What is the history of the sport of running?
Human beings first began walking and running approximately 4-6 million years ago, when we evolved and rose from our squatting position on all fours. Hunter-gatherers such as the Tarahumara Indians of Mexico, who lived ten thousand years ago, ran 15-75 miles per day on the hunt for food.
However, it was Pheidippides (490 BC), an ancient “day-runner,” who established running as a sport on the world stage. To get the word out about the Persian landing at Marathon to Sparta, Pheidippides is said to have run 149 miles in order to enlist the assistance of the Greeks in the battle. Researchers believe Pheidippides’ storey may be a myth (if the Athenians needed to send an urgent message to Athens, there was no reason why they couldn’t send a messenger on horseback), but the myth had legs (no pun intended) and was the inspiration for today’s marathon. Pheidippides’ historic run was commemorated by the first running of the marathon (26 miles 385 yards) at the first modern Olympic Games in Athens in 1896, which took place in 1896.
Throughout the latter part of the nineteenth century, track and field events, including running, occupied a prominent position in the field of sport. Schoolchildren were competing in running races by the late 1800s, according to historical records.
With his gold medals in the 100-meter dash, 200-meter dash, and 400-meter relay at the 1936 Olympics in Nazi Germany, the famous black sprinter Jesse Owens shattered Hitler’s dream of proving to the world that the Aryan race was superior by destroying Hitler’s dream of proving the superiority of the Aryan race.
What is the point of running?
There’s a bug with running that you’ll have to deal with. If it’s the exhilaration of propelling your body through space, or the pounding on the ground that sends sensation up your bones and all the way to your pleasure centres in your brain, or the simple satisfaction of knowing that you’ve done something good for yourself, it’s worth it. Running, for whatever reason, can become addictive.
Runners may describe their experience as “flow,” according to psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, which is a state of mind in which they are completely immersed in whatever they are doing. Other possibilities include “positive addiction,” which is defined as the practise of a repetitive activity without self-criticism or judgement that has a beneficial effect on your mind and body, according to William Glasser.
What are the advantages of running for one’s health?
The advantages of vigorous exercise have been well documented. Several studies have been published in the American College of Sports Medicine Position Statement on Exercise, which shows that vigorous exercise has a variety of health benefits for both the individual and the community. In particular, one of the major points of the position statement is that there is a dose response to exercise, which means that the more you do, or the harder you work, the more benefit you receive.
However, this does not imply that moderate exercise should be avoided. There are numerous benefits to moderate exercise; it’s just that vigorous exercise appears to provide even greater benefits in comparison. According to the ACSM report, it is clear that “The transition from a sedentary to a minimal level of physical activity results in numerous significant health benefits; [however], programmes involving higher intensities and/or greater frequency and duration provide additional benefits.
People who ran more than 50 miles per week, for example, had significantly higher increases in HDL cholesterol (the good fat), as well as significantly greater decreases in body fat, triglyceride levels, and the risk of coronary heart disease, compared to people who ran less than 10 miles per week, according to one study. In addition, long-distance runners experienced a nearly 50% reduction in high blood pressure and a more than 50% reduction in the use of medications to lower blood pressure and plasma cholesterol “”Esterol levels are high.”