The Benefits and Costs of Serious Running

The Benefits and Costs of Serious Running

Robert Stebbins (1992) suggested that the seriousness of an activity is reflected in the amount of commitment and sacrifice an individual is willing to make.

There are also psychological benefits (Morgan, 1985) that have been associated with regular running, including lower levels of tension, anxiety, and depression (Farmer, et al., 1988; Martinsen, 1987; North, McCullagh, & Tran, 1990). Runners have been shown to have lower levels of anxiety (Sparling, Nieman, & O'Connor, 1993) lower anger, fatigue and confusion, as well as increased vigor when compared with non-active persons (Morgan, 1985).

According to Van-Mechelen (1 992), running injuries vary between 37 and 56 percent depending on the group of runners concerned and can affect the neck, back, hips, knees, shins, ankles, feet as well as internal organs. Financial costs associated with serious running include: running shoes and clothing, fees for road races, traveling expenses, nutrition and special diets, magazines and running clubs, and running vacations designed to appeal to the ultimate running enthusiast.

Less common is the perception that one can overdo running to the point of being addicted. Behavioral problems exist when individuals engage in exercise to the point where it is contraindicated either on medical, vocational or social grounds.

The sample utilized in this study was derived from a list of runners who had competed in and finished one of the three 5K road races. In this investigation, 24 road racers, 12 male and 12 female runners were randomly selected.

In order to ascertain what were the benefits and costs of running, I asked all runners the questions: "What are the best things about running?" and "What are the worst things about running?" Several significant patterns and concepts emerged from the data. I identified three dominant categories of benefits. The three major themes were: (1) sense of accomplishment (power and control), (2) health and fitness (physical benefits/ psychological benefits of stress relief and mood enhancement), and (3) social affiliation.

In addition to benefits, several costs associated with serious running also surfaced from the data. Two major categories of costs were (I)in juries, and (2) fear.

Clearly, a sense of accomplishment was the most prevalent major reward in this study. Twenty-two of the 24 runners stated that running gave them "a sense of accomplishment." For one female runner, this sense of enhanced self-confidence as a result of running seemed to provide more meaning than originally anticipated. Polly, a 34-year-old homemaker and married woman with two children stated:

Running gives me more self-confidence and that's especially true now that I am not working. I used to work. I used to have a lot of accomplishments there, but now my major accomplishments are making the beds and stuff (she laughs), and running definitely gives me a sense of accomplishment. Some female runners tied the sense of accomplishment and self-confidence to a sense of power and control.

Health and fitness was also a major incentive for beginning to run. That it continues to be perceived as being among the "best things" is not surprising. The health and fitness benefits runners received was not only a benefit but frequently served as continuing motivation as well.