This episode switches gears but keeps the speaker. This is something that will happen from time to time throughout the podcast, because scientists are often multi-dimensional people with varied interests, just like everyone else. Here’s the blurb from the original website.
We pick back up EXACTLY where we left off last episode with compu-geek entrepreneur and theme park enthusiast Len Testa. This week we discuss graduate school and marathons. They both take a long time, and hydration is essential for both.
I'm a little sick today, and so this is another free-range, minimally processed piece of locally grown audio. I recorded the outro directly to my laptop like episode 1, and it's the last time. The handheld recorder I used at Len's house sounds so much better.
Personally, I am a walker, not a runner. More Strider than Conan, if you know what I mean. I consider the whole endorphin-addicted running culture to be more than a little bit insane. My favorite recent walking book is Sebastian Junger’s latest shorty, Freedom.
“We walked almost 400 miles and most nights we were the only people in the world who knew where we were. There are many definitions of freedom but surely that is one of them.”
However, I did recently discover that shoes with a wide “toe box” that allows my toes to spread out while walking are way more comfortable for me. I have no data on injuries, and this is neither a recommendation nor an endorsement. It’s barely an anecdote, in that I originally bought that style of shoe because they were on clearance for 50 or 75% off out on the sidewalk in front of the Great Outdoor Provision Company, back when they were still in the Friendly Center. That kind of serendipity doesn’t happen any more, since they moved to Westover Terrace.
REFERENCES
Tarahumara distance runners of the Sierra Madre Mountains
These people have become better known since I first read about them in Richard Grant’s gonzo travel book, God’s Middle Finger. The second book, Born to Run, has a lot more running lore and exercise physiology in it, and is therefore slightly less colorful, but is still very well written pop science.
https://www.lemuriabooks.com/God-s-Middle-Finger-p/9781416534402.htm
https://www.chrismcdougall.com/born-to-run/
UPDATES since 2011 (jeez, 10 years!)
The barefoot running debate continues, and typically for our current bipolar society, it’s the wrong debate to be having. Most financially disinterested researchers agree that how you run (running form) is more important than what you wear, but the shoe companies that sponsor running magazines obviously disagree.
https://www.kinetic-revolution.com/barefoot-running-were-having-the-wrong-debate/
https://www.runnersworld.com/uk/health/injury/a32825278/can-going-barefoot-build-better-feet/
VSI Episode 4