run.

Boom. And we were off.

I’ll spare the mile-by-mile rundown of the race, but I do want to share one thought that kept running through my mind: Wow! Wow to the incredible crowd support. Wow to the thousands of talented and awesome runners that stretched in front and behind me as far as I could see. Wow for the hills.

The first few miles are downhill, which to a non-runner seems like a great way to kick things off. It’s not. Coupled with the thousands of people screaming and cheering for you, a downhill start pushes people out of the gate fast – too fast. And the hills take a brutal toll on the quads and hamstrings. I usually bolt from the start, only to fatigue mid-race, and applauded myself for exercising restraint today. My first two miles were right on pace for a 2:59 marathon.

As were the rest of the 11.1 miles of the first-half of the marathon. I was feeling good and strong, clocking sub 6:45 miles. And that crowd… Not enough can be said to capture what it’s like. Every mile is lined with the most supportive bunch of people I have ever seen attend a sporting event. Never, for more than twenty feet, is there an empty stretch of road. They crowd in tight, forming a narrow tunnel on the two-lane country road to Boston for us runners to pass through, many of them passing out water, juice, fruit, and other goodies to us hungry and thirsty athletes. And they scream. Loudly. It’s awesome.

At the half-marathon point, while feeling good, I knew that I had not invested the necessary training to keep-up a sub-three hour pace. And wanting to experience Boston, I slowed waaaaay down. My goal became to high-five as many people as possible, which after a mile of doing, my scrawny arms were no longer to do pain-free.

I walked-through every water and aid station those last 13 miles, thanking the volunteers and taking in the scene. The sky was blue, the sun was out, and it seemed as if every person in Massachusetts had decided to spend their Patriots Day holiday cheering us 25,000 runners to the finish line.

Ashland, Farmingham, Natick, and Wellesley – each community along Route 135 was an idyllic and picture-perfect postcard image of New England. Small and stately brick and wood-sided homes sat on large plots of grass on which kids had set-up free lemonade stands for runners, passed out frozen Otter Pops, and offered us cold-water soaked sponges to dab the sweat and salt from our faces.

Around the 16-mile mark, my body started to crash. Keeping a 9-minute pace was taking way too much effort than it should, and I couldn’t get my grubby hands on enough water and Gatorade to satisfy the deep thirst in my throat and pain in my stomach.

My hammies were screaming for the race to be over – so loudly that they nearly drowned-out the deafening wall of women from Wellesley College, hundreds of whom were screaming their lungs out underneath signs advertising “free kisses for runner.”

Heartbreak Hill didn’t break anything of mine… After all the early downhills and my familiarity with the hills of San Francisco, it was nice to run up for a change, no matter how slowly. At the mid-race mark I had abandoned any hope for a PR and was content to wave and cheer and flash thumb’s up or pump a fist to the incredible crowd, some whom were blaring motivational music from the roofs of their homes.

The last four or five miles of the Boston Marathon are a punishing downhill. Entering Boston, the crowds get wider, deeper, stronger, louder. I had my name on a fabric sticker on my shirt and it seemed every 20 seconds I was being encouraged by spectators: “Let’s go Jay Ar’!” (Love that Boston accent.) It was radically encouraging, but there were a few short moments where I wish there was no crowds: I did not want to, was not able to, go any faster, and I felt as if I was disappointing the cheering crowd with my humble crawl through the neighborhoods.

My legs were hurting. I wanted to stop. Wanted to walk. Wanted to hop the metro rail that rambled past and tooted its horn, leading the mass of runners towards the finish line. But there were thousands of people saying, “You can do it! Almost there! Looking great!” I wasn’t sure I could; I didn’t think I was; I knew I didn’t. But there’s a funny thing that happens in marathon: a suspension of belief. Just. A few. More. Miles. Hurts. So. Bad. Hurts. So. Good. Soldier on! Shuffle on! No matter how — onwards we go!

At the famous Citgo sign, signaling one mile to the finish, most of the runners around me dug deep and left me in their final-stretch dust. I started counting in my head. Anything to take the mind off the pain. Just don’t stop now. Not when so close. Steady, baby. Slow is okay.

Entering Boyleston Avenue, 800 meters till the end of the course, I looked up at the blue skies, over at the throngs of Bostonians, at the thousands of family members and friends of runners lining the homestretch, down at my shuffling feet, and then ahead towards the finish line.

I have two goals in every race: (1) To finish. And (2) to do so with a smile on my face. I was going to do it!

I crossed the line, smiling. I high-fived the people with whom I entered the finisher’s corral. I oh-so-painfully stumbled to gather my sweat bag. I collapsed on the ground, tried to down some food, took out my cell phone, and called home. I talked to my mom. It was so good to hear her voice. When I tried to tell her about my run, I had to stop talking in mid-sentence. I was choked up. Tears came to my eyes.

At first I thought they were tears of disappointment. This was my fourth road marathon in 12 months and my slowest by over 25 minutes. Just a month prior I had run almost half-an-hour faster. I started the day racing, aiming for a PR; I ended with a tired and broken body.

But then I realized no, I wasn’t disappointed. These were tears of awe, of inspiration, of insight. I had swallowed my ego at the half-marathon mark and was forced to run a different type of race than I had ever run before. A race where I was passed by many thousands of runners of all ages and shapes… and this was okay! A race where I was slowed to a humble shuffle… And this was okay!

For it was a race, too, where I got to truly experience all that makes the Boston Marathon such an incredibly awesome event. Never I have I been a part of something so big, in the middle of something so special.

Twenty-six and two-tenths of a mile. Ugh. Wow.

Run with it!
J.R. Atwood

In my very first post on this blog, I referenced a book called Spark, the most successful and accessible mass-market publication that explains the science of, and relationship between, physical exercise and overall mental health.

John Ratey, the book’s author and an associate professor of psychiatry at Harvard Medical School, says “[I] cannot underestimate how important regular exercise is in improving the function and performance of the brain. … Exercise stimulates our gray matter to produce Miracle-Gro for the brain. It’s such a wonderful medicine.”

The more rigorous the physical exercise, the better it is for your brain. But as noted in “Train Your Brain: Can Jogging Make You Smarter?“, an article by Simon Usborne in The Independent (UK), “Even regular brisk walks can books memory, alleviate stress, enhance intelligence, and allay aggression.”

The short article provides a fantastic CliffsNotes summary of Spark. Some excerpts:

Happiness

Evidence suggests that pounding the pavement can change the way our brains work to make us happier, or even stave off depression. “Exercise is as good as any anti-depressant I know,” Ratey claims.

Last December, scientists from Yale University wrote in the journal Nature Medicine that regular exertion affects the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for mood. Tests on mice showed that exercise activated a gene there called VGF, which is linked to a “growth factor” chemical involved in the development of new nerve cells. Tests show that this brain activation lifts a person’s mood.

Participants in one recent German survey were asked to walk quickly on a treadmill for 30 minutes a day over a 10-day period. At the end of the experiment, researchers recorded a significant drop in depression scores

Stress

We respond to stress in the same way our ancestors did – by adopting a “fight or flight” response. Adrenalin and other hormones are released into our bloodstreams and our muscles are primed for response. The problem is that, these days, stress is more likely to be brought on by a tricky PowerPoint presentation or a job interview than an attack by marauding lions, so the toxins that build up for a physical response have no outlet.

The results can be good; the cardiovascular system is accelerated and we can work harder (for a while, at least), but others are not so good; stress slows down the gastrointestinal system and reduces appetite, and can overexcite the brain, fuzzing our thought.

By responding to or anticipating stress with fight (kickboxing or judo, say) or flight (30 minutes on the treadmill, say, or 50 lengths of the pool), blood flow to the brain is increased, allowing the body to purge the potentially toxic by-products of stress.

According to Ratey, exercise also helps in the long term. “It builds up armies of antioxidants such as Vitamins E and C,” he says. “These help brain cells protect us from future stress.

Intelligence

Says Ratey, “Exercise doesn’t make you smarter, but what it does do is optimise the brain for learning.”

Physical activity boosts the flow of blood to the part of the brain that is responsible for memory and learning, promoting the production of new brain cells. Several schools in the US and the Netherlands have taken note. Pupils at Naperville Central High School near Chicago, for example, start the day with a fitness class they call “Zero Hour PE”. Equipped with heart monitors, they run laps of the playground, and teachers say exam results have soared since the keep-fit initiative kicked off.

Meanwhile, in Amsterdam, a test involving 241 people, aged 15-71, compared physical activity with the results of cognitive tasks. The researchers documented improved results among people who were more active, especially those in younger age groups.

Yet more research suggests that exercise boosts intelligence in the very, very young. Experiments on rats at the Delbrück Centre for Molecular Medicine in Berlin showed that baby rats born to mothers who were more active during pregnancy had 40 per cent more cells in the hippocampus, the area of the brain responsible for intelligence.

Aggression

“People assume exercise reduces aggression by burning energy. In fact, exercise changes your brain so you don’t feel aggressive in the first place,” says Ratey.

The frontal cortex is the part of the brain that decides whether you throw a punch or take something on the chin. Reduced activity in the region can result in an inability to control violent urges. “This area makes us evaluate the consequences of our actions,” Ratey says. Exercise increases activity in that area, boosting rational thought, which makes us less likely to lash out.

Memory

“When we’re exercising, we’re using nerve cells in the brain which help build up what I call brain fertilizer,” Ratey says. He is talking about new research that suggests exercise increases blood flow to the part of the brain responsible for memory, and improves its function.

In MRI scans on mice, conducted last year by neurologists at Columbia University Medical Centre in New York, the animals were shown to grow new brain cells in the dentate gyrus, which is affected in age-related memory decline.

“Exercise does more than anything we know of to boost memory.”

Addiction

Research by British scientists suggests that as little as five minutes of brisk walking can reduce the intensity of nicotine withdrawal symptoms. In the tests, researchers asked participants to rate their need for a cigarette after various types of physical exertion. Those who had exercised reported a reduced desire to smoke. “If we found the same effects in a drug, it would immediately be sold as an aid to help people quit smoking,” Adrian Taylor, the study’s lead author at the University of Exeter, said last year.

The principle is that exercise can stimulate production of the mood-enhancing hormone dopamine, which can, in turn, reduce smokers’ dependence on nicotine. “Dopamine works by replacing or satisfying the need for nicotine,” Ratey explains

So how much does one have to exercise to realize these results?

In Spark, Ratey advocates that we invest as much time and effort as we reasonably can afford into exercising. But as noted in the article, “You don’t have to become a marathon runner to benefit your brain. The mainstay of exercise is simple, brisk walking.”

Especially beneficial is interval training - “really pushing yourself for between 20 and 30 seconds so that you are momentarily exhausted.” Thirty seconds of sprinting, for example, sandwiched between two minutes of walking, for a total of 20-30 minutes, four-to-five times a day, will radically boost your brain power.

“The side effects on the body aren’t bad either - I lost 10 pounds in no time,” Professor Ratey says.

Play, think…
J.R. Atwood